Value

The term “Value” is such an amorphous term that it truly has different meanings for different people. For some a CPU cooler is only as good as it overclocking potential, for others its is how quiet it does its job; for others still its how effective it is for its cost. We here at HWC try to provide as many answers as possible for the term “Value”. Hopefully by this point in the review people looking at OC potential or noise levels will have a fairly good idea of what this cooler's Value is.

For the “best bang for the buck” crowd we have included a chart below showing how much each 1°C less costs when compared to Intel’s FREE stock cooler. No consideration has been made for noise levels, “looks” or any other extraneous factors; this is just raw performance vs. monetary cost. For any cooler that performs worse than the Intel stock cooler a rating of “FAIL” will be given. For any cooler that has a “Value” of more than $10 per 1°C a rating of “FAIL” will be used in the graph but the chart will list its actual “value”.

All prices are based on either their MSRP (if no e-tailer prices were available at review time) or the online price they sold for at the time of their review. If a CPU cooler does not include a fan the price of a Scythe F has been included ($12).

To make it as easy as possible for you to modify this ratio we have also included the various coolers' temperature difference so that if you do come across one of them on sale you can easily modify its “Value” rating. We here at HWC are in no way saying that this is the definitive answer to “Value”, rather it should be considered another tool to help you make your final decision. After all something is only as “valuable” as what you consider it to be.


E4600 Cooling Value

Please note: This chart has be calculated based upon the differences between Intel stock cooler’s average load at its highest OC on a e4600 @3.2GHz versus that of the various after market coolers average load temperatures (in their stock configuration with MX-2 TIM) also on a e4600 @ 3.2GHz.




Wow, who would have thought that a $70 CPU cooler can also could be considered a great value? This cooler is hands down a great cooler for dual core cooling and its numbers reflect that. To bad that its quad core results are not as good.


Q6600 Cooling Value

Please note: This chart has be calculated based upon the differences between Intel stock cooler’s average load at its highest OC on a q6600 @3.0GHz versus that of the various after market coolers average load temperatures (in their stock configuration with stock TIM) also on a Q6600 @ 3.0GHz.



Even though this is a great cooler, its high MSRP of nearly $70 does take it out of the realm of best bang for your buck when it comes to Quads. Lets face it no one is going to but a Anniversary / Limited Edition of anything because it is a great deal. You buy it because either you value reduced noise or OC’ability or maybe even just bragability. Heck, some people will probably buy it as a conversation piece!

However, there have been several sales at various retailers which have somewhat slashed the price of the Ninja copper. So, if you see it on sale use the formula we have given you to recalculate its cooling "value".