We have written several guides about the best CPU and best motherboards for them. But what is almost equally famous for the best performance is the temperature of your processor. For optimal returns, you must keep your processor fresh and within the acceptable or bearable range of temperature.
In this guide, we will tell you the best CPU cooler for the i7 9700k processor. There are several and several types of choices when it comes to CPU coolers:
Contents
Noctua NH-D15
Features:
- 2 Optimised 140mm fans
- 4-Pin power connector
- Best performance on overclocking
You may either go with AIO or AIR CPU coolers. We will mention both in this guide so you can choose whatever you want.
The first one is an Air Cooler CPU.
Best CPU Cooler for i7 9700k
Noctua NH-D15
Undoubtedly, if you open this product page, you will see why we chose this. It is the highest-rated CPU cooler on this list.
It has six heat pipes with two fans that provide excellent cooling performance. Especially if you are a fan of overclocking and plan to overclock your CPU, this will be the best choice overall.
It may create some audible noise, but that’s almost negligible.
For social proof and reliability on performance, you can get ideas from the fact that it has secured 250+ awards and recommendations from renowned magazines and international hardware websites.
The two fans you get are highly optimized with PWM support. It also has low-noise adaptors, as I said above, that makes it super quiet.
Compatibility
Because the CPU i7 9700k uses an Intel LGA 1151 socket, so this CPU cooler is also compatible with that. Along with that, it is consistent with the following devices:
LGA1151, LGA1150, LGA1155, LGA2011, LGA1156, LGA2066. If, soon, you plan to change your processor that uses an AMD AM2(+) socket, feel free because it is compatible with AMD AM2(+), FM2(+) AM4 as well as AM3(+) FM1.
Another best thing about it is the warranty you get from the manufacturer. Yes, you are backed by a 6-year warranty.
Not only the manufacturer itself says it as the best CPU cooler for i7 9700k, but also you will find it in a list of almost every expert’s opinion.
See some of its technical specifications:
Honestly, if I were you, I would not think twice after seeing it. I would have purchased it at the very first sight of knowing its capabilities.
Nothing even comes closer to it except some high-end custom water cooling solutions. It also outperforms some of the water cooling units. Whether you do overclock on your CPU or not, NH-D15 is the best CPU cooler for i7 9700k no matter what.
2.Corsair Hydro Series H150i – Best Silent AIO Cooler for i7 9700K
Do you think you will push all the limits of your processor with some exceptional high-end work? Well, you might think of a Liquid CPU cooler in that case. So, for air, we recommended NH-D15. But for the liquid cooling mechanism, we will recommend the Corsair Hydro Series H150i.
It has a 360mm Radiator with Triple 120mm Fans. Fans are ML Series PWM Fans. To push its beauty limits, corsair included advanced RGB lighting and FAN software control in it.
You get three ML Series fans with PWM support. The lighting of this all in one CPU cooler is RGB, which is compatible with corsair iCUE.
Thanks to its 360mm radiator, which is specially built for the least possible noise. If we say it is the quietest CPU cooler for i7 9700k in our list, that wouldn’t be wrong.
Compatibility
Similar to NH-D15, it is compatible with many Intel LGA sockets as well as AMD Ryzen sockets. So, you can use it for either company’s processor. For your information, the sockets it support are as follows:
LGA1151, LGA1150, LGA1155, LGA2011, LGA2011-3 LGA1156, LGA2066, LGA1366, LGA2066, AMD AM2, AM4, AM3, FM2, FM1.
If in some cases, it doesn’t perform well or does its promised job, you are backed by a five-year warranty from Corsair.
The great thing is its noise is very much low, and one can’t notice it without seeing it.
See some of its technical specifications:
Conclusion
Unless you need a small and compact CPU cooler with a small radiator or you have a tighter budget, there is no else reason for not getting it. With a five-year warranty, beautiful RGB look, and quietness it has been remarkable, and if you can afford it, this is what we recommend for you.
