Budget 0-20k Best cooler for the Intel 12th Gen 12600k CPU

Digigear

Disciple
I'm getting the following build:-
ComponentBrandItem
CPUIntelIntel Core i5-12600K Desktop Processor 10 (6P+4E) Cores up to 4.9 GHz Unlocked LGA1700 600 Series Chipset 125W
Mother BoardASUSASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 LGA1700(Intel 12th Gen) ATX gaming motherboard(PCIe 5.0, DDR4,4xM.2/NVMe SSD,14+2 power stages,WiFi 6,2.5Gb LAN,front USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C,Thunderbolt 4,ARGB headers)
MemoryCorsairCorsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3600 (PC4-28800) C18 AMD Optimized Memory – Black
StorageWestern DigitalWD_BLACK 1TB SN750 SE NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 3,600 MB/s - WDS100T1B0E
Power SupplyCooler MasterCooler Master MWE Gold 750 V2 80 Plus Gold Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply - Black, 750w

And for this I've done some research and I want to go with the Noctua D15 dual tower air cooler. It's quiet and offers fairly robust thermal performance.

It's available for around 8.5k, which is ok.

I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking other better options.

Also, Noctua's website says that it offers the bracket for the LGA1700 mount free of cost if you provide proof of purchase for the cooler and the cpu/mobo for LGA1700. Has anyone made use of this in India?
 
So you not going AMD way?
Nope. Initially I was going to go with 5700G (because I wanted to wait for the GPU prices to go down and wanted to have the iGPU) but someone told me about how it only has support for 3rd gen PCI express and it doesn't match performance on the R7 3800x. So I thought I'd go with the 3800X and get a temporary GPU. Then I looked at the performance of the 12th Gen intel 12600K and the 3800X and it actually is better than the 3800x and ALSO comes with its own GPU. Plus it was a lot cheaper.

And a lot of people say that the 12600k is THE best gaming CPU from a cost to performance perspective. So went with this. I'm pleased with it :)
 
Ok. Even I was in a dilemma and going the Intel way esp for this exact Alder Lake processor for but the tdp rating ensured I stick to AMD!
 
Ok. Even I was in a dilemma and going the Intel way esp for this exact Alder Lake processor for but the tdp rating ensured I stick to AMD!
Yeah, there's a lot of talk about this. But it is not as simple as it seems. There is a lot of nuance missed out by the straight out comparison because intel uses a different architecture for the cores.

Read this - https://www.pcworld.com/article/556...intels-alder-lake-is-a-power-hog-its-not.html

And if you look at the benchmarks on the thermal performance, it isn't so vastly different in real world use case
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Source - https://www.tomshardware.com/news/i...-amd-ryzen-5-5600x-ryzen-7-5800x-cpu-face-off

This Tom's hardware comparison goes through the detailed comparison of the two and shows clear reasons to prefer the intel 12th gen over the prevailing Ryzen chips.

Same performance for lower price
Looks good but doesn't support mounting for the LGA1700 out of the box (just as the Noctua).

Can't find the mounting kit for the LGA1700. But does look very good, both aesthetics and performance-wise.

And just as Noctua, they offer free mounting kit, but not sure how good their support is for India. If anyone could confirm that would be nice!
 
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Yeah, there's a lot of talk about this. But it is not as simple as it seems. There is a lot of nuance missed out by the straight out comparison because intel uses a different architecture for the cores.

Read this - https://www.pcworld.com/article/556...intels-alder-lake-is-a-power-hog-its-not.html

And if you look at the benchmarks on the thermal performance, it isn't so vastly different in real world use case
View attachment 123905

Source - https://www.tomshardware.com/news/i...-amd-ryzen-5-5600x-ryzen-7-5800x-cpu-face-off

This Tom's hardware comparison goes through the detailed comparison of the two and shows clear reasons to prefer the intel 12th gen over the prevailing Ryzen chips.

Looks good but doesn't support mounting for the LGA1700 out of the box (just as the Noctua).

Can't find the mounting kit for the LGA1700. But does look very good, both aesthetics and performance-wise.

And just as Noctua, they offer free mounting kit, but not sure how good their support is for India. If anyone could confirm that would be nice!
 
Yeah, I saw that and already contacted them about where I can get the mounting kit in India. And if they will ship it for free here if I show them proof of purchase.

But the issue with this is that they say that they may charge shipping fees depending on the region and I suspect that they might be shipping from Europe or N.America. Which means shipping will be quite high. And even if it was free shipping. The customs officials here are going to charge fees. I have had this happen before where computer hardware warranty parts shipped from outside the country for free had import duties slapped on them. Which is kinda ridiculous, but that is how those category of imports are treated. So if I can't find mounting kit for this in India, this cooler is not cool :p
 
If you want you can also go for AS500 Plus by Deepcool.

It's got 2X 140mm Deepcool TF140S Fans and 5 heat pipes. Only limit is the height clearance your PC Case has. It's also lighter than most dual towers.

I have the non-plus version that comes with a single TF140S and I don't go above 70 Celsius in 100% workload on my 5600x. (Realistically my workload is around 90% for around 10 mins in one day and my temps while playing games is around 63 Celsius.)

Do check some reviews on YouTube as well.
 
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I think this should be the best choice , maintaining the price to quality ratio .

Dark Rock Pro 4​

 
I think this should be the best choice , maintaining the price to quality ratio .

Dark Rock Pro 4​

In that budget one gets a swanky AIO which outperforms normal cooler.
 
Off topic, what price are you getting the 12600k for?
I'm thinking of getting it from the US via a friend. So whatever it retails in there + tax.
If you have a budget of 9k or so for a cooler, why not go with AiO liquid cooling? Improves aesthetics of the cabinet as well.
I thought the same earlier, but looking at the benchmarks, the Noctua D15 does a lot better in terms of noise and thermals than many of the liquid coolers. I was surprised too because generally the AIOs are supposed to be better. But even though they did well in terms of themrals, their noise was way too much. The Noctua D15 did pretty well in terms of nosie.

I am actually looking at Deepcool Assassin III as a more attractive alternative to the D15.

The only issue right now is to get the mount for the LGA1700 for either of these :/
 
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In that budget one gets a swanky AIO which outperforms normal cooler.
I don't think so. Even if you find like Deepcool (https://www.amazon.in/DEEPCOOL-GAMMAXX-L360-ARGB-LGA2066/dp/B08SM3WVH7) which is a budget option, it's TDP rating is still 250W.

Many reviews point out that the AIO gets noisy at high load. and that's what happens with budget AIOs on Higher TDP rated CPUs. To get a decent 360mm AIO for 250W Max TDP you have to shell out 11k.

Rather get a high-end Air Cooler than a budget AIO for a budget build.
 
Noctua D15 does a lot better in terms of noise and thermals than many of the liquid coolers. I was surprised too because generally the AIOs are supposed to be better. But even though they did well in terms of themrals, their noise was way too much. The Noctua D15 did pretty well in terms of nosie.
You can anyday replace those stock fans with silent ones. Seriously given the 8k budget AIO is the way to go. Basic cooler is a no brainier anything above 4k. But again your choice.
 
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