As a gamer, whether a beginner or a pro, spending a lot of time in front of your PC is inevitable, and this latter cannot help but to heat up when you use it all day long. This is one of the reasons why you need a suitable CPU cooler for your PC, to make sure you keep it cool and ready to go. Ensuring a good cooling solution to your CPU is crucial as it affects its performance as well as its longevity. And unlike what most people think, cooling a CPU can easily be done with one of the AIO coolers for under $100.
The market is full of competitive brands, and the price varies from affordable to highly expensive. However, you do not necessarily need the most expensive one to make sure your PC stays cool. Actually, you can maintain your CPU’s temps at low degrees even during the overclocking process without the need for a high-end cooler. And we believe that the coolers mentioned below are the right ones for this task.
1-ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 (Most Powerful)
If you have been in the market for CPU coolers, you have definitely noticed, at least for once, the Arctic name. This brand is known for its amazing CPU coolers, whether Air or AIO cooling devices. And today, we are about to introduce you to one of their successor AIO coolers, the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240.
What makes it good?
The ARCTIC liquid freezer II 240 is one of the most powerful and reasonably priced AIO coolers. It has a unique thick pump, a large radiator, and a mind-blowing heat transfer. It also has a tiny fan on the VRM, which is a nice extra feature.
The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 comes with an integrated PWM cable on the sleeved tubing. This feature is really neat as it helps you in building clean cable management.
Besides, you can pair your high-end gaming CPU with the Liquid Freezer II 240 with worrying about the temps as it offers a superb cooling performance similar to some 360mm AIO coolers.
Furthermore, another attractive feature that distinguishes this cooler from its competitors is its energy consumption. The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 reduces its energy consumption significantly when the CPU is idle, allowing it to operate quietly.
What could have been better?
Unfortunately, the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 doesn’t offer any lighting effects. And this is the only downside of this cooler. However, if we take its competitive cooling performance and affordable price into consideration, the lack of lighting effects is justified.
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2-Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L (Best Overall)
The MasterLiquid ML240L is an all-rounder CPU cooler that will offer you everything you need. Despite its low price tag, Cooler Master has covered every aspect of this AIO cooler. From its outside design to the cooling performance, the MasterLiquid ML240L will leave you impressed.
Why did we like it?
First and foremost, the Cooler Master ML240L has a wider fin space on the radiator, which provides better heat dissipation. In addition to that, it has an EPDM industrial-grade seal to ensure an anti-leaking design and a long-lasting product. It also has excellent cooling efficiency and better performance thanks to its 3rd generation dual-chamber pump.
For RGB lovers, the Cooler Master ML240L boasts dual 120mm fans with 7 large blades. Both the water pump and fans display some stunning lighting effects. It also includes a controller for lights switch where you can showcase whichever colors you want to match the rest of the components.
On top of its neat design and outstanding RGB effects, the Cooler Master ML240L does offer a silent operation. Plus, this cooler is very easy to install, and you shouldn’t face any issues even if you are a new PC builder.
What could have been better?
After reviewing this AIO cooler, we have noticed some areas where Cooler Master could have done better. The first one is the absence of the software. As you have noticed during our review above, the Cooler Master ML240L doesn’t support any software.
Therefore, the only way to adjust the fan curve is through the BIOS. Plus, since each of the fans has its cable, it may render cable management a difficult task for inexperienced users.
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3-EVGA CLC 240mm AIO (Best Value)
Another EVGA CPU cooler with amazing capabilities, the CLC 240mm AIO. Just like its 360mm variant, this cooler offers fantastic performance despite its low price point. And if you are looking to get the best value for your money, then this cooler will definitely catch your attention.
What makes it good?
The EVGA CLC 240mm provides your computer with a sleek look thanks to its premium sleeved tubing and fully controlled RGB. Its lighting effects can be synced with other EVGA RGB parts. Not only that, but this cooler also features user-friendly software, which gives you full control over the RGB as well as fan speed.
And its build design is just one of its fantastic features. The EVGA CLC 240mm also comes with a quiet water pump as well as pre-applied thermal paste. Even though PC builders tend always to change the thermal paste to get the best performance out of their CPU cooler, the one that comes with the EVGA CLC 240mm is made of high quality, and therefore changing it will not be required.
Moreover, the EVGA CLC 240mm highlights dual newly designed fans with Teflon Nano bearings. With their 2400RPM speed, you can count on them when it comes to cooling your CPU under load.
What could have been better?
The EVGA CLC 240mm was just one step ahead of being called the perfect 240mm AIO cooler. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case due to the fan noise. At high RPM, EVGA CLC 240mm‘s dual fans turn out to be noisy, which can push away many interested buyers from this amazing cooler.
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4-Thermaltake TH240 ARGB (Best Premium)
The Thermaltake TH240 is one of the high-rated CPU coolers that are reasonably priced. It has a large surface radiator that provides you with optimal cooling and excellent heat dissipation. With its fashionable color and lighting style, you can enjoy your gaming sessions all day long without worrying about your computer heating up or looking outdated.
What makes it good?
On top of having a high-reliability pump, this AIO cooler also has an excellent and efficient radiator. You do not have to worry too much about setting it up as it has a straightforward installation process. It also got tubing with a length of 400mm. With such a length, you will be able to position the radiator in any area you desire.
Furthermore, the Thermaltake TH240 comes with 7 light modes and 8 full colors to suit whatever lighting preference you have. Its water block also displays some stunning lighting effects, which will add a luxurious touch to your gaming rig. For RGB lovers, this cooler allows you to synchronize its lighting effects using ASUS Aura, Gigabyte RGB FUSION, MSI Mystic Light Sync, or ASROCK polychrome.
On top of its amazing features, the Thermaltake TH240 supports both Intel and AMD CPUs thanks to its wide range of compatibility.
What could have been better?
Even though it has a simple installation process, the Thermaltake TH240 does lack detailed setup instructions. Besides, the software needs some improvement since some may find it slightly complicated to use.
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Conclusion
All CPU coolers mentioned above offer similar cooling performance. And while there are also 120mm AIO coolers under $100, we have decided to focus only on the 240mm since they offer the best value for money.
Before you make the last call on any cooler from the mentioned above, please check the specifications of your case in order to make sure that you got the space required.
Other than that, we hope that we have brought you the information that you were looking for. If you notice that we didn’t mention a CPU cooler that deserves to belong to the list above, please let us know in the comment section below.