3.NZXT Kraken M22 – Best AIO Cooler for i7-9700K
It is also an all-in-one CPU cooler with the liquid cooling capability and that too at a lower price. It has much less cost compared to the above mentioned two CPU coolers.
It has advanced lighting modes that allow you to have a fully dynamic lighting experience. You can add amazing color to it as it comes with an infinity mirror design.
However, it only has one fan, which is good but not perfect for overclocking. But in general, it works just awesome for most.
What makes it super unique, and people want to buy it is because of its LED modes. Everything is easily controlled with simple software via CAM.
Mind-blowingly, the Performance noise ratio is incredible because even at overclocking to 5 GHz, you won’t notice much noise.
See some of its technical specifications:
Conclusion
Even though, NZXT Kraken M22 is a pretty good AIO cooler. The speed of 3000 RPM is awe-inspiring when compared to some other coolers of this range. Many RGB LED Modes allow you to control almost everything about its look. There are a total of 10 LED modes for you to work with.
The only reason people may refrain from buying it is that according to some, your data may be sent to cloud services, which looks terrifying. Performance-wise and price-wise, it is beautiful.
4.Be quiet! Dark Rock 4 – Best budget CPU Cooler for i7 9700k
It is a compact CPU cooler just as the name says – it is a quiet one.
The best thing about it is that it has a pretty good price and many can afford it. Secondly, it has six high-performance heat pipes made of copper, which play a crucial role in making it work efficiently.
Unlike six years of warranty like Noctua NH-D15, it only has three years of warranty.
It comes in a black finish, which looks gorgeous, and also it will support if you decide to add an additional 120mm fan.
See some of its technical specifications:
Conclusion
There is not much to say about it except admitting the fact how much quiet it is. Even at overclocking, the maximum noise level one could get is 21.4 dBA.
It does what it claims to do. There are just two things we don’t like about it. One is that thermal paste is not included even when they say it has, and secondly, it is expensive if you look closely at the overall price-to-performance ratio.
And if you can get thermal paste separate and budget is no problem, sure go for it.
5.Cryorig H5 Ultimate CR-H5B – Best mid-range CPU Cooler for i7 9700k
This is also one of those budget-friendly CPU Cooler, but instead of six pipes, you get four high-performance heat pipes. TDP is 180 watts, and it comes with a pure copper base with nickel plating.
This CPU cooler is equipped with one 140mm PWM Fan. The maximum speed you can grab out of it is 1400 RPM causing a noise level of up to 23 dBA.
One crucial factor you should consider while deciding about this CPU cooler is that you may need an ATX sized motherboard and full-size tower case to fit it. It is all because of its hefty size, which is not a lot big but can be hard to place in a Nanos tower.
So, we must keep that in mind.
The best part of this CPU cooler is its design, as it is a black and white themed cooler that looks prettier and classy than many others. Back to performance factors, the noise is significant. Even if you overclock, you can hardly hear anything from the case.
The only downside we can think of so far is that it will block the closest RAM slot if you have a tall RAM stick. Otherwise, you are good to go.
See some of its technical specifications:
Conclusion
This is the only one on our list who didn’t have any complaints. However, if you force us to give you a con, we would say the fan’s speed is low. Despite that fact, the cooler entirely do its job. We recommend it for those looking for a mid-range CPU cooler for i7 9700 because the price-to-performance ratio is fantastic.
How to choose the best CPU cooler for i7 9700K?
Now that we have mentioned around six best CPU coolers for i7 9700k above, we believe you deserve to know the criteria behind such selection.
So, the following are the breakdown points which we consider:
- Compatibility
- Type of Cooler you are looking for
- Performance
- Price to performance ratio
- Use cases
CPU coolers are crucial for the best performance of CPUs. A wrong decision can seriously harm your processor for the long-term or even less than the promised return. This is why choosing the best & dedicated one for your processor is as important as your PC’s experience.
Compatibility
So, at first, we make sure that the cooler is compatible with the possible CPUs. In this case, we carefully checked each CPU cooler to make sure that they can work flawlessly with Intel core i7 9700K.
