Your favorite price to performance heatsinks.

hititnquitit

2[H]4U
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It seems like almost all of my favorite heatsinks have slowly but surely priced themselves right out of the p2p ballpark. So rather than scour the web for reviews that may or may not lead me to some gems im looking for some of our members favorite price to performance sinks. In the hope that maybe we can all find some new goodies to check out! They dont have to be anything spectacular or overly cheap, just whatever you like as your fall back when money is tight but performance is at a premium. Links are a bonus but not a necessity. Try to list the complete name so we can google em tho ;)

Ill start with a couple of mine that are still relatively affordable.

Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power
Impossible to find in stock at its usual $49.99 but amazon usually restocks it for $54.99 w/free shipping pretty regularly.
Excellent cooler, hangs with the best of the best but its TALL. 170mm so can be hard to find a case it will fit in. Great for a test bench!
Found it at ebay and newegg for $49.99 both with free shipping! from nans gaming gear.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/393235814960
https://www.newegg.com/p/0ZK-02CG-00010

Thermalright TA120 $39.99@ amazon.
Its brand new and has reviewed really well. Only 158mm tall. Looks promising. Pretty sure it will be my next back up sink to replace my outgoing noctua U12S.
Also found the TA120 on ebay for $36.99 shipped! from nans, their located in Cali btw.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/392380540320

Id-cooling se-224-xt basic
$29.99 @ amazon
Only 154mm tall and doesnt block mem. The black version looks sweet for $5 more. Top notch heatsink. Cools like a champ despite being a single tower 4 heat pipe single fan hs. Bought this as a temporary replacement for my usual deepcool gammaxx 400 and cm hyper 212 budget buys. It crushes both, including the updated versions. Best budget hs ive found so far.

I look forward to seeing what you all suggest!


 
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I originally bought a Scythe Fuma 2 for my 5800x and it did a decent job without breaking the bank. Ended up getting an Enermax Liqmax III 240 AIO for $36 and am currently using it. The AIO had better temps than the Fuma 2 by 3C-5C which is why I'm using it but have the Fuma 2 as backup.
 
Deepcool Gammax has been my go-to for a cheap aftermarket heatsink that beats the stock Intel pancakes. $30 and it does a great job. Looks like the be quiet Pure Rock 2 is a slightly better version with a much better fan for $10 more.

Glad to hear about the ID cooling sink. Will check it out. Hell, for $20 I may buy one just to have as backup.
The gammaxx 400 used to be one of the two i stocked up on when i could find it on sale for $20 or less but for quite a while now i havent been able to find it at all.
The pure rock 2 looks solid and be quiet! fans are top notch.
Give the 224 xt basic a try you wont be disappointed. For $20 shipped its hard to beat. Ill have to grab a couple while newegg has them on sale, Thanks.

The fuma 2 is a sweet deal for a dual tower compared to everything else you find. Definitely a nice back up sink. Enermax made me leery after their 1st attempt at AIOs. I know they tried really hard to clean up that mess with the 2nd revision but i think it scared off alot of people. Hopefully yours will treat you well for a good long time SmokeRngs.

The scythe mugen 5 is a beefy sink and looks sweet all black. For only $60 i would try it out. I havent seen any reviews of it yet tho.

Drp4 is a beast Nasgul. If i were looking to replace my loop i would consider it for sure.
 
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https://amazon.com/Contact-Heatpipe...ild=1&keywords=aresgame&qid=1623842655&sr=8-7

That HSF is a budget king. You get 5 heat pipes instead of 4 like on the Gammaxx, CM 212, ID Cooling SE 224 for $25. Plus you get an ARGB fan. I've seen it as low as $19.99.

https://www.amazon.com/ID-COOLING-SE-225-XT-Heatpipes-2x120mm-Push-Pull/dp/B08LPDDM4B

That is the good version of the ID Cooling, but it's also $35 instead of $25 like the Aresgame version, but you get 2 fans.
Ive never seen the aresgame before. It certainly looks good, the black sinks always look the best. Ill have to be sure to look for some reviews of it.
The 5 heatpipe 225 looks to be the one to go for if you want the black version of the id cooling. With the $10 coupon they have now it seems like a no brainer vs the 4 heatpipe xt black at the same $35. Altho again, i havent looked for any reviews of the 5 heatpipe version yet. If the basic is any indicator it should be really solid.

