Budget CPU Coolers Reviewed

Hey everyone, In this post I am going to be taking a look at some of the cheaper CPU coolers and heatsinks that are currently on the market. I will be including Specs of each of the Coolers and also if I can find any temperature comparisons online then I will put them in as well.

Xilence XilentBlade Pro

The Xilence XilentBlade pro is one of the cheapest performance heatsinks that is available on the market today. It can cool CPU's upto the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 and the AMD Phenom x3 8750. It costs just under £15 ($25) and looks very well built. It has 6 large heatpipes and that fan that is included can move 36cfm of air which means that it will cools most CPU's very well. The design is pretty boring to be honest and just has a huge square block of aluminum fins and a Red and Black fan attached to it so nothing too fancy. Overall I would think that this cooler would be brilliant for cooling Dual Core CPU's that use under 95w of power and for £15 who can complain? Great cooler by Xilence. This cooler can be used on Sockets 775, 1366, AM2, AM2+ and AM3.
This cooler can be found here - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176093

Xilence XilentBlade Pro

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
This CPU cooler design has been around for ages and has earned it self a lot of praise from overclockers over the last couple of years. Arctic has really managed a great budget cooler with this design and you can pick one up for around £15 just like the Xilence XilentBlade. This cooler can be used on Sockets 775, 1156, 1366, AM2, AM3. It has 6 heatpipes and 42 fins for optimal cooling performance and can cool CPU's up to 130w which means pretty much every CPU made currently. It has a 92mm fan on the front of it which is mounted on rubber mounts to stop vibrations. The fan can push 45cfm which is pretty impressive. Overall Arctic cooling has done a very good job at making a Budget CPU cooler and I am very impressed with the quality of this as well as I have used on before.
You can find this CPU here - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Zalman CNPS7000C-CU Super Flower
The Zalman CNPS700C-CU is a bit of an out of date design now. I remember having one that was cooling my Athlon XP CPU ages ago. This one looks pretty much exactly the same only it fits different sockets. It will fit the following CPU sockets; AM2, AM2+, AM3, 754, 939, and 940, 775, 1156, 1155 This Cooler features 2890sq/cm of surface area which means that it has a lot of surface to dissipate heat. I couldn't find out how much CFM the fan pushed even on the Zalman website so I can't really make much of a judgement on this cooler to be honest. Overall it is a little outdated now but if you have a computer with maybe a 754 or 939 motherboard then this is still a perfectly good option.
This cooler can be found here - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/153203

Zalman CNPS7000C-CU Cooler

Inno3D iChill XXXX
Inno3D isn't a well known cooler manufacture, They are more specialized at producing cheaper graphics cards. However when I saw this cooler I was amazed that they could produce it so cheap and yet have such good specifications. There are  the specs of this cooler;

Max. Air Flow - 45CFM
Noise - 23-39dB
TDP Limit - 140W
Intel: i7 / i5 / i3 / Socket 1366 / 1156 / 1155/ 775
AMD: Socket AM3 / AM2+ / 939

As you can see from the specifications it has a high flow fan and can cool CPU's up to 140w which is very good. It also has 6 heatpipes to aid heat dissipation from the CPU. Overall this cooler is very good for £17 and it looks like it would do a very decent job of cooling every CPU available today.
This Cooler can be found here - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244150

Inno3D Ichill XXXX

Overall there are various coolers that would most likely do a good job at cooling your CPU and for under £20, I was amazed at what I found. I would recommend the Inno3D iChill and the Arctic Cooling above the others but those are still capable CPU coolers anyway so there is no need to say they are not good because they are. All great designs and all aimed at the budget market.

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How to keep your PC running cool and quiet - Case Fans and Cases

Hey everyone. In this post I am going to be looking at ways to help keep your PC running cool and Quiet. When A computer is being used it produces heat because of the chips that are in it. Each one is made up of loads of little transistors and as they are turned on and of they give out small amounts of heat. Now when all of this is added up you can end up with some pretty high heat output components that need to be cooled. This is my quick guide to cooling your computer on a budget.


Firstly The Case


One of the main parts of a computer for cooling is the case that you house the components in. There are many people out there running their high powered computers in a tiny little case which causes them to get too hot or become noisy as the fans spin up to try and keep them cool. Here are a few cases that will not brake the bank but will help to keep the air flow to your components as good as possible.

