What kind of cpu cooler do i need

When you have done setting the fan, it will be running slower and quieter than it would have been at full speed. The very first thing you need to do is know about your motherboard is your socket type see step 1 if you are not sure. Popular socket types at the moment Nov are , AM2 and the new, up and coming So as well as choosing a cooler you must also choose one that is compatible with your particular socket type.

Currently, a lot of CPU coolers are compatible with most of the popular socket types although there are some only support one socket type. Take this board for example:. Well it is surprising what you can get in that space. I myself have the motherboard pictured above and also a copper Ninja :. Admittedly, clamping it down in the corners was a bit tricky but as always the result was well worth the effort! Many cooler which appear quite large have fins which are just far enough away from the base of the cooler to clear the surrounding heat pipes.

So what do you do? Coolers with multiple fans can also spin at lower speeds since there are more fans working to keep the cooler cool. There are a ton of different factors that go into choosing the right CPU cooler for your needs. Hopefully, the information above helps you in finding the right option for your system. Your email address will not be published. Great Article! This pretty much covers everything major when it comes to picking a CPU cooler. A cooler is something you should never skimp out on, especially if you want to overclock your CPU.

I had a CPU literally melt on me when I made that mistake many years ago. Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer Tech Guided is supported by its readers. How to Choose A Motherboard 4.

How to Choose A Graphics Card 5. How to Choose A Power Supply 6. What to Look for in A Gaming Chair. Comments Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Search Search the site Budget Gaming PCs.

Best Gaming CPUs. Best Gaming PCs. Best Gaming GPUs. Best Gaming Motherboards. Best PC Cases. You can then select a cooler that will fit your chassis using our by referring to the height specifications on the individual product pages of our website.

RAM compatibility: With some of our bigger cooler models, either the heatsink itself or one of the fans may overhang the RAM slots on some motherboards. It can, however, limit the compatibility with memory modules that feature taller heat-spreaders more than 33mm height.

If you would like to use RAM with taller heat-spreaders, please check our remarks regarding RAM height restrictions in the cooler descriptions and choose an appropriate cooler model. Note that this depends both on the size of the cooler and on the location of the CPU socket and top PCIe slot on the motherboard.

Please refer to our motherboard compatibility list to check which coolers overhang the top PCIe slot on a given motherboard. Custom cooling setups are expensive, no matter whose parts you buy. Air coolers , made of some combination of metal heatsinks and fans, come in all shapes and sizes and varying thermal dissipation capacities sometimes listed as TDP.

High-end air coolers these days rival many all-in-one AIO liquid coolers that have become popular in the market over the past several years. AIOs have also become increasingly resistant to leaks over the years, and are easier to install.

But they require room for a radiator, so may require a larger case than some air coolers. In general, the larger the radiator on the AIO or custom-loop cooler, the better it will perform although things like flow rate and fin density also come into play.

But if you aren't aiming for the best possible overclocks with a powerful high-end desktop HEDT CPU, there's no practical reason to opt for a cooler with a massive three-fan radiator. For most mainstream platforms, something more modest will suffice. Plenty of enthusiasts and gamers prefer a quiet system. Budget is probably the first thing you should consider. Finally, building a custom liquid loop will cost the most money by far. Between the radiator, pump, tubing, fittings, and the CPU block, the total cost is going to be significantly higher than a closed-loop kit.

What does this increased cost get you?