EDIT- corrected- 5 heatpipe, id cooling se 225 xt
 
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Ive never seen the aresgame before. It certainly looks good, the black sinks always look the best. Ill have to be sure to look for some reviews of it.
The 5 heatpipe 224 looks to be the one to go for if you want the black version of the id cooling. With the $10 coupon they have now it seems like a no brainer vs the 4 heatpipe xt black at the same $35. Altho again, i havent looked for any reviews of the 5 heatpipe version yet. If the basic is any indicator it should be really solid.

The 224 is the four heat pipe version. The 225 is the five heat pipe version.
 
Long time fan of Thermalright. TRUE Spirit 140 Power is one of my all time best cost to performance coolers. Mugen 5 is another very good cooler, as are some of the new Thermalright coolers like Frost Commander 140 ( 1400mm fans on twin towers w/ 5x 8mm heatpipes), Peerless Assassin 120 (120mm fans on twin towers w/ 6x 6mm heatpipes).

I've tested / used some ID-Cooling and find them quite good. Last ones I tested / used are SE-214& SE-234-ARGB ( offset back tower w/ 120mm fan single tower w/ 4x 6mm heatpipes). Am now testing/using 3 of their CLCs. I normally avoid CLCs because they are only good for a few years of hard cooling. Used to be noisier at same cooling too, but these new ones are as quiet as good air cooling. If you have any questions about ID-Cooling I might be able to help.

There are usually some very good deals in used coolers on ebay, sometimes Amazon and definitely forum sales. Just make sure there are no missing fan clips and mounting hardware for your application is complete .. usually need to have your own TIM. ;)
 
Ive never seen the aresgame before. It certainly looks good, the black sinks always look the best. Ill have to be sure to look for some reviews of it.
The 5 heatpipe 225 looks to be the one to go for if you want the black version of the id cooling. With the $10 coupon they have now it seems like a no brainer vs the 4 heatpipe xt black at the same $35. Altho again, i havent looked for any reviews of the 5 heatpipe version yet. If the basic is any indicator it should be really solid.

EDIT- corrected- 5 heatpipe, id cooling se 225 xt
The Ares is a beast. I was getting mid 60 gaming on an OCed 5800x
 
The Ares is a beast. I was getting mid 60 gaming on an OCed 5800x
Good to know, 2 thumbs up so far!
Ill be keeping an eye out for them to hit the $20 range and ill pick a couple up. Ive got a pair of 224 xt basics coming from newegg thanks to Martins tip ;)

Long time fan of Thermalright. TRUE Spirit 140 Power is one of my all time best cost to performance coolers. Mugen 5 is another very good cooler, as are some of the new Thermalright coolers like Frost Commander 140 ( 1400mm fans on twin towers w/ 5x 8mm heatpipes), Peerless Assassin 120 (120mm fans on twin towers w/ 6x 6mm heatpipes).

I've tested / used some ID-Cooling and find them quite good. Last ones I tested / used are SE-214& SE-234-ARGB ( offset back tower w/ 120mm fan single tower w/ 4x 6mm heatpipes). Am now testing/using 3 of their CLCs. I normally avoid CLCs because they are only good for a few years of hard cooling. Used to be noisier at same cooling too, but these new ones are as quiet as good air cooling. If you have any questions about ID-Cooling I might be able to help.

