CPU Air Cooler Round Up – November 2025

1. CPU Air Cooler Multi Review2. Testing Methodology and Test Result3. Closing Thoughts4. View All Pages

Across all our testing, it shows the separation that still exists in the air-cooling market when you look beyond spec sheets. At the top end, the Deepcool Assassin IV VC Elite WH shows why premium dual-tower coolers still dominate. The combination of thermal mass and efficient heat transfer doesn’t just keep temperatures low it directly enables higher sustained boost clocks for AMD PBO. On a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, that means more consistent performance during heavy workloads, making it a performance booster rather than just a thermal management device.

Stepping down a bracket, the CPS PCCooler RZ820 and Montech NX600 occupy a middle ground. They may not match the Assassin IV in raw thermal performance or with noise normalised, but real-world performance is very close, particularly with the RTZ820. The trade-offs are mostly in acoustics — the RZ820 and NX600 can get a little louder under load, but both still leave you with plenty of thermal performance for heavy all-core workloads at max fan speed, which diminishes a little more with the NX600.

On the more budget-conscious side, the Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP and Hyper 212 3DHP remain reliable picks for budget desktop builds. They will handle standard workloads OK, but under heavy load and Precision Boost Overdrive, they can’t quite maintain the same low temperature or all-core clocks as the mid-range and premium options. For esports and typical gaming sessions, that difference is largely academic, but it becomes more noticeable in rendering or other heavy multi-threaded tasks.

Ultimately, your choice comes down to use case and priorities. If you’re chasing every last drop of CPU performance, especially on X3D chips the Assassin IV VC Elite WH is worth its premium price, its expected UK MSRP is cheaper than the RZ820. If you want strong cooling per pound spent, with minimal compromises, the Montech NX600 hits a sweet spot, but if you’re focused on stable, quiet gaming thermals on a tighter budget, the V4 Alpha 3DHP and Hyper 212 3DHP continue to offer straightforward, dependable performance, however there are lots of options in this segment of the air cooling market.

Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP Black

Pros:

• 3D Heat Pipe heat transfer efficiency seems high.
• Decent price.
• Low noise even at max fan speed.

Cons:

• Not great for high-power CPUs.
• PBO Performance is compromised compared with bigger coolers.
• little performance gain over single-fan coolers.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 3DHP Black ARGB

Pros:

• 3D Heat Pipe heat transfer efficiency seems high.
• Low cost.
• Very low noise at max RPM.

Cons:

• Not ideal for high-power workloads.
• PBO Performance lags behind dual tower coolers.
• RGB lighting is quite dim and lots of light bleed from the fan LEDs.

CPS PCCOOLER RZ820

Pros:

• Top-tier raw thermal performance.
• Build quality is high.
• Easy to install, no additional hubs required

Cons:

• Quite expensive in the UK for a relatively unknown brand.
• Loud at max fan speed.
• monster size could cause some case compatibility issues.

Deepcool Assassin IV VC Elite WH

Pros:

• Top-tier thermals in all our tests.
• Premium build quality.
• Relatively quiet at max fan speed.

Cons:

• The brown/grey fan blades might not be to everyone's taste.
• Not available in some markets.

Montech NX600

Pros:

• Very low cost.
• Decent thermal performance when noise is normalised.
• ARGB effects are good.

Cons:

• Fiddly installation.
• loud at max fan speed.
• Build quality isn't perfect.

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