Is dual tower always better?

[Onasi]

@Knight47
Just buy a Phantom Spirit then. You won’t find anything single-tower to rival it in cooling performance and pretty much the only dual-tower that’s better (marginally) is the new Noctua D15 G2. Which is three times the price. At best.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

People told me that 7800X3D is easy to cool too, still reaches 75+ C on high single core load.

The mentality on temps just needs to change... It's easy to keep from throttling would be more accurate. Regardless of cooling thrown at it it will boost to a certain temperature assuming ambient cooling.

It's easy to keep from throttling but if above 70c sets your OCD on fire it's probably not the chip for you.

There are some awesome tower coolers for not alot of money, I prefer the U12A due to it's size I hate a big honking pieces of metal hanging from my motherboard lol.

 

[Onasi]

@oxrufiioxo
I pretty much stopped caring after running a few tests on my 5900X after finishing the build. Yeah, it goes wildly back and forth on temps even in Windows when it boosts a single core sky high for basic tasks. Yeah, it’s comparatively “hotter” than my old 2600K which idled in 30s and never went above 65 otherwise. But who cares? I ran a full core load. It stabilized at 78-80. And stayed there. That’s just what these chips DO.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

@oxrufiioxo
I pretty much stopped caring after running a few tests on my 5900X after finishing the build. Yeah, it goes wildly back and forth on temps even in Windows when it boosts a single core sky high for basic tasks. Yeah, it’s comparatively “hotter” than my old 2600K which idled in 30s and never went above 65 otherwise. But who cares? I ran a full core load. It stabilized at 78-80. And stayed there. That’s just what these chips DO.

I've used Arctic LFII/III 360s on all the 7800X3D builds I've done it keeps them pretty cool. I have less experience with air coolers but messed around with the AK620 and Thermalright PA 120 and they were both solid but for a personal system if going air I would still use the U12A over them.

 

[ARF]

I would like to know if dual tower coolers are always better than single tower?

It depends on the size, and other factors among which is the heat pipes number (which is the most important), type of the heat pipes, etc.
What if a single tower is physically larger and heavier than some dual-tower setups?

 

[sneekypeet]

50€, basically every other dual tower cooler costs twice as much.

53€

Are you sure it wasn't the A620 black you saw at that cost?

 

[#22]

50€, basically every other dual tower cooler costs twice as much.

53€

Maybe it's twice as much, but imo it's not much in general. Especially for what you get instead with going something like Thermalright dual tower. But if you want cooler as cheap as possible, search AliExpress - I'm pretty sure you will find something even cheaper than Gelid and maybe even RGB Btw mind that RGB differs with how it looks (amount of diodes and their style) and cheap RGB stuff tend to look crap, literally like cheap RGB stuff. Not even counting likelihood of awful durability, so showing artifacts or dying after like few months. Cheap brands having decently looking RGB are Arctic and Endorfy. It's not quality, but have at least long warranties. I don't know how about Thermalright.

What if a single tower is physically larger and heavier than some dual-tower setups?

It can still loose, especially on lower noise levels. Even somebody in this thread mentioned kinda dead end of big, single tower coolers like Macho series and it was a good point. Thick and big, so harder to ventilate radiator forcing to use bigger, harder to provide static pressure, fan. I suppose that this kind of coolers were here to fill the gap between tiny ones and big dual towers, but to not be able to seriously compete with them like compact (and cheap) dual towers do today.

And btw what about your promised eLoop testing? Is it better than stock Thermalright fan?

 

[Knight47]

Maybe it's twice as much, but imo it's not much in general. Especially for what you get instead with going something like Thermalright dual tower. But if you want cooler as cheap as possible, search AliExpress - I'm pretty sure you will find something even cheaper than Gelid and maybe even RGB Btw mind that RGB differs with how it looks (amount of diodes and their style) and cheap RGB stuff tend to look crap, literally like cheap RGB stuff. Not even counting likelihood of awful durability, so showing artifacts or dying after like few months. Cheap brands having decently looking RGB are Arctic and Endorfy. It's not quality, but have at least long warranties. I don't know how about Thermalright.



