Insights Into Why I No Longer Advocate for Budget-Friendly $100 Processor Coolers

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Key Takeaways

Mid-range and budget CPU air coolers have surpassed $100 models thanks to their fantastic performance and attractive price points.
The Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE is my top CPU air cooler recommendation because it beats $100+ options while costing only $35.
Noctua coolers remain a worthwhile investment if you seek a passive cooling solution or top-notch long-term support.

Back when it came out, the Noctua NH-D15 was a majestic piece of hardware that absolutely justified its price. Nowadays, though, $100 air CPU coolers aren’t rulers of the realm anymore. They’ve been superseded by a new generation of tower coolers offering both performance and affordability.

Mid-Range Options Offer Comparable if Not Superior Performance

Don’t get me wrong, the Noctua NH-D15 and its ilk in the form of the DeepCool Assassin IV and be quiet! Dark Rock Elite are still pretty “solid to excellent” when it comes to pure cooling performance, depending on the specific model and the CPU you pair it with. However, when you combine said performance with the price of admission, things go south.

Let’s use the latest cooler from Thermalight, one of the headliners of the new wave of CPU air coolers, the Phantom Spirit 120 EVO , as an example and point of comparison. The review over at TechPowerUp paints a pretty clear picture of what this $50 cooler is capable of. When paired with an unconstrained Intel Core i7-13700K , its absolute cooling power—the amount of heat in watts the cooler can dissipate before the CPU thermal throttles —tops out at 321W . This is in the realm of quality 240mm and 280mm AIO liquid coolers!

The situation’s similar when you pair the cooler with an AM5 CPU , the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X , only this time the Phantom Spirit 120 EVO surpasses even a couple of 280mm and 360mm AIOs.

For comparison, the Noctua NH-D15 is able to dissipate 298W of heat, the be quiet! Dark Rock Elite sits at 301W, and the Assassin IV can’t exceed 290W. The kicker here, at least for the three $100 heatsinks, is the fact that you can get the Phantom Spirit 120 EVO for less than $50. On the other hand, the most affordable member of the high-end cooler group, the be quiet! Dark Rock Elite, is priced at $99.90.

The numbers don’t lie; a mid-range CPU air cooler can best or equal the $100+ crowd, which is why I cannot recommend $100 CPU air coolers anymore. Back in the day, the NH-D15 and its single-fan cousin, the NH-D15S , were my two go-to recommendations to friends and acquaintances who wanted an air cooler for their new rig. One of the NH-D15s I installed back in 2015, if I remember correctly, is still going strong, cooling off a Ryzen 9 5950X, and will most likely be used in a future PC powered by one of the upcoming Zen 5 CPUs .

Nowadays, I tend to recommend budget and mid-range CPU air coolers or AIOs if the PC builder wants a liquid cooling solution for their CPUs. I hope Noctua’s upcoming NH-D15 successor won’t cost $100 unless it gets close to a quality 360mm AIO performance.

So now it’s time to put your money where my mouth is: these are some of the best air coolers I can recommend today.

My Go-To Recommendation: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE

Thermalright

While a $50 tower cooler beats every other CPU air cooler out there, along with a number of 240mm and 280mm AIOs, the Thermalight Phantom Spirit 120 EVO isn’t my first recommendation.

That accolade goes to its $35 relative, the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE . This is a beast of a cooler that can tame any CPU you throw at it, aside from something like a Core i9-14900K with power limits removed. Sure, the Phantom Spirit 120SE is not a looker, but its dual tower and dual fan design, backed by seven heat pipes, is a force to be reckoned with, all that for just $35.

The Phantom Spirit 120 EVO is technically better, but its $50 price works against it. If you don’t mind spending a bit extra, the EVO is a solid option, considering it looks way better than the Phantom Spirit 120SE while also packing a pinch of RGB.

The Best Alternative: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE

Thermalright

If you want something with similar power but can’t find the Phantom Spirit 120SE at the $35 price point or at all, check out the Peerless Assassin 120 SE , also from Thermalight. This is yet another beefy CPU air cooler sporting a price of about $39.

The good news is that you can find an RGB version of the cooler, as well as a white RGB flavor, satisfying the aesthetic-first PC building crowd’s tastes. This one isn’t as potent as the Phantom Spirit 120SE due to having one less heat pipe, but it’s still a beast considering its selling price.

The Fancy Option With an LCD Screen: DeepCool AK620 Digital

DeepCool

If you want something fancier that doesn’t cost as much as those $100+ coolers but packs a similar level of performance and looks way better than any other CPU air cooler on the market, take a look at the DeepCool AK620 Digital .

This cooler can wrestle with the best, but it also looks stunning with its tasteful RGB and an LCD screen showing CPU thermals. It sells at $80, which is a lot compared to the other two options listed above. That said, the AK620 Digital looks way better than any of the $100+ crowd while matching their performance.

Just note that you can pair all the coolers I mentioned above with any Ryzen CPU and most Intel processors. The only situation where I’d go with an AIO liquid cooler is if you plan on using an Intel K-series i7 or i9 without power limits—that said, it looks like removing power limits will make your Intel CPU unstable—for heavy all-core workloads that can punish every performance core found below the heat spreader (IHS), or if you’re building an ultra-compact small form factor (SFF) PC.

When It’s Okay to Spend $100+ on an Air CPU Cooler

While I generally don’t recommend $100+ CPU air coolers for regular builds, there are a couple of specific scenarios where buying an expensive CPU air cooler is justified.

If you need a fully passive CPU cooler, the Noctua NH-P1 is unbeaten in what it does. This passive CPU cooler does cost a pretty penny, but if you want a passive, zero-noise cooler for your setup, the $110 price is justified.

Also, get a Noctua if you want to buy a powerful air cooler for your CPU which you plan to keep using for a decade or so without worrying about compatibility with future CPU sockets. The company will provide one for you free of charge.

Sure, each and every cooler in their lineup carries a noticeable price premium compared to the competition, but Noctua’s customer service is unparalleled, and their commitment to going the extra mile for customers is invaluable. You can’t put a price on that.

For most of the company’s coolers, you can get free mounting kits for new CPU sockets, including AMD’s AM5 and Intel’s LGA1700 , by submitting an order form with proof of purchase. Other cooler manufacturers simply don’t offer this level of long-term support for their products.

$100+ models were the apex of the CPU air cooler market for a good while, but their reign is over. Nowadays, you can get a powerful CPU air cooler that tops the performance charts for less than $50, which is the upper limit I recommend prospective PC builders stick to unless you want a specific feature—like an LCD screen in the case of the A620 Digital—or a kick-ass customer service that will allow you to use your tower cooler for a decade or longer.

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Insights Into Why I No Longer Advocate for Budget-Friendly $100 Processor Coolers