There are usually some very good deals in used coolers on ebay, sometimes Amazon and definitely forum sales. Just make sure there are no missing fan clips and mounting hardware for your application is complete .. usually need to have your own TIM. ;)
Couldnt agree more! Ive been primarily wcing forever but i have always been REALLY impressed with the excellent quality and performance of Thermalright gear, especially the 140 power and le grande macho(for $50 was insane). Sucked hard when the price got jacked up on the macho. Im not familiar at all with id coolings aio units just the 224 xt heatsinks and now getting familiar with some of the other heatsinks that you guys are mentioning.
Feel free to share your findings if their clc deals are as good as their heatsinks!
 
If you need a smaller cooler that performs way beyond its size, the Cryorig M9 and M9 Plus are back at rational prices again (mid-$20's). I've used the M9a on a few first and second gen Ryzen's, and it's great; cools well and is very quiet even at speed.
 
Cryorig are good coolers for sure .. assuming you can find them and prices are what they should be. I've used most of them over the years and all performed very well.
 
Its worth noting that the Scythe Mugen 5 comes with a very decent, long screwdriver. Which I still use all the time for computer stuff.
 
Long screwdriver is very handy tool. Thermalright Machos' (except 90) come with nice long screwdriver. Some Cryorig coolers come with 'L' shaped screwdriver.
 
I've been a thermalright fan for years. My wife has my old Macho Rev B in her system, which was an incredible bang for the buck and I'm currently using a Le Grande Macho for my 3900X. TBH the price increase for the le grande macho wasn't worth the performance increase, but it's been doing its job excellently.
 
The Aresgame is on sale at Amazon for $19.99, its actually called the aresgame river 5. Its a slick looking cooler for 20 bucks.
I would pick up a couple but my heatsink budget is blown for now. I caved and bought a scythe mugen 5 black edition... That was promptly pirated off of my porch steps(in the hour and a half that i wasnt out front working of course)thanks to the idiot fedex driver being to fucking lazy to open the screen door to my front porch!
Apparently directing them where to leave your packages in the fedex app means squat. So now i get to wait for them to finish calling themselves investigating my missing delivery.
 
Sounds typical. "If if can go bad it will" comes to mind. Once you get your Mugen 5 I'm sure you will like it. Great cooler.
 
Sounds typical. "If if can go bad it will" comes to mind. Once you get your Mugen 5 I'm sure you will like it. Great cooler.
Well they refunded my money so no mugen 5 for me just yet unfortunately. I will get one soon tho.
I did pick up a couple of the Aresgame 5hp heatsinks(non rgb) for $19.99 and got them yesterday but haven't had time to open one yet. I will probably give one a test run on my 8086k rig to compare it to the u12s thats on it. If it does as well as the id cooling did on it i will get a few more while they are so cheap.
 
Well they refunded my money so no mugen 5 for me just yet unfortunately. I will get one soon tho.
I did pick up a couple of the Aresgame 5hp heatsinks(non rgb) for $19.99 and got them yesterday but haven't had time to open one yet. I will probably give one a test run on my 8086k rig to compare it to the u12s thats on it. If it does as well as the id cooling did on it i will get a few more while they are so cheap.
Definitely interested in seeing how the Aresgame coolers do against NH-U12S.
 
My last 7 coolers, ranked from best to worst.

Thermalright Frost Commander 140
Thermalright Le Grand macho RT
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Noctua NH-D14
Corsair H100
CoolerMaster 212 Black (2012)
 
My last 7 coolers, ranked from best to worst.

Thermalright Frost Commander 140
Thermalright Le Grand macho RT
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Noctua NH-D14
Corsair H100
CoolerMaster 212 Black (2012)
Which ones would you rank as your favorite price to performance in any bracket be it high end, mid range, budget?
 
My last 7 coolers, ranked from best to worst.

Thermalright Frost Commander 140
Thermalright Le Grand macho RT
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Noctua NH-D14
Corsair H100
CoolerMaster 212 Black (2012)
Haven't tested/used Frost Commander or H100, but did the rest.
I would put D14 as same if not little better than Ultra 120 Extreme, but they are both very good.