I am going to start with the Casecom 5288. It can be bought for £28 ($45) from here Having looked at the specs of the casecom 5288 the first thing I noticed was the big 120mm fan on the front and the space available for a 120mm fan on the back as well. 120/140mm fans are a lot better at keeping down the volume of the PC as they don't have to spin as fast to move as much air as 80/92mm fans do. This case also feautres a 120/140mm fan space at the top of the case and the PSU is also mounted at the bottom. This means that the PSU gets good cool air to keep it running well and help keep voltages stable. It is also quite a stylish case and looks rather nice.

Casecom 5288

The next case that I am going to look at is another Casecom case. You can find it here. It is the Casecom 6788. This massive looking case costs around £29 ($47) has a full vented front so that air can pass through the 5.25" drive bay covers through a fine mesh and filter. This stops dust getting in while allowing air to pass through. It has basically the same layout as the Casecom 5288 except different styling. This is more of a gaming case. It has the slot for a 120mm fan in the front and upto 120mm on the back and a space for upto 140mm on the top. This is great for case airflow and will help keep the components very cool. The PSU is also mounted at the bottom like the 5288 which is good for keeping the PSU cool as well.

Casecom 6788

My final case is made by Xigmatek and goes by the name Xigmatek Asgard. This all black case is made to a high standard and only costs £29 ($47) from here. It has a front mounted 120mm fan from standard and space on the back for another 120mm fan. It also has two spaces for 120mm fans on the side to aid graphics card cooling. The PSU is mounted at the top in this case unlike the Casecom cases which might mean that your PSU will run a little hotter but it most likely won't make that much difference so long as you have good case fans.

Secondly The Case Fans

Having a good case can easily be canceled out by having cheap high spinning fans that produce a lot of noise. Instead of going for the cheapest fans you can find it is usually a good idea to stick with well known brands such as Zalman, Coolermaster, and Antec.
I am going to start with the Coolermaster Excalibur. This is one of the most expensive PC fans you can buy at the moment but it does offer amazing performance and it will also last a lot longer than most cheap PC fans. Here are the main specifications for the Coolermaster Excalibur

• Speed (R.P.M.) 600 - 2000 RPM ± 10%

• Air Flow (CFM) 26.4 - 85.6 CFM ± 10%

• Air pressure (mmH2O) 0.75 - 3.53 mmH2O

• Noise 13 - 30 dBA

As you can see this is a very quiet case fan and will easily be able to cool most components with a maximum flow rate of 85.6 CFM. That is a lot of air flow for a very good DB rating. Coolermaster are a good reliable computer cooling and PSU company so I have no doubt that this fan will be able to produce those numbers in a real situation. It also has a 100,000 hour life so it will outlast any cheap case fan easily.

The next type of fan I am going to look at is the Coolermaster 120mm Sickleflow. This is a very good case fan and these are the specs about it;

• Speed (R.P.M.) 2000 R.P.M.

• Air Flow (CFM) 69.69 CFM

• Air pressure (mmH2O) 2.94 mmH2O

• Fan Noise Level (dB-A) 19 dB-A

As you can see this case fan has massive air flow. 69 CFM from a 120mm fan that only produces 19dB is a very good performance, sound ratio. And once again as it comes from coolermaster it wouldn't surprise me if it managed these figures.

Coolermaster Sickleflow 120mm

 The final fan that I am going to look at is the Xilence Red Wing. This fan is a great fan and I have personally been running one for quite a while now and it is very quiet. They cost around £4.50 ($7) and they are very good for the price. They come with a fitting kit which includes 4 rubber mounts for the fan to stop vibrations. These are the specifications for the fan

• Air volume at full speed (12V), CFM ±10% 44.71

• Noise level at full speed (12V), dB(A) 21.2 

• Fan speed at full speed (12V), RPM ±10% 1400

As you can see from the figures this is a very capable fan. It can push 44 Cfm at 1400rpm and still only produce 21dB of noise. This is a very good noise to performance ratio and Xilence should be proud of what they have produced. A good priced high performance quite fan. Exactly what you need to put in one of your Budget cases that I reviewed above.

Xilence Red Wing 120mm