It can still loose, especially on lower noise levels. Even somebody in this thread mentioned kinda dead end of big, single tower coolers like Macho series and it was a good point. Thick and big, so harder to ventilate radiator forcing to use bigger, harder to provide static pressure, fan. I suppose that this kind of coolers were here to fill the gap between tiny ones and big dual towers, but to not be able to seriously compete with them like compact (and cheap) dual towers do today.

And btw what about your promised eLoop testing? Is it better than stock Thermalright fan?

I don't care about RGB, it died for me 15 years ago.

 

[#22]

I don't care about RGB, it died for me 15 years ago.

With such low expectations AliExpress got you covered!

 

[Noci]

I think the cheapest option is just to go with the stock cooler that came with it, providing it was a Boxed version and not a Tray version CPU.

An upgrade of cooling is only necessary if you want to OC and /or reduce the noise levels over the stock cooler.

 

[Knight47]

Go with the stock cooler that came with it.

An upgrade of cooling is only necessary if you want to reduce the noise levels over the stock cooler.

Stock fan is too noisy, so it needs to go.

 

[Ruru]

At least that Arctic looks pretty damn good with its clean aesthetetics. Also the included P12 fans aren't bad either.

 

[Vayra86]

I've placed a Peerless Assassin (generally found cheaper than the Phantom Spirit, difference is -1 heatpipe) on my 7800X3D and the proc is happy to boost all cores in Cinebench to 4800 mhz or better, with an 85C ceiling capped in the BIOS. 40,- EUR

The Gelid is more expensive, heck almost everything dual tower is more expensive.
That said I have a good exp with the Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2, its still spinning and has done so for 10 years now. 25 EUR, single tower.

Is dual tower always better; generally yes, more heatsink surface = better cooling and more opportunities to place fans around which also = better cooling. The variance between dual towers isn't big, a heatsink is a heatsink only the baseplate construction is of notable influence, and the fan used will determine most of its noise profile. A bigger heatsink does mean you can get by with lower fan speeds, too, which also results in better noise profile.

Therefore I see zero reason to overpay for air cooling. Did it once, never again. (BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3). It hasn't done a single thing for me/my build not even in terms of silence. Just fit the biggest heatsink you can find with a not too shitty fan.

 

[freeagent]

A cooler like Le Grand Macho RT was really good, only a dual tower could match it

 

[Noci]

If we're just launching options, in the past the Prolimatech Genesis was a great alternative model in the dual tower concept, performing close to the top contenders of that time, but additionally also cooling the VRM's & RAM.

http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=801&subid=802
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/prolimatech-black-series-genesis/9.html

Too bad that concept never evolved and matured as I tought it would have added value to cooling from a technical point of view. Guess the interest from the market was too low so it became a little bit of a niche product and commercially not interesting or feasable.

Especially nowadays with the sexy RAM heatspreaders/(a)-RGB leds and so on this concept probably is a lost case, covering the RAM up is a no go for many .


To Knight47, I still stand my ground at my statement that a dual tower cooler is not necessarily better then a single tower cooler in a real world scenario (in theory is something completely different ).
As you will have noticed in the previous posts, there are soo many variables to be accounted for so advice from an old bloke:

Just pick one that looks really nice in your eyes/system, fits your budget and performs within a for you acceptable noise level.
No matter what others say, they have their own reasons/preferences to like a specific product, take their advises to heart but look at it from your own perspective.
Keep in mind, you are the one that will look at it the most, so that's the guy you want to please .

 

[freeagent]

If you want the best that modern air cooling has to offer, it has to be a dual tower.

 

[Noci]

If you want the best that modern air cooling has to offer, it has to be a dual tower.

Yup, fully agree.
But is he looking for the best, or the best within budget?

 

[freeagent]

Yup, fully agree.
But is he looking for the best, or the best within budget?

Depends what his budget is I guess. You can get top end air cooling for a pretty fair price these days..