I found Ultra 120 Extreme needed higher fan speed so was noisier than D14 and others using 140mm fans on larger fin area.

Only way H100 could come give similar temps to others was with extreme fan noise.

212 wasn't even close even with extreme fan noise.

NH-D14 is very good cooler. With better fans (like on TRUE Spirit 140 Power, Le Grand Macho RT and Frost Commander) D14 easily cools as well and as quiet.

I don't think Frost Commander 140 cools better cool, but it's smaller W140 mm x D121 mm x H160 mm size will fit into more systems. Biggest potential problem is RAM height limiting clearance of front fan.
 
My last 7 coolers, ranked from best to worst.

Thermalright Frost Commander 140
Thermalright Le Grand macho RT
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Power
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Noctua NH-D14
Corsair H100
CoolerMaster 212 Black (2012)
Haven't tested/used Frost Commander or H100, but did the rest.
I would put D14 as same if not little better than Ultra 120 Extreme, but they are both very good.

I found Ultra 120 Extreme needed higher fan speed so was noisier than D14 and others using 140mm fans on larger fin area.

Only way H100 could come give similar temps to others was with extreme fan noise.

212 wasn't even close even with extreme fan noise.

NH-D14 is very good cooler. With better fans (like on TRUE Spirit 140 Power, Le Grand Macho RT and Frost Commander) D14 easily cools as well and as quiet.

Edit: Here is detailed drawing and specs for Frost Commander 140 and it's fans.
 

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What is going on at Thermalright? It is such a pita trying to find a Frost Commander 140. I had to go to AliExpress to find a price on one! That is just stooopid! Their website was absolutely useless for sourcing one(as usual). I saw mention of it at tpu a while back so i foolishly assumed they would be available everywhere but nope. I couldnt find one to buy unless i want to wait a month or more 😆. Their products are excellent, they should be as easy as pie to find. It makes no sense not to have at least ONE store in in the US with all of your existing gear for sale.
Nans doesnt even have a friggin website of their own...only marketplace stores on newegg and amazon? What they offer compared to AliExpress is pa thet ic. AliExpress has tons of badass Thermalright gear that i have never heard of 😂. But i really really hate looking for anything at AliExpress. Its amazon search function purgatory times 10. So yeah, thats my rant for the day.
No update on the aregame yet. Havent had time to get it installed yet :(

Edit- the price for the Frost Commander 140 wasnt bad at $80 shipped but 19 to 39 day ship time...
 
What is going on at Thermalright? It is such a pita trying to find a Frost Commander 140. I had to go to AliExpress to find a price on one! That is just stooopid! Their website was absolutely useless for sourcing one(as usual). I saw mention of it at tpu a while back so i foolishly assumed they would be available everywhere but nope. I couldnt find one to buy unless i want to wait a month or more 😆. Their products are excellent, they should be as easy as pie to find. It makes no sense not to have at least ONE store in in the US with all of your existing gear for sale.
Nans doesnt even have a friggin website of their own...only marketplace stores on newegg and amazon? What they offer compared to AliExpress is pa thet ic. AliExpress has tons of badass Thermalright gear that i have never heard of 😂. But i really really hate looking for anything at AliExpress. Its amazon search function purgatory times 10. So yeah, thats my rant for the day.
No update on the aregame yet. Havent had time to get it installed yet :(

Edit- the price for the Frost Commander 140 wasnt bad at $80 shipped but 19 to 39 day ship time...
Link below has it for 058.57 GBP which is $67.04
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...05760255-05669-UneMJZVf&device=c&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edit: It's $80 to USA :(
 
