The Intel 13th generation Raptor Lake CPUs are out now starting off with the overclockable K series. These do not come with CPU coolers out of the box, so you will need to buy one separately. In this article, we go over some of the best CPU coolers that you can buy right now for the Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake CPUs.
Best CPU Coolers For Intel 13th Gen CPUs
The following are some of the best CPU coolers that you can buy right now for the Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake CPUs:
- EK AIO Elite 360mm D-RGB – Best AIO Cooler
- Corsair iCUE H170i – Best Premium Cooler
- Noctua NH-U12A chromax.Black – Best Overall Air Cooler
- be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 – Most Silent Air Cooler
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black – Best Budget Air Cooler
EK AIO Elite 360mm D-RGB – Best AIO Cooler
EK is well-known in the PC space for its water-cooling products and the EK AIO Elite 360mm D-RGB is a monster of a cooler. The water block has a clean design and should blend in with the rest of your build.
The EK AIO Elite 360mm D-RGB offers excellent cooling performance and is built well which is expected since it has a pretty high price tag. The cooler can handle 220-240W of heat output making it ideal for builds with high-end CPUs such as the 13900K.
The 360mm radiator is paired with three 120mm fans which are reasonably silent and the pump does not make a lot of noise even when the CPU is under full load. The included manual offers clear instructions and installing the CPU cooler is pretty easy.
Pros:
- Premium build quality
- Handles 220W-240W of heat output
- Excellent cooling
- Silent operation
- Easy installation
Cons:
- Premium price
Corsair iCUE H170i – Best Premium Cooler
The Corsair iCUE H170i Elite is a monster of a CPU cooler with a 420mm radiator and triple 140mm fans. The fans and pump feature RGB lighting and have plenty of customization options. You can tweak the settings inside the Corsair iCUE software and it even has a zero RPM mode.
The larger radiator and triple 140mm fans mean better cooling for high-end CPUs but it also means that installation options are going to be fairly limited unless you have a very large case.
All things considered, the Corsair iCUE H170i Elite is highly recommended and is one of the best AIO coolers that you can buy right now.
Pros:
- Excellent cooling
- Plenty of customization options
- Great aesthetics
Cons:
- Large 420mm radiator limits installation options
Noctua NH-U12A Chromax.Black – Best Overall Air Cooler
Noctua NH-U12A claims to offer the same performance as the D15 but in a smaller form factor. This is a single-tower cooler that comes with a pair of fans. The fans are pretty quiet but they do not come in black so that is a bit of a bummer.
There are 7 heat pipes on the cooler which is impressive keeping in mind how small the cooler is. The cooler is offset so that there are no RAM clearance issues. Due to the smaller size of the cooler, you should not have any issues installing your graphics card inside the top PCIe slot either.
Pros:
- Compact design
- Premium build
- Great cooling
- Silent operation
- All black design
Cons:
- Vertically chunky
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 – Most Silent Air Cooler
Be Quiet is another reliable and quality-providing company for PC coolers available in the market. When looking for a premium cooler that provides you with excellent performance, you do not need to think twice if you are purchasing a Be Quiet product.
The dark rock pro 4 is an extremely powerful air cooler that can even take on and even beat most of the AIO 240mm liquid coolers. It’s beefy and its performance is exceptional and it’s a silent one even at high RPMs, need I say more? Though if you opt for this cooler you will need a pretty big case and spacing. This cooler is very very big.
Pros:
- Impressive Build Quality
- Not Noisy
- Exceptional Performance
- Nice To look at
Cons:
- Expensive
- Really big and heavy
- Can cover DIMM slots
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black – Best Budget Air Cooler
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition has a sleek design and will blend in well with the rest of your build. It comes with a single Silencio 120mm fan but there is room for an additional one if you are interested in a push-pull configuration.
The base is nickel-plated and there are 4 copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the base plate. This is an ideal budget cooler for people that are not interested in spending too much money on a CPU cooler. You should get this cooler for the Intel 13600K.
Pros:
- Budget-friendly
- All black design
- Decent performance
Cons:
- Instructions can be better
- Mounting can be tricky
These are some of the best CPU coolers that you can buy for the Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake CPUs. If you are interested in upgrading your build then you can check out our recommended RTX 4090 graphics cards.