Xigmatek Loki vs Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 vs Scythe Rasetsu

[GaMe II Ov3r]

Hi,

I have an i5 3570k which I am looking to OC to around 4.2/3 Ghz. Im on a fairly tight budget and can just afford the Rasetsu. I would have went with a 212 Evo but it will not fit my case as it only measures 185mm in width. I can't really afford to get another case atm. So what cooler out of the Xigmatek Loki,Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 and Scythe Rasetsu should I get for the overclock.

Thanks

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

I have the Loki in one machine and love it. Quiet, well built and easy to install if you can access the rear of your mobo by removing the side panel. It was enough to cool my extreme OC'ed Phenom 965 just fine after adding a second 92mm fan with the provided spare clips.

However, you could fit the 159mm tall Xiagmatek Gaia into your case from what you described. The Gaia is only $20 on Newegg, is just a larger version of the Loki, and has an awesome 120mm fan that creates both more airflow and less noise than the 92mm on the Loki does. People actually have assumed I was running a water cooling system multiple times when I've posted benchmark info with temps, but in reality I've just found the Gaia that effective.

 

[GaMe II Ov3r]

I have the Loki in one machine and love it. Quiet, well built and easy to install if you can access the rear of your mobo by removing the side panel. It was enough to cool my extreme OC'ed Phenom 965 just fine after adding a second 92mm fan with the provided spare clips.

However, you could fit the 159mm tall Xiagmatek Gaia into your case from what you described. The Gaia is only $20 on Newegg, is just a larger version of the Loki, and has an awesome 120mm fan that creates both more airflow and less noise than the 92mm on the Loki does. People actually have assumed I was running a water cooling system multiple times when I've posted benchmark info with temps, but in reality I've just found the Gaia that effective.

Thanks for the reply

I must admit the Loki is tempting, I dont think I could fit the Gaia as my case has 2.5cm fans above the CPU and I dont want to take them out as it will make the case run warmer and look more boring lol (the fans are red led). Can you use any 92mm case fan as the second fan the loki?

I think its a choice between the loki and the scythe atm as the scythe has a 120mm but is not as tall as the 212 evo or the Gaia. In this respect will it have superior cooling to the loki with 2 fans?

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

The Loki can indeed run a second fan for a push/pull config as well- actually, it's rubber fan mounts are a lot more user-friendly than the ones on the Gaia. I think they could get away with the simpler mounts because of the smaller fan size.

I honestly wouldn't assume any tower cooler would be a sure bet to perform better than the Loki, even with a 120mm fan advantage. A lot of the performance is a result of the heatsink itself and not so much the fans. I actually forgot to plug in the fans for mine once (run them off a speed controller, while I run the case fans off the mobo's CPU fan spots). With just the case fans moving air around, I was still under 40c idle temp overclocked to 4ghz at the time. I did quickly realize what I must have done the moment I saw the temps were that high- but that speaks to the ability it has to dissipate heat.