CPU Coolers & Pastes
CPU Coolers and Thermal Pastes
346 air and liquid coolers from Deepcool, Noctua, Asus, be quiet! and Endorfy. With 75 products carrying a six-year warranty — among the longest in the entire store.
- Deepcool 76 · Noctua 46 · Asus 31 · be quiet! 27 · Savio, Endorfy, Modecom, NZXT, Corsair
- 75 products with a 72-month and 27 with a 60-month warranty
- Air cooling and closed-loop liquid cooling
- Thermal pastes included
Air or liquid?
Air cooler — a tower of copper pipes and fins with one or two fans. No pump to fail, no fluid to evaporate, and the top models cool as well as liquid units. The drawback is height: it has to fit inside your case.
Closed-loop liquid — a pump on the processor and a radiator with fans at the side or top of the case. Better on very hot processors, frees space around the memory, and usually quieter under full load. It needs a case that accepts the radiator size.
The three measurements that must match
Cooler height and case width. Every case states a maximum cooler height in millimetres. This is the most common buying mistake: the cooler arrives and the side panel will not close.
Radiator size. 240 and 280 mm fit most mid-tower cases; 360 mm needs a large case with suitable mounts.
Clearance over the memory. Bulky air coolers can overhang memory with tall heat spreaders. If your modules have tall heatsinks, check this.
Thermal paste
It is the thin layer between the processor and the cooler base, and its job is to fill the microscopic gaps so heat can pass. More paste does not mean better cooling — quite the opposite. A pea-sized amount in the centre is enough.
Most new coolers arrive with paste pre-applied or a syringe in the box. You need separate paste when refitting an old cooler or servicing a system after several years.
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Frequently asked questions
- Will the cooler fit my case?
- Check the maximum cooler height stated by the case and compare it with the cooler height. It is the most common mistake in a build.
- Does the cooler fit my socket?
- Most current coolers include brackets for the current AMD and Intel sockets. Check the compatibility list on the product.
- Is liquid cooling better?
- Not always. On very hot processors it has an advantage, but a top air cooler performs just as well with no pump that could fail.
- How much paste should I apply?
- A pea-sized amount in the centre of the processor. The cooler’s pressure spreads it. Too much makes heat transfer worse.
- How often should paste be replaced?
- In normal use it lasts several years. If you remove the cooler for any reason, always apply fresh paste.