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What is going on at Thermalright? It is such a pita trying to find a Frost Commander 140. I had to go to AliExpress to find a price on one! That is just stooopid! Their website was absolutely useless for sourcing one(as usual). I saw mention of it at tpu a while back so i foolishly assumed they would be available everywhere but nope. I couldnt find one to buy unless i want to wait a month or more 😆. Their products are excellent, they should be as easy as pie to find. It makes no sense not to have at least ONE store in in the US with all of your existing gear for sale.
Nans doesnt even have a friggin website of their own...only marketplace stores on newegg and amazon? What they offer compared to AliExpress is pa thet ic. AliExpress has tons of badass Thermalright gear that i have never heard of 😂. But i really really hate looking for anything at AliExpress. Its amazon search function purgatory times 10. So yeah, thats my rant for the day.
No update on the aregame yet. Havent had time to get it installed yet :(

Edit- the price for the Frost Commander 140 wasnt bad at $80 shipped but 19 to 39 day ship time...
Yeah Im not sure.. some kind of big shake up. Lots of new products though.. I bought FC140 the day it was released, from Aliexpress :D Before I bought it I noticed PA120 was there too.. looks interesting.. Just slightly less capacity then FC140, but in a slightly smaller package. I did switch out the stock fans on the FC140 with iPPC 3000s.. big-n-little. The FC140 fans are now blowing from the top intakes in the case.

You are right Doyll, my TRUE did not come with fans so I used two high speed high pressure fans. It was awesome lol. D14 is a good cooler, slightly better than TRUE, but I hated the fans, and all the space it took up. I found the center fan to be brittle as I broke a blade.. ffs.. still miffed about that. H100 was good with high speed high pressure fans, loud af.. permeation was its demise. The pump was loud too, but not as loud as my Panaflo's.. and the 212 was on the list because it was given to me and I tried it twice on two CPU's.
 
Scythe Fuma 2 in the rig and I like it. Much quieter than my old system, you can barely hear the fans at all.

Performance is not crazy, but good enough at stock settings. I wouldn't recommend it for overclocking.
 
Fuma 2 is very good.

General rule is the bigger the cooler the quieter it will be. It's simple physics; more heatpipes, fin area and airflow area means they can remove same amount of heat as smaller cooler using much lower airflow / fan speed so less noise.
 
The cooler master 212 with two fans has been my go to for quite some time.
 
The cooler master 212 with two fans has been my go to for quite some time.
I hear ya, mine were the 212 evo and gammaxx 400 both were solid for many years but the whole 212 line up has gotten too damn expensive and i dont think deepcool even makes the 400 anymore(used to keep 5 to 10 of them on hand). With the new smaller and hotter architectures it was time to find something that could dissipate heat quicker and quieter anyhow. So i had to find a new $20-$25 replacement to restock my budget shelf with.
With the way things have been the last year ive built exactly one rig with a high-end heatsink in it. Of course those are the easy ones to find. The hard ones are the budget performers!
Thats why i started this thread. I was burnt out trying to find a good deal 😆
 
FC 140 isn't a bad cooler, I'm not sure if 80 beans is expensive or not? It seems to handle my 5900X ok..

Capture2.PNG
 
FC 140 isn't a bad cooler, I'm not sure if 80 beans is expensive or not? It seems to handle my 5900X ok..

View attachment 377951
Not for a high end hsf. Considering $100+ is the norm for most high end coolers. The drawback of course is having to wait so long to get it!
If someone could both increase Thermalrights mind share and availability in North America without cranking the prices up they would make a killing...
 
Not for a high end hsf. Considering $100+ is the norm for most high end coolers. The drawback of course is having to wait so long to get it!
If someone could both increase Thermalrights mind share and availability in North America without cranking the prices up they would make a killing...
I live literally minutes from the longitudinal center of Canada and it took about 7 days to get it from China, pretty impressive!
 
The Thermalright Peerless Assassin is probably the best out of the more "budget" heatsinks. Gelid Phantom is also an another honorable mention.
 
I saw PA 120 when I bought FS140.. I might grab it for my 5600X. I am pretty impressed with its bigger brother..
 
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