zz Archive — CPU Air Cooling (manual)

A good air cooler is quieter than most people expect, has nothing to leak, and will outlast the PC it is fitted to. For anything short of a heavily overclocked flagship, it is the sensible choice.

The figure to watch is height. A tall dual-tower cooler will not close the side panel on a compact case, so we list the assembled height and the sockets each cooler ships hardware for, and the builder checks the clearance against the case you pick.