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  1. #1

    CPU cooling advice

    I need a little advice on choosing a budget CPU air cooler. Perhaps the main thing for me will be: a tower cooler without backlight, be moderately QUIET under load and of course, give a good cooling. Here is some list that seemed good to me:

    GAMMAXX 400 EX (26 eur)
    GAMMAXX GTE V2 BLACK (28 eur)
    HYPER 212 BLACK (32 eur)
    HYPER 212 EVO (28 eur)
    SNOWMAN T4 or T6 (~18 eur - 22 eur) - Chinese cooler from aliexpress

    So... from this list, the Chinese cooler looks quite interesting considering that no one directly says that it is worse than the above listed ones, but its price is much lower. As far as I understand, the main drawback was the fastening mechanism, long delivery and visually it probably does not look so presentable.

    What can you say about this cooler and the rest of the line?

    Is this Chinese cooler is really so good and cheap, or is it worth paying attention to more popular brands like HYPER or GAMMAXX?

  2. #2
    Without knowing precisely which EU country you're in (Does that even matter, given that its supposed to be a free-trade union?) i went with German pricing:

    both the BeQuiet! Pure Rock Slim (23.50) and Pure Rock 2 (39.29) should be on your list.

    How quiet any of these coolers will be will depend on how much heat you're trying to dissipate.

    As long as you're not trying to cool like 125+W theyll all run fairly quiet/silent, but the BeQuiet! coolers will have Silent Wings fans on them, so they are engineered to be a little quieter.

    Any of them other than the Aliexpress Chinesium Special will probably be sufficient.

  3. #3
    Good and cheap, yes, you know how it goes. The cheap crap fans may be quiet, but do expect to have seized bearings pretty soon. Not saying everything expensive is so much better by default, but unbranded cheap stuff from some random bloke in Alibaba, yeah, people, get a grip?
    The rule of thumb for these Chinese unbranded or just unknown vendors. Any spec can be / is made up to whatever degree the seller has decided. Any certificate / compliancy likewise.

    I have used and seen first hand in my old work cheap fans that "should be as good or better." Guess what, they were all utter shit. Every. Single. One.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by ifrah View Post
    Good and cheap, yes, you know how it goes.
    Well, overall , you are right and I agree that the Chinese market is a little risky. But we are talking about the budget segment of coolers and it is hardly worth waiting for something good even from brands. I watched a few videos with tests and I see that this Chinese cooler is just excellent in terms of cooling and silence.

    This video compares CM evo 212 and a Chinese cooler and we see that the difference in temperature is only a few degrees at maximum speed, but the noise level is lower for the Chinese product - https://youtu.be/l5J2jTJ1Dik?t=376

    It would be great to see the opinion of someone who bought it or tested it, I think it would be useful for others who are also considering buying an inexpensive cooler.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    BeQuiet! Pure Rock Slim (23.50) and Pure Rock 2 (39.29) should be on your list.
    Yeah thanks, interesting products, prices are about the same as yours, but I think that there is not much difference among all cheap 120 mm coolers. In this regard, the price would probably be the decisive choice

  5. #5
    I bought a Hyper 212 Black for 55 CND$ total and was quite pleased, shaved off 15c and sometimes almost 20c off my CPU under heavy load, compared to the stock cooler. It's slightly noisier, but nothing that isn't completely blocked by headphones. For curiosity's sake I once took off my headphones while putting the thing under the biggest load I could find (Cyberpunk) and barely registered the extra noise at all.

    In general, I think fan noise is a bit of an exaggerated concern. I know, subjective and all that, but when putting your CPU under load you're highly likely to be either typing, wearing headphones/blasting sound on speakers, or gaming- maybe all 3 at once. 5 more decibels on a fan that's behind tempered glass will only be noticeable if you laser focus on it. But maybe that's just me.
    It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built -Kreia

    The internet: where to every action is opposed an unequal overreaction.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    Well, overall , you are right and I agree that the Chinese market is a little risky. But we are talking about the budget segment of coolers and it is hardly worth waiting for something good even from brands. I watched a few videos with tests and I see that this Chinese cooler is just excellent in terms of cooling and silence.

    This video compares CM evo 212 and a Chinese cooler and we see that the difference in temperature is only a few degrees at maximum speed, but the noise level is lower for the Chinese product - https://youtu.be/l5J2jTJ1Dik?t=376

    It would be great to see the opinion of someone who bought it or tested it, I think it would be useful for others who are also considering buying an inexpensive cooler.



    Yeah thanks, interesting products, prices are about the same as yours, but I think that there is not much difference among all cheap 120 mm coolers. In this regard, the price would probably be the decisive choice
    Instead of waiting for brands you will be waiting for shipment.
    Second problem with the Aliexpress stuff isn't performence but quality, will it break down after a year of use?
    I mean it's your CPU cooler, why go cheap on that?