To check if a CPU cooler is compatible or not, all you need to do is check compatible CPU sockets. You can easily find a list of compatible sockets on the manufacturer’s website. Some also state these on Amazon product pages.
Mostly used & accessible CPU socket for Intel processors is LGA1151, but a CPU cooler can support many more than just that.
For example, Corsair Hydro Series H150i supports almost 14 CPU sockets. The list includes both AMD as well as Intel sockets.
To make it easy for you, this is how we break it down. Just ask yourself two questions, and you will know if a CPU cooler will work for you or not.
What CPU socket does my processor use?
Does this CPU cooler support that CPU socket?
These two are fundamental questions to ask for checking compatibility.
But this is not everything. Size also matters incompatibility. Of course, you can’t fit a massive cooler in a small itx sized motherboard case size. One highly complained issue users face is that their refrigerators don’t save space for RAM because the case covers them. So, think about that too at the same time.
Type of Cooler
There are two types of CPU coolers:
- AIO Coolers
- Air Coolers
The former uses liquid for cooling while the latter uses air for cooling. Both have their pros and cons.
However, we want to clarify here that if you are a beginner, please go with Air cooler. The main reason for this is that beginners will not be able to install or manage AIO coolers properly with time. On the other hand, the AIO cooling system is just a little bit complex.
The air over AIO’s benefit is that Air CPU coolers tend to perform much longer and usually are best for long-term – for beginners.
I was wondering about how both types of coolers look like? Liquid CPU Coolers define real beauty since they have an attractive body, design, and excellent RGB setup.
It doesn’t mean that Air Coolers don’t have beauty – they have, but there are limited options for that. They are made for cooling, so they do just that. But yes, as I said before, you can find beautiful looking air coolers as well.
Which provides more convenience – AIO or Air?
Undoubtedly, Air coolers tend to provide more convenience to users. The reason for this is that after installing it in a perfect place, you have nothing else to do. Just start playing your favorite games or whatever you want.
All you need to do later is clean the air cooler, so it gets rid of dust.
On the other hand, you have to properly manage AIO coolers because you have to take care of radiators and fans, etc. Also, they are observed to work for a shorter time than air coolers.
Also, air coolers are cheap, and AIO coolers are expensive.
It has also been observed that at extreme usage, AIO coolers produce more noise than Air coolers – it may sound surprising, but it is a fact.
Performance / Price-to-Performance Ratio
We also checked if a product is priced too high compared to its performance or if it provides much more performance than price.
Of course, the best one comes with more price, but it is not all the time. There are cheap air coolers that outperform many expensive coolers. Such types of air coolers include Noctua NH-D15 and Dark Rock Pro 4 from being quiet!.
Both have a suitable price, and both outperform many other CPU coolers. You can get an idea from this fact that both processors perform amazingly awesome even if the CPU is overclocked to the fullest potential. If you are thinking about noise at such a level, don’t worry because they don’t make much or noticeable sound.
We only mentioned the CPU coolers above, which are well-performing and have reasonable pricing. Even if you think one is high priced, please don’t worry because they worth it.
Use Case
Every user uses a PC in their way, but most either play games or use heavy software, including Adobe and others.
There are several types of users, but we will classify them as two basic types, such as regular users and overclockers.
We will always recommend a CPU air cooler over an AIO cooler for a regular user – not just because of price but also because of convenience.
And yes, for an extreme level user, we will always recommend a custom water loops cooling mechanism, which is even better than both. But remember, this is a technical system, and you should do it only if you have experience or get it done through an experienced person.
Best CPU cooler for i7 9700k-Our Final Verdict
- Overall Best CPU Cooler for i7 9700K: Noctua NH-D15
- Best Budget CPU Cooler for i7 9700K: Be quiet! Dark Rock 4
- Best AIO Cooler for i7 9700K: Corsair Hydro Series H150i
Originally posted 2021-04-10 06:21:21.