We have repeatedly told you that the heatsink that AMD and Intel include along with many of its processors, it is usually quite inefficient and even insufficient, depending on the consumption of the processor. That forces us to have to buy a heatsinkbut of course, if you have spent good money on the rest of the equipment, surely you prefer a cheap one even if it is not that good… in this article we are going to recommend what cheap and powerful heatsink you should buy depending on the consumption of your processor.
You already know that having a heatsink that is at least decent is necessary to keep the processor at a good temperature, reduce system noise and avoid possible problems. If you need to buy a heatsink for your PC but you want it to be good and cheap, you are in the right place, keep reading because we are going to give you our recommendations in this regard.
As you will see below, we have divided our recommendations into sections depending on the consumption of your processor, since it is not the same to cool a low-performance processor than a high-end one. With that said, here we go.
Cheap heatsink for low power CPU (45W or less)
If you have a low-power processor (we consider low power if its TDP is 45W or less), the heatsink that both Intel and AMD include with their processors may be enough. All in all, if you want to improve the temperature and noise of your PC, a cheap heatsink will be a better option than the one they give you for free.
For this type of situation, we opted for the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO, a tower-type heatsink with three copper heat pipes that guarantees a good temperature for Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processors, whatever the model. Despite its tower-type format, it is a small heatsink because its fan is 92mm, but it only emits 17 dBA in operation and that means an excellent level of silence. In addition, it is a fairly cheap heatsink because it barely costs 20 Euros.
If your processor is mid-range (95W or less)
We move to the mid-range, which includes Intel Core i5/i7 and AMD Ryzen 5 processors with a TDP of up to 95 watts maximum. We already have really very powerful processors in our hands in many cases and therefore require more advanced heat dissipation measures… these are the processors, in fact, in which the stock heatsinks that are included are already completely insufficient.
As we are looking for cheap heatsinks, we are not going to recommend an AIO liquid cooling kit, which is why many users who have this type of processor choose, so our choice is a arctic frieza 50a tower type heatsink with double fans and that includes thermal paste even so you do not have to worry about anything.
We have already been able to test this heatsink for ourselves and we could verify that it is really very efficient when it comes to dissipating heat, so we have no doubt that you will not have temperature problems again with a 95W processor or less. Also, for those who have a gaming PC, this heatsink includes RGB lighting.
Don’t buy a cheap high-end CPU cooler (+95W)
We are now entering the Intel Core i7/i9 and AMD Ryzen 7/9 ranges, processors with high energy consumption and for which we do not recommend skimping when buying a heatsink or you will end up having severe temperature, noise and even performance problems. (Thermal Throttling, you know). For this reason, and again without going into AIO liquid cooling systems, we are going to recommend a heatsink that can practically handle any processor, regardless of its consumption.
Our recommendation for this type of processor is a be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4, a dual-tower, dual-fan design heatsink that has proven to be one of the best on the market in terms of both performance and noise. It is true that it does not reach the level of the Noctua NH-D15, but it is also much cheaper.
Anyway, these are our personal recommendations, and logically there are many other powerful and cheap heatsinks that will serve the final purpose, which is to keep the processor at a good operating temperature.