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by ati87 View Post
    Instead of waiting for brands you will be waiting for shipment.
    Second problem with the Aliexpress stuff isn't performence but quality, will it break down after a year of use?
    I mean it's your CPU cooler, why go cheap on that?
    Yeah, it's my question as well. Air coolers are one of, if not the cheapest part of your computer, and they help one of the most expensive ones last longer. It's like for the PSU, there isn't much reason to cheap out on that when parts that are perfectly adequate for 99% of users aren't very expensive relative to GPUs, CPUs and monitors.
    It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built -Kreia

    The internet: where to every action is opposed an unequal overreaction.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    Well, overall , you are right and I agree that the Chinese market is a little risky. But we are talking about the budget segment of coolers and it is hardly worth waiting for something good even from brands. I watched a few videos with tests and I see that this Chinese cooler is just excellent in terms of cooling and silence.

    This video compares CM evo 212 and a Chinese cooler and we see that the difference in temperature is only a few degrees at maximum speed, but the noise level is lower for the Chinese product - https://youtu.be/l5J2jTJ1Dik?t=376

    It would be great to see the opinion of someone who bought it or tested it, I think it would be useful for others who are also considering buying an inexpensive cooler.



    Yeah thanks, interesting products, prices are about the same as yours, but I think that there is not much difference among all cheap 120 mm coolers. In this regard, the price would probably be the decisive choice

    Yes, I don't argue they couldn't be equal enough performance-wise. The most likely and most prominent issue will be their reliability. You don't see that by performing a few minutes or even few weeks of testing. Crap bearings especially may be toasted in less than a year or so whereas quality ones in room temperature conditions can last easily for up to 10 years.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Jastall View Post
    Yeah, it's my question as well. Air coolers are one of, if not the cheapest part of your computer, and they help one of the most expensive ones last longer. It's like for the PSU, there isn't much reason to cheap out on that when parts that are perfectly adequate for 99% of users aren't very expensive relative to GPUs, CPUs and monitors.
    Maybe buy a case fan from Ali but that's about it when it comes to computer parts.

    I bought a Razor mouse when I stayed in Shanghai and it cost me a fraction of the normal rice (15 euro or something) but it had it's kinks and it only lasted me for like 3 or so years, and mind you it was 3 years with some issues that started showing up 6 months after I bought it. And the stores where I bought my crap are now selling on Aliexpress.
    What I learned from this experience though is when China sells something cheap there is a reason for it because the moment you want the quality stuff you start paying the same price as if you you where in Europe.

  10. #10
    I've been using an Arctic Freezer 34 eSports, primarily because it was one of the only coolers completely white, but also because it had very good reviews for the price. Worth looking into, perhaps.
    5800X | XFX 7900XTX | Prime X570 Pro | 32GB | 990Pro + SN850 2TB | Define 7

  11. #11
    GTE v2 is the most quiet and the best performer out of those. Although if you really want a quiet cooler you have to look into towers with 140mm fans, but they're around 50 EUR mark. If you're in EU you might find some Thermalright stuff that's pretty good in that price range.
    R5 5600X | Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E Extreme | MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk | 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600/CL16 | MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X | Corsair RM650x | Cooler Master HAF X | Logitech G400s | DREVO Excalibur 84 | Kingston HyperX Cloud II | BenQ XL2411T + LG 24MK430H-B

  12. #12
    OP what CPU you gonna cool? Kinda important to know. Anyway there are many options, but for budget a hyper 212 evo is and has been for years a fine choice.
    Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/djuntas ARPG - RTS - MMO

  13. #13
    Well, I should probably have noted why a budget cooler is my priority choice now. I think that, like many now, waiting of a new generation of hardware, like DDR5, CPU and everything accompanying. We still do not have much information, but it is already clear that the update will probably be in the next two years. And then the question will follow, how does this all relate to the cooler, which most likely can be installed on new motherboards. My current system is quite old but has the legendary i5-2500k and the current cooler just started to hum not much, but it distracts me a little and I want to remove it at the same time to get some overclocking capability. Should I buy good cooling already now considering its use in the future or consider budget options at the moment. Actually I don’t know, but probably the second way looks more common sense for me.

    Speaking of items from aliexpress, I made several orders and received both pretty good and not very good items, but the fact that the prices for most of the things there are very low. Buying there, you can consider it as a temporary purchase or something like that, however, if the product meets expectations, then this is definitely a great deal. Besides, if there are many reviews, then it probably won't be so terrible item. On the other hand, I am almost sure that the budget segment of the brands contains very similar components that are hardly designed for durable use.

    I liked HYPER 212 BLACK it seems like it should be quiet enough and it looks very nice, but is there somewhere a massive comparison of all the lines of brands, where let's say can see the difference between Thermalright, Arctic Freezer 34 eSports or hyper? I mean that each manufacturer has several subsections, for example HYPER 212 EVO or HYPER 212 black or EVO V2 and etc with a very close price, is there any difference worth talking about?

