Quote: The overall winner of this test is the Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition, it is unrivaled in cooling performance, does its job very quiet and is not overly expensive. A cheaper alternative is the Hyper 412S, it is one of our favourites not in the least because of its affordable price. Two high-end coolers clearly stand out above the rest; the Noctua NH-U14S and the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3 both combine excellent cooling performance with a very low noise level. The Noctua is the better performer in terms of cooling, the Be Quiet! takes the win in noise levels and definitely wins in the looks department.
The following coolers are tested in this review:
Be quiet! Dark Rock 3 [BK018]
Be quiet! Dark Rock Advanced C1 [BK014]
Be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 [BK017]
Be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 [BK019]
Be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 [BK013 ]
Be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim
[BK010]
Cooler Master Hyper 103 [RR-H103-22PB-R1]
Cooler Master Hyper 212
Evo [RR-212E-16PK-R1]
Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim
[RR-H412-16PK-R1]
Cooler Master Hyper 412S [RR-H412-13FK-R1]
Cooler Master
Hyper TX3 Evo [RR-TX3E-22PK-R1]
Cooler Master V8 GTS
[RR-V8VC-16PR-R1]
Cryorig R1 Universal [CR-R1B]
DeepCool Frostwin V2.0
[FROSTWINV20]
DeepCool Gamer Storm Lucifer [LUCIFER]
DeepCool Gammaxx S40
[XDC-GAMMAXXS40]
DeepCool Iceedge 400 XT [ICEEDGE 400 XT]
Enermax
ETS-T40-TB [ETS-T40-TB]
Enermax ETS-T40-W [ETS-T40-W]
Gelid GX-7 Rev.2
[CC-GX7-02-A]
Gelid SlimHero [CC-SHERO-01-A]
Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2
[CC-TRANQ-02-A]
Noctua NH-D14 (Socket 2011) [NH-D14 SE2011]
Noctua NH-D15
[NH-D15]
Noctua NH-L9i [NH-L9I]
Noctua NH-U12S [NH-U12S]
Noctua NH-U14S
[NH-U14S]
Scythe Ashura [SCASR-1000]
Scythe Grand Kama Cross 2
[SCKC-3000]
Scythe Kotetsu [SCKTT-1000]
Scythe Mugen 4 PCGH Edition
[SCMG-4PCGH]
Scythe Mugen 4 [SCMG-4000]
SilverStone Argon AR01
[SST-AR01]
SilverStone Heligon HE01 [SST-HE01]
Thermalright Archon SB-E X2
[ARCHON SB-E X2]
Thermalright Macho Rev. A [100700717]
Thermalright Silver
Arrow SB-E Extreme [100700412]
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E Special Edition
[100700409]
Thermalright True Spirit 90 M [100700538]
