Regardless of which CPU you got, ensuring a good cooling solution is a must. And like we all know, high temperature is a real nightmare for every PC owner as it leads to performance throttling, instability issues, or even system crashing. It also can reduce your CPU’s lifespan. So, what should you do to avoid these issues? The answer is simple, get a good quality CPU cooler. A good CPU cooler allows you to get the best performance out of your processor without worrying about the temps. It will also give you some overclocking headroom in case you have an unlocked chip. Some of these coolers will have a premium price, whereas some others will be affordable for most people. And today, you are about to discover some amazing CPU coolers for just under $30
1-Vetroo V5
We have to admit that white components make a huge difference in improving the gaming’s rig aesthetics. And that’s one of the reasons why we instantly fall in love with the Vetroo V5 CPU cooler. Yes, we are just like you; we also want stylish and powerful components.
What makes it good?
Built with 5 heat pipes attached to a copper base, the Vetroo V5 is the perfect option for your power-hungry CPU. Despite its low price tag, this cooler provided a fantastic cooling solution to the Ryzen 7 3700X by maintaining it at around 63 °C in gaming.
Besides, the installation process of this CPU cooler is quite simple. It also has good quality pre-applied thermal paste. Therefore, unless you got a high-end thermal paste sitting around, you don’t need to replace the one that comes with the Vetroo V5.
Additionally, Vetroo V5‘s fan offered great cooling performance paired with quiet operation. It also features some fantastic RGB colors that will make your gaming rig looks outstanding. In addition to that, the heatsink also looks astonishing thanks to its beautiful white color.
So, if you are building a white gaming rig, the Vetroo V5 is unquestionably the perfect option for you.
What could have been better?
Honestly, other than the lack of RGB customization, we couldn’t find any real downside with the Vetroo V5. It indeed was slightly noisy at high RPM, but this is what you should expect when you pair this cooler with a high-end CPU.
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2-be Quiet! BK008 Pure Rock Slim
Being one of the most reliable brands in the CPU cooling industry, Be Quiet again surprise us with a fantastic budget-friendly cooler. Featuring a compact yet solid design, the BK008 Pure Rock is a fantastic option for anyone looking to get the best performance out of his CPU without breaking the bank.
What makes it good?
What really makes the BK008 Pure Rock a good option is its price-performance ratio. The cooling performance that it offers is on par with many expensive coolers. Also, even though it’s very affordable, the BK008 Pure Rock is more than capable of handling high-end CPUs without any overheating issues.
The BK008 Pure Rock comes with a stacked fins design paired with a 92mm fan. Despite its small form factor design, the fan did provide an excellent cooling capability with a speed range of up to 2000 RPM while maintaining a very low noise level.
Additionally, when tested with the Ryzen 5 2600X, the BK008 Pure Rock managed to outperform the AMD wraith spire cooler. In gaming, it scored an average temperature between 55 °C to 60 °C. However, this may vary depending on the area where you live.
Moreover, the BK008 Pure Rock doesn’t occupy a lot of space. Hence, you can easily install it in a small form factor gaming PC without worrying about clearance issues.
What could have been better?
Unfortunately, if you are not used to building PCs, mounting the BK008 Pure Rock may take you some time. And sadly, you can’t rely on the instruction manual as it doesn’t provide clear steps that you could follow.
Besides, you should be very careful when installing the BK008 Pure Rock due to the malleable fins. The fins are super thin, and you can bend them if you don’t pay close attention.
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3-DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX400
Having an eye-appealing CPU cooler will indeed improve the beauty of your gaming rig. However, as we have mentioned above, you can’t make a purchase based on aesthetics, which makes things a bit difficult. That’s why we brought DeepCool GAMMAXX400. This CPU cooler will add a luxurious touch to your gaming PC while offering fantastic cooling performance.
What makes it good?
Designed with four heat pipes and featuring a direct contact, the DeepCool GAMMAXX400 will be the perfect option for your power-hungry CPU. Besides, it’s equipped with a high-quality and stylish 120mm RGB PWM hydro-bearing fan that offers a quiet operation even at maximum speed.
Furthermore, the DeepCool GAMMAXX400 managed to maintain the Ryzen 5 5600X at around 60 °C in gaming. Considering how good AMD’s stock coolers are, the DeepCool GAMMAXX400 is indeed a cooler that worth your money.
Besides, unlike the BK008 Pure Rock Slim, the DeepCool GAMMAXX400 highlight a straightforward installation process. So, even if you are new to PC building, one or two YouTube videos should be more than enough to help you mount this CPU cooler without any issues.
What could have been better?
Unfortunately, not everyone will take advantage of the DeepCool GAMMAXX400 due to its bigger size. Therefore, you will have to check your case specifications to make sure that it can accommodate this cooler without interfering with the rest of the components.
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4-ID-COOLING SE-224-XT
No fancy design, no RGB effects, yet it managed to catch most PC builders’ attention. That’s right, folks, it’s the ID-COOLING SE-224-XT. This CPU cooler is another budget-friendly option that you can consider when looking to replace your old noisy cooler.
What makes it good?
Starting with its outside design, the ID-COOLING SE-224-XT got an eye-catching black and grey color that should fit in almost any type of build. You also got the option to choose the white model equipped with an RGB fan in exchange for a few dollars more.