    Anyway thanks to all for your advices. it would be great if someone could tell about the experience of using HYPER 212 BLACK or GAMMAXX GTE V2 BLACK probably one of them will be my purchase.
    Last edited by Rav106; 2021-02-21 at 07:59 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    Well, I should probably have noted why a budget cooler is my priority choice now. I think that, like many now, waiting of a new generation of hardware, like DDR5, CPU and everything accompanying. We still do not have much information, but it is already clear that the update will probably be in the next two years. And then the question will follow, how does this all relate to the cooler, which most likely can be installed on new motherboards. My current system is quite old but has the legendary i5-2500k and the current cooler just started to hum not much, but it distracts me a little and I want to remove it at the same time to get some overclocking capability. Should I buy good cooling already now considering its use in the future or consider budget options at the moment. Actually I don’t know, but probably the second way looks more common sense for me.

    Speaking of items from aliexpress, I made several orders and received both pretty good and not very good items, but the fact that the prices for most of the things there are very low. Buying there, you can consider it as a temporary purchase or something like that, however, if the product meets expectations, then this is definitely a great deal. Besides, if there are many reviews, then it probably won't be so terrible item. On the other hand, I am almost sure that the budget segment of the brands contains very similar components that are hardly designed for durable use.

    I liked HYPER 212 BLACK it seems like it should be quiet enough and it looks very nice, but is there somewhere a massive comparison of all the lines of brands, where let's say can see the difference between Thermalright, Arctic Freezer 34 eSports or hyper? I mean that each manufacturer has several subsections, for example HYPER 212 EVO or HYPER 212 black or EVO V2 and etc with a very close price, is there any difference worth talking about?

    Anyway thanks to all for your advices. it would be great if someone could tell about the experience of using HYPER 212 BLACK or GAMMAXX GTE V2 BLACK probably one of them will be my purchase.
    Any cooler out of those pretty much, but you might need to get additional mounting hardware. Looks is pretty much the only thing that's going for Hyper 212 at the moment considering the price.
    R5 5600X | Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E Extreme | MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk | 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600/CL16 | MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X | Corsair RM650x | Cooler Master HAF X | Logitech G400s | DREVO Excalibur 84 | Kingston HyperX Cloud II | BenQ XL2411T + LG 24MK430H-B

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Thunderball View Post
    Any cooler out of those pretty much, but you might need to get additional mounting hardware. Looks is pretty much the only thing that's going for Hyper 212 at the moment considering the price.
    You mean there might be problems with 1155 socket? As far as I know this socket is supported by almost all coolers, there should be no problems. Also you mentioned "Any cooler out of those pretty much" should I then just move on to buying a cheap Chinese cooler in my case?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    You mean there might be problems with 1155 socket? As far as I know this socket is supported by almost all coolers, there should be no problems. Also you mentioned "Any cooler out of those pretty much" should I then just move on to buying a cheap Chinese cooler in my case?
    No. I would not buy the cheap chinese cooler. You're going to wait weeks to get it (maybe months), and shipping is likely to cost you as much as just buying a better more reputable cooler from a local-ish vendor.

    Also, Jay liked this thing and it was cheap (and performed really well - beating a 240mm AIO)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LDz...l=JayzTwoCents

    Theres a phrase "penny wise and pound foolish" - thats what you're doing here.
    Last edited by Kagthul; 2021-02-21 at 09:54 PM.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    Theres a phrase "penny wise and pound foolish" - thats what you're doing here.
    You probably don't quite understand when this phrase is more suitable for use.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    You probably don't quite understand when this phrase is more suitable for use.
    .... i think you have no earthly idea what you're talking about since what you're doing could be used as a textbook example of the phrase.

    But hey, what do i know? Its not like im the guy with 17 posts who came to the forum to ask advice about coolers, proceeded to ignore every bit of that advice (and come up with absolutely stupid ideas about how all that very sound advice he got from people with orders of magnitude more experience then himself magically didn't apply) and then start attacking people.

    Enjoy the fruits of your stupidity.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    .... i think you have no earthly idea
    dude just breathe out and relax. perhaps it is worth curing your mental disorders?

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Rav106 View Post
    You mean there might be problems with 1155 socket? As far as I know this socket is supported by almost all coolers, there should be no problems. Also you mentioned "Any cooler out of those pretty much" should I then just move on to buying a cheap Chinese cooler in my case?
    No, you might have issues with some type of new sockets that will be introduced with DDR5. Wont have any issues any 11xx sockets. I would toss the 2500K out of the window though, it's too weak.
    R5 5600X | Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E Extreme | MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk | 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600/CL16 | MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X | Corsair RM650x | Cooler Master HAF X | Logitech G400s | DREVO Excalibur 84 | Kingston HyperX Cloud II | BenQ XL2411T + LG 24MK430H-B

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