The third generation of AMD Ryzen processors has been quite a popular series, and for good reason. High core counts, hyperthreading capabilities, PCIe 4.0 compatibility and the Zen2 7nm manufacturing technology are all legitimate upgrades that that these Ryzen processors hold against their competition, while still holding more reasonable price ranges for the features they provide.
The Ryzen 7 3800X with its 8 core, 16 thread and 32 MB L3 Cache is an ideal for gaming CPU, with more than enough power for running even the most demanding games (current, and most likely next-gen) at high resolutions and framerates, whereas the Ryzen 9 3900X is one of the stronger non-threadripper processors from AMD, featuring a massive 12 cores and 24 threads and 64 MB L3 Cache, being ideal for workstations, but perhaps, arguably, a bit overkill if used just for gaming – if streaming is involved, however, it’s a great option. These CPUs have an operating frequency of 3.8-3.9 GHz, but can be overclocked to up to 4.5-4.6 GHz speeds.
They do have a higher TDP of 105W, so if you’re looking to overclock these CPUs, you are going to need sufficient cooling. The Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X both do come with a fan and heatsink included, namely the Wraith Prism, which for its own right is a great stock cooler, as proven by Techspot, but unfortunately the cooling won’t be sufficient when overclocking is involved, and the noise levels this cooler emits are quite high, as shown by benchmarks from Tom’s Hardware.
The good news is that there are some great coolers available in the market that have great cooling performance, exhibit low noise emissions, and are stylish to boot. Processors come and go, but coolers are always available for reuse, so investing in a good cooler is a smart venture. Depending on whether you are looking for an airflow cooler option, a stylish RGB water cooler, or something with low-profile, we’ve listed the best CPU coolers available for keeping the AMD Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X nice and chill.
Best CPU Coolers for Ryzen 3700X and 3900X – My Recommendations
Best Gaming-RGB CPU Cooler for Ryzen 3700X & 3900X
If you love gaming, and enjoy the sweet pizazz that comes with the panoramic light displays of RGB hardware components, then the Corsair H115i Platinum AIO cooler is perfect for your 3700X/3900X build. Not only does it have adequate cooling performance at surprisingly low noise levels, it features two of Corsair’s high-value and beautifully built ML Pro Series 140mm magnetic levitation PWM fans. These fans run at speeds of 400-2400 RPM, delivering an airflow of 97 CFM and a static pressure of 1.27 mmH2O each. They maintain a respectable level of endurance due to the magnetic levitation bearings. Additionally, the Corsair H115i Platinum AIO cooler has a radiator of 280mm, with a thermally optimized cold plate and a low-noise design pump.
Via the Corsair iCue software, there are three cooling modes you can choose from to adjust the cooling. Quiet mode will have the fans spinning at around 600 RPM, delivering nearly silent noise levels of around 26 dB (as measured by TweakTown), then Balanced mode will have the fans speed at around 880 RPM, with, again, nearly silent noise levels of 28 dB, and finally Extreme mode, with the fans jumping to 1800 RPM, resulting in quite the ruckus, with 50 dB sound levels. The difference in temperature measured by TweakTown’s benchmarks show that Quiet and Balanced modes only show temperature increases of 1.75-3.75 degrees Celsius as compared to Extreme, so it rarely will be worth pushing the cooler that far – even for overclocking.
In terms of style, this cooler exceeds expectations. Not only does it have 16 individually controlled RGB LEDs on the pump head, but it also has the same number of LEDs on each individual fan, so if you have a case with tempered glass panels, be ready for quite the light show to behold. As with most Corsair hardware components, the RGB lights can be fully controlled via their iCue software, from where you can also adjust fan speeds.
You can currently find the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum AIO CPU cooler for $169, which is far from inexpensive, but if you are looking to build an enthusiast-level gaming setup with an excess of style for your Ryzen 7 3800X or Ryzen 9 3900X, all while not sacrificing overclocking performance, this is the CPU cooler for you.
Best Airflow CPU Cooler for Ryzen 3700X & 3900X
The king of all air coolers, the Noctua NH-D15 offers the best cooling performance at the lowest decibel levels of any of its competitors’ options. Due to the high, 105W, thermal design power of the Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X, you are going to need the best cooling you can get, hence why this cooler is chosen versus Noctua’s almost equally great, but less potent, NH-U12S. Where the U12S has 120mm fans, the NH-D15 comes equipped with two, top-performance, 140mm NF-A15s, fully equipped with low-noise adaptors and PWM support. These fans run at speeds of up to 1500 RPM, and the cooler features a six-heatpipe design with an increased surface area which, together with Noctua’s NT-H1 cooling paste compound, has the heat emanating from the CPU be distributed evenly and dissipated at quicker rates; allowing the fans to chill the resulting heat much more efficiently.
On paper this sounds great, but does it perform in benchmarks? Indeed, it does. TweakTown’s benchmarks show that the NH-D15 ran at temperatures 2 degrees below the best competing air cooler it was put up against, keeping the CPU’s temperature below 70 degrees even while overclocking. In terms of noise cancellation, the included NF-A15 fans feature acoustically optimized frames and anti-vibrations mounts with SSO2 magnetic bearings. In terms of benchmarks, once again these features were proven to allow the NH-D15 to be the quietest cooler of all the CPU coolers tested in the aforementioned benchmarks. Because of the lack of stylistic bling, the NH-D15 has stellar cooling performance paired with low noise emissions without the need of costing you an arm and a leg. You can currently find the Noctua NH-D15 for $89.95, which may very well be the best investment you can make to futureproof and enhance the performance of your Ryzen 7 3800X or Ryzen 9 3900X
Best Low Profile Cooler for Ryzen 7 3700x & Ryzen 9 3900X SFF Builds
What’s incredible about the technological advancement of motherboards is that they allow for cases to holster such powerful desktop CPUs as the Ryzen 7 3800X or Ryzen 9 3900X in incredibly small SFF cases; both decreasing the footprint of your PC, as well as giving you some extra options in terms of transporting the case to a different office, studio, or vacation home. However, despite the smaller size, the cooling is still just as demanding, and perhaps even more so depending on the cramming of the hardware in the case which can significantly limit the airflow.
In order to maximize the amount of cooling you can get from a low-profile CPU cooler, and not have it inhibit your ability to overclock your CPU, we recommend combining the Scythe Big Shuriken 3’s heatsink, with Noctua’s top of the line NF-A12x25 120mm fan. This will raise the height of the Big Shuriken 3 from 69mm to 79mm, though it can still fit in most SFF cases depending on their volume. With this setup you are combining Shuriken 3’s copper base, five sintered heatpipe, HPMS III spring mounting design, together with Noctua’s advanced, acoustic optimized, frame and anti-vibration mounts for a maximum performance and low noise pollution design.
To see what this means in real-world application, we turn to OptimumTech’s benchmarks, which show that this pair outperforms every other low-profile CPU cooler it was up against by a significant margin. Even when overclocking the CPU, the temperatures only reached 70.2 degrees, which for an SFF build is quite impressive. Also, because of the lower noise output of the NF-A12x25, this combination emitted less noise than the original Scythe Big Shuriken 3 by over two decibels. Credit to Optimum Tech for originating the idea for this combination, as it allows for impressive performance for low-profile builds.
Perhaps what’s even more impressive, is that you can buy both these products and combine them for a current total cost of only $76.89, a price well worth the value of allowing you to run, and even overclock, your Ryzen 7 3800X or Ryzen 9 3900X CPUs in a small form factor case.