CPU Air Cooler Mega Test

[tinytomlogan]

BeQuiet Mounts:
Ok so the coolers were mounted in an arse about face way but thats because the instructions are very vague and in all honesty we mounted them 'like we would all of the others' they were still on as tight as they could go etc.
We have remounted the BQ's today just to be 100% sure and there was no difference in performance. I dont want to sound like god but hey if we got it wrong that just shows that many others could and its a bit of an issue.
The one thing to point out is working with a big batch of coolers like this it just shows that the BQ mount would never be one we would say is good or easy. Noctua is the clear winner in that regard and the Cryorig cooler is almost exactly the same (they pretty much made a very subtle change to the Noctua idea)

So what it all boils down to is yes we made a bit of a booboo and got cooler mount blind but we still had it bolted down as tight as we could and the performance results match up with our retesting today.

We have spoken to BQ and they agree the instruction have always been terribad and agree it needs clearer step by step instructions that even a tired reviewer can follow at midnight after a few too many whiskeys......

 

[Wraith]

Well said Guv, by the sounds of it the install manual is about as clear as Fractals Kelvin which reads like it was translated from English to Chinese to German back to English.

 

[NoobCase]

Well said Guv, by the sounds of it the install manual is about as clear as Fractals Kelvin which reads like it was translated from English to Chinese to German back to English.

Swedes are normally pretty good at english but they prolly made someone to do the manual and translations.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

This is fantastic. No surprises really, but fantastic work. Thanks a lot.

My next system I'm hoping to build will be around the Cryorig R1 Ultimate. I love great big hulking towers on a motherboard in a small case. It fills it out perfectly. I would go with the Noctua, but the Cryorig just looks so much better and is one of the few customizable CPU heatsinks. Why more competitors don't do this is beyond me.

 

[smilertoo]

No Phantek?

Have Phantek fallen out of favour?

 

[NeverBackDown]

Finally you did cryorig coolers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am astounded on the amount of information and data you gathered while at the same time, I feel so sorry for you. That's an insane amount of work! Thanks for the great article, it's kind of ironic actually. Before getting on my PC i was wondering what cooler I should get for my brothers PC since he's on stock intel cooler.. I get on OC3D and this was the first thing I clicked on. Basically made up my mind now, The M9 it is!

 

[ThePythonicCow]

hey if we got it wrong that just shows that many others could and its a bit of an issue.

Yes - it's an issue with bequiet! coolers, and it's been an issue for years.

Most reviewers, and I presume most users, have run afoul of this issue.

Perhaps as a result of Schrank and you prodding them, they might finally get around to improving the documentation, but it's a bit late now. They've no doubt lost considerable sales over this, at least in English speaking countries. I don't know about their German instructions or sales.

Thanks for the update, Tom, and thanks for the extensive CPU air cooler review.

 

[Tolemac]

I have had the unfortunate experience of the BeQuiet mounting system only once NEVER again it was awful .

 

[demonking]

Glad to see a scythe review. It's been a while. Iike the mugen. Had one on my first i5 and it did well, even better with a second fan.
What was the name of that ridiculous cooler they did? It had 4 fans and went over the gpu it was so big?

 

[AngryGoldfish]

Yes - it's an issue with bequiet! coolers, and it's been an issue for years.

Most reviewers, and I presume most users, have run afoul of this issue.

Perhaps as a result of Schrank and you prodding them, they might finally get around to improving the documentation, but it's a bit late now. They've no doubt lost considerable sales over this, at least in English speaking countries. I don't know about their German instructions or sales.

Thanks for the update, Tom, and thanks for the extensive CPU air cooler review.

Almost every review criticises the mounting system on the BeQuiet! coolers. I can imagine they've lost quite a few sales to Noctua, Phanteks, Cryorig and TT because of it. It's frustrating because their coolers perform well, look amazing, and are virtually noiseless. I don't care that they're £10 more expensive than a competitor when they look as awesome as they do.

 

[notcool]

Glad to see a scythe review. It's been a while. Iike the mugen. Had one on my first i5 and it did well, even better with a second fan.
What was the name of that ridiculous cooler they did? It had 4 fans and went over the gpu it was so big?

The Scythe Susanoo.


Hey Tom I still run an NH-D14 only reason I got it was for the review you gave back in your earlier days Yes I've watched every video you ever did.

 

[MiNo]

Awesome review! Thanks!

Got my first "aftermarket" CPU cooler (Noctua D14) 6 years ago, and I'm somewhat surprised to see Noctua still is King. Ok, so a few other are close - but to me it's OK to spend £30 more on a cooler when it's the Best, likely the most quite, have the Best mounting option and support (how Many others offer free mounting kits for motherboards released after you bought the cooler???).

My D14 is still in use on my 6700K. It Works Like the Day i got it.

Also, some of us still have windowless cases and could not Care less about the Colour of the fans .

Given how long these things last, it seems Like it only make sense to buy the very Best. It might be the cheapest Component to do that.

 

[Stuen4y]

No Thermalright coolers? This must be a joke... Having coolers that can compete at the same time in the Cost/Performance ratio and pure Performance giving NH-D15 a run for its money. Such a shame.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

No Thermalright coolers? This must be a joke... Having coolers that can compete at the same time in the Cost/Performance ratio and pure Performance giving NH-D15 a run for its money. Such a shame.

you can't blame Tom for the lack of Thermalright units in this review. He got the word out that he needs review samples and some companies did sent some didn't. He can't buy a couple hundred pounds worth of review material.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

No Thermalright coolers? This must be a joke... Having coolers that can compete at the same time in the Cost/Performance ratio and pure Performance giving NH-D15 a run for its money. Such a shame.

This is still one of the most comprehensive review list I've seen.

 

[notcool]

No Thermalright coolers? This must be a joke... Having coolers that can compete at the same time in the Cost/Performance ratio and pure Performance giving NH-D15 a run for its money. Such a shame.

Are they still even in business :huh: Thermalright won't send Tom any stuff because of what happened a few years ago when TTL exposed how crappy their cooler was compared to the D14 and they wouldn't believe his test results.

 

[Dicehunter]

No Thermalright coolers? This must be a joke... Having coolers that can compete at the same time in the Cost/Performance ratio and pure Performance giving NH-D15 a run for its money. Such a shame.

If no coolers are sent then they can't be reviewed and shelling out for it for 1 review isn't financially clever.

 

[Doomslayer]

Are they still even in business :huh: Thermalright won't send Tom any stuff because of what happened a few years ago when TTL exposed how crappy their cooler was compared to the D14 and they wouldn't believe his test results.

Yeah it looks like Thermalright is still around.

 

[TinBear]

gelid antarctica 120mm fan?

Great review. Thanks.

One small thing, I found the Gelid antarctica come with a 140mm fan.

 

[Speed]

Are they still even in business :huh: Thermalright won't send Tom any stuff because of what happened a few years ago when TTL exposed how crappy their cooler was compared to the D14 and they wouldn't believe his test results.

They still make some excellent coolers, just look at the Macho series.

What you're looking for then is a cooler with a small red bar (low temps) and a white bar that is also as small as possible (lower price).

Isn't that backwards? The Red Bar is cost and the White bar is temps.