Intel LGA2011 CPU Cooler Roundup For Sandy Bridge-E Processors

Intel Socket LGA2011 CPU Cooler Round Up

Unlike Intel LGA sockets of the past, the new LGA2011 socket uses a whole new mounting system. To account for this some manufacturers are providing new mounting kits for existing LGA1366 coolers; some even have special edition LGA2011 versions of existing coolers. The upside to the new mounting system is that there is no extra backing plate anymore; it’s built into the socket.

Along with a new socket layout and mounting system, the X79 motherboards have a new RAM slot layout as well. The socket is moved forward on the motherboard, and the RAM slots are now split to be on either side of the socket. In the past the end user only needed to worry about RAM clearance on one side of the cooler; now its on two.

Today we have an assortment of 9 coolers, both air and sealed water kits. To keep things fair we will go in alphabetical order.

CPU Cooler	Dimension (mm)			Weight	Fan size	Price
	H	W	D
Coolink Corator DS SE2011	155	140	121	1040g	120mm	MSRP $44.90
Corsair H80	38	120	152	680g	120mm x2	$93.24
Corsair H100	27	122	275	1030g	120mm x2	$103.74
Intel RTS2011LC	37	118	150	820g	120mm	$79.86
Noctua NH-D14	160	140	158	1240g	120/140mm	$84.94
Noctua NH-D14 SE2011	160	140	158	1240g	120/140mm	$84.95
NZXT HAVIK 120	160	125	112	980g	120mm x2	MSRP $54.99
Zalman CNPS 11X Performa	154	135	80	450g	120mm	MSRP $54.99
Zalman CNPS 12X	154	132	151	1,000g	120mm x3	$103.99

Looking purely at size, the lightest weight CPU cooler of the bunch is the Zalman CNPS11X Performa. I looked at the Extreme version of this cooler not long ago and it did well for its size. It will be interesting to see how the stripped down Performa will perform. The largest of the group is the venerable Noctua NH-D14. Weighing in at over 1.2kg this behemoth of a cooler has set the level of quiet performance since it came out. I have received my new LGA2011 mounting kit from Noctua for my NH-D14 I reviewed back in February of 2010. So the original model that most enthusiasts have along with the recently released special edition NH-D14 SE2011 will be included in the round up. The SE2011 has different fans than the original, so we are interested to see if that will help the cooling performance of that model.

Now onto the first cooler, the Coolink Corator DS SE2011.