Best CPU Air Coolers We’ve Reviewed (2023): Thermals, Mechanical Design, & Value

Sponsor: Thermal Grizzly Kryosheets and Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Paste (Amazon - ) We’re preparing to retire our CPU cooler test bench and roll-out a set of AM5 and LGA1700 benches (to be run in tandem for the new coolers reviews!). It’s an exciting time, but we wanted one last send-off for our long-time cooler bench. It’s collected a lot of data for us over the years. This round-up looks at the best CPU air coolers we’ve tested so far and gives options in categories of best thermals, best overall, best design, and more. There are a ton more air coolers out there that we haven’t yet tested, so remember to look around some more if you don’t see one you like. We’ll be adding those to our next test suite, too! The best way to support our work is through our store: Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links] BEST OVERALL Thermalright Peerless Assassin on Amazon: Thermalright Peerless Assassin on Newegg: GN Thermalright Peerless Assassin review: BEST VALUE ID Cooling SE-214-XT ARGB on Amazon: (No standalone review, but data is in this video) BEST THERMAL DESIGN Noctua NH-P1 Passive Cooler on Amazon: Noctua NH-P1 Passive Cooler on Newegg: GN Noctua NH-P1 cooler review: Article version of the NH-P1 review: BEST NOISE-NORMALIZED THERMALS (200W) DeepCool Assassin IV on Amazon: (200W) DeepCool Assassin IV on Newegg: (200W, 123W) Thermalright Peerless Assassin on Amazon: (68W) Thermalright Assassin Spirit (has been updated) on Amazon: (68W) ID Cooling SE-214-XT ARGB on Amazon: ULTRA BUDGET (it’s not actually good, though, but it works and is dirt cheap!) Jonsbo CR-1200: (not affiliate link) GN review of CR-1200: For something better but also still cheap, check the value category above. BEST MECHANICAL DESIGN DeepCool Assassin IV on Newegg: GN review of DeepCool Assassin IV: TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Best CPU Air Coolers We’ve Tested 01:38 - Expectations & Coolers We Haven’t Tested 03:35 - Best Overall Air Cooler 06:12 - Best Value CPU Cooler 08:59 - Best Thermal Design 12:28 - Best Thermals (Noise-Normalized) 16:09 - Best Ultra Budget 18:06 - Best Mechanical Design 21:47 - Wrap-Up: New Tests Soon! ** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! ** Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video (“this video is brought to you by“) and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or “sponsored content“ (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage. Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates: t: f: w: Host, Writing: Steve Burke Video: Vitalii Makhnovets Video: Tim Phetdara