Zalman CNPS 9X Optima CPU Cooler, Ultra Quiet Air Cooler with White LED 120mm Fan, Direct Touch Heat-Pipes, 180W TDP, Pure Copper and Aluminum - Fits Intel and AMD, CNPS9X Optima

Pretty much on par with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO almost the same dimensions except at a much more reasonable price, noise levels are not bad at all and temps from what I can tell is pretty good, much better than what you can get from a stock cooler.

If, like me, you own a perfectly capable AMD FX-8350 processor (or other Socket AM3 processor) and have driven yourself crazy trying to find a quiet CPU cooler that will actually fit, look no further - this is the one you want. Seriously. This is my third CPU cooler for this process and it is the quietest and provides the best cooling by far. Better than the stock cooler. Even better than the Cooler Master Seidon 240 I started with. In both cases (Seidon and stock), my baseline/idle temperature was always right around 52° C, which infuriated me. Plus, both coolers were ridiculously noisy. The Seidon was noisy because it had four 120mm fans attached to it, while the stock cooler was loud because of