The ID-COOLING SE-224-XT also offers a great cooling solution thanks to its PWM 120mm fan. Unlike other coolers, this cooler is designed in a way where it wouldn’t interfere with your RAM modules even if they feature a tall heat spreader.
Moreover, the ID-COOLING SE-224-XT fan comes with rubber on each side of the corner, preventing vibration. This latter helps reduce the noise level significantly.
When tested with a Ryzen 5 3600, the ID-COOLING SE-224-XT managed to maintain a constant 70 °C in Cinebench r20 during a period of 20min. Therefore, it will not only outperforms AMD stock coolers but will also offer a quieter operation.
What could have been better?
Even though ID-COOLING SE-224-XT‘s fan performed amazingly well during normal use, it turned out to be slightly noisy at maximum RPM. Therefore, based on where you live and the type of airflow you got, in some cases, you will have to tweak the BIOS settings if you want a silent experience.
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5-Thermaltake Contac Silent 12
With the Contac Silent 12, Thermaltake has also joined the budget-friendly CPU coolers industry. This cooler features a similar build design as the ones mentioned above, and it also provides an adequate cooling solution perfect for your gaming CPU.
What makes it good?
Being superbly affordable without compromising on the build quality, the Contac Silent 12 is the cooler that you have been looking for all this time long. To give you an idea of its cooling capabilities, the Thermaltake Contac Silent 12 managed to outperform the Wraith Stealth by around 10 °C.
Besides, even though it features a medium-size heatsink with stacked fins, it succeeded in fitting in a Micro ATX case without any issues. In fact, you can easily install this cooler without the need to remove the entire motherboard unless you got an SFF (Small Form Factor) build.
Furthermore, when installing the Thermaltake Contac Silent 12, you will notice that it has 2 different wires. We highly recommend avoiding using the wire that makes this CPU cooler quieter because it will affect its cooling performance.
In other words, you will benefit from a silent operation in exchange for low RPM, which leads to less heat dissipation, and hence a warmer CPU.
What could have been better?
The installation process again may be difficult for new PC builders. And unfortunately, you cannot rely entirely on the instruction manual. Therefore, we recommend watching some youtube videos to have an idea about the perfect way that you should follow.
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6-Thermaltake UX100
Low-profile CPU coolers are the way to go when building a small form factor gaming machine. Usually, these coolers are space-saving, and some of them are as powerful as big-size air coolers. And what you are about to discover will not only provide you with competitive cooling performance but will also add a luxurious touch to your gaming rig.
What makes it good?
The first thing that has caught our attention with the Thermaltake UX100 is its fancy RGB effects. It’s clearly one of the best eye-catching lighting effects on this list. In addition to that, its RGB effects are customizable, giving you the ability to synchronize it with the rest of the components.
Besides, this cooler doesn’t require an RGB header. Therefore, you can enjoy its fancy colors even on older motherboards.
Furthermore, thanks to its universal socket design, the Thermaltake UX100 doesn’t require any brackets. In other words, you can use this cooler with both Intel and AMD CPUs without any problem. Overall, the Thermaltake UX100 is the perfect option for those who need a CPU cooler under 150mm in height.
What could have been better?
The Thermaltake UX100 is very wide, and it can cause some clearance issues, especially for users with a Mini ITX build.
Also, with some motherboards (regardless of their size), you will have to change the setup of your RAM modules if you don’t want the Thermaltake UX100 to interfere with them.
So, the best way to avoid all these issues in case you decide to go with this cooler is by checking your motherboard’s size.
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7-Cooler Master Hyper T2
If you have been in the market for a CPU cooler, we believe that you have already heard about the budget king in the CPU coolers’ industry, the Cooler Master Hyper 212. Well, the Hyper T2 belongs to the same family as the Hyper 212 by featuring a similar build design allowing it to perform amazingly well without leaving you with an empty wallet.
What makes it good?
Starting with its design, the Hyper T2 feature stacked fins along with 2 copper heat pipes. In addition to that, this cooler’s size occupy less space than Hyper 212 and AMD Wraith stock coolers, so it shouldn’t be an issue installing it into a medium PC chassis.
Besides, its installation process is fairly easy, and most average users would install it properly in a short period of time.
The size of the PWM fan that comes with the Hyper T2 is 92mm. Indeed it’s smaller than other CPU coolers’ fans mentioned above, yet, it managed to provide an adequate cooling solution.
When tested with a Ryzen 5 2600, the Hyper T2 scored an average temperature of 60 °C during gaming. This result is impressive giving the price of this CPU cooler. It also provides you with some overclocking headroom in case you want to benefit from free extra performance.
What could have been better?
In some cases, Hyper T2‘s fan turns out to be slightly noisy. We occurred this issue mostly in gaming where the CPU was under load, and the fan had to spin at 60% of its maximum RPM or more.
Even though this issue didn’t prevent us from enjoying our gaming moments, it can be slightly disturbing, especially for individuals that don’t wear a gaming headset.
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Conclusion
We hope that we have helped you protect your wallet and provide a good cooling solution to your CPU. In our humble opinion, all these CPU coolers are under $30 are worth the money as they all feature a solid build quality, aesthetically appealing design, and great thermal performance.
On the other hand, if you would like to push things a bit further by getting a better quality cooler, we have also reviewed the best CPU coolers under $50 in 2021.
However, if you think that we have missed mentioning one cooler at this price range, please let us know in the comment section below. You also can share with us your experience with the cooler you decide to purchase.
