Battle of The CPU Stock Coolers! 7x Intel vs 5x AMD, plus an EVO 212
by E. Fylladitakis on July 22, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- CPUs
- AMD
- Intel
- Cooler Master
- Cooler
The Intel Coolers
We have seven Intel coolers to test for the means of this review. Six are stock coolers accompanying processors that the company has released during the past decade and the seventh is the Intel BXTS15A (TS15A) that the company recently released as an aftermarket upgrade.
| Vendor | Cooler | Common Bundle | Core | Fins | Fan (mm) |
Mass (g) |
| Intel | D75716-002 | Socket 775 Celerons | Alu | Alu | ≈80 | 118 |
| C25704-002 | Socket 775, P4 6x0 | Cu | Alu | ≈80 | 132 | |
| E97378-001 | Socket 1155 Intel i5 | Cu | Alu | ≈80 | 146 | |
| E97379-001 | Socket 1155 Intel i3 | Alu | Alu | ≈80 | 92 | |
| D60188-001 | Socket 775, C2D E8x00 | Cu | Alu | ≈80 | 419 | |
| E31964-001 | Socket 1366 i7-X | Cu | Cu/Alu | ≈100 | 435 | |
| BXTS15A | Aftermarket, ≈$30 | Cu | Alu | ≈80 | 362 |
The Intel C25704-002 and Intel D75716-002 probably are the oldest coolers in this review. These were usually accompanying Socket 775 Intel Celeron and Pentium 4 “Prescott” processors several years ago. They are of nearly identical size and very similar in terms of design, with the exception that the D75716-002 has an aluminum core and a less powerful fan.
Intel C25704-002 and D57516-002
The Intel D60188-001 is essentially an overgrown C25704-002. Intel has been receiving a lot of criticism back in the day for having noisy stock coolers, therefore they nearly doubled the mass of the C25704 and used a significantly less powerful fan. The Intel D60188-001 usually was the stock cooler accompanying high performance Core 2 Duo processors.
Intel D60188-001
The E97378-001 and the E97379-001 look almost identical and their ID numbers are very close, but major differences can be discerned when the coolers are turned upside down. Aside from the E97378 having a copper core, the E97379 has significantly lower mass and straight fins, hinting the use of a more powerful fan. Bent pins cause significant turbulence at high airflows and unnecessarily increase the cooler’s noise output.
Intel E97378-001 and E97379-001
Intel’s first attempt to design a high performance cooler was probably the Intel E31964-001, the stock cooler of socket 1366 i7 Extreme processors. They kept the core design the same but replaced half of the aluminum fins with copper fins and used a semi-transparent fan with blue LEDs. The mix of aluminum and copper fins creates a “flower” visual effect similar to that first seen on Zalman CNPS coolers nearly two decades ago. The straight fins and very high current rating of the fan hint that the Intel E31964-001 is not designed with silence in mind.
Intel E31964-001
The Intel BXTS15A is an aftermarket cooler sold by Intel as an upgrade for socket 1151 CPUs but will also fit on older 1150/1156 processors. A mere glimpse on the cooler reveals that it is just an oversized version of the company’s stock coolers, mostly just much taller than what they have been supplying alongside with the CPUs. It is almost identical to the E31964-001, but has only aluminum fins and they are taller. It also has straight fins and a very strong fan, hinting that this will not be a silent cooler either.
Intel BXTS15A
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SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Such a useful comparison!Let's see which other stock cooler that you will never get to replace your own stock cooler would be better.
/s
SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
I mean seriously, the massive marketing campaign AMD has been doing for this wraith cooler is the epitome of their lack of R&D investments. Makes me so stupidly sad.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Makes you stupidly sad that they bundle the best stock cpu cooler out of any released ever? Why?It's a cooler that I wouldn't be shamed to choose not to get an aftermarket HSF for, as it's basically just as good as one, and it's one of the only things they can do to get people interested in their CPUs, as they know and you know and I know that their CPUs would be lackluster until Zen potentially comes out with potentially competitive value against Intel CPUs. In other words, they know they're stuck shipping slow CPUs right now, but the least they know they can do is bundle in a pretty neat stock cooler, and that might be enough to sway some buyers in their favor, which isn't a terrible thing, as AMD's already struggling to stay afloat.
SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
How much energy they have to put into marketing their stock cooler makes me sad, yes, because at this point it's the best part of the bundle.When a once great CPU manufacturer has to tell their customers that their CPU is better because... it has a better cooler, I think of the moment I first saw a K7 and tear up a little.
looncraz - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
AMD hasn't put a lot of energy in at all, they made the cooler, they made a quick video, uploaded it, and everyone else did most of the work. Beyond that, they just list it as a value-add - and it is a very good value-add, indeed.close - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Ignore him. He's a troll and not even a very good one. I bet he was hoping for some kind of support. He'll keep repeating the same "the best thing a CPU manufacturer's got going is their bundled cooler" because he somehow thinks that backing out from this stupid statement will make him look even dumber in other people's eyes than keeping it up.nathanddrews - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Eh? The AMD Wraith is clearly a kickass stock cooler. I, for one, welcome the opportunity to not need to buy additional bulky HSFs. I've got 212s on most of my PCs. It's nice to know that I don't need to for an FX build.AS118 - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link
I agree. I can't say this enough, the Wraith is pretty much a 212 in terms of performance yet it is SO easy to install. Don't even have to put on a custom backplate. I really hope Zen CPU's have the Wraith or something similar.I'd never have to buy another 212 again if AMD keeps making these. (As long as I was buying an AMD CPU that had one)
Samus - Sunday, July 24, 2016 - link
Personally I like the direction Intel went in, by not including a cooler at all and reducing the price of the CPU accordingly ($10-$20 vs Haswell)TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - link
the 6700k is $10 more then a devil's canyon 4790k. The price went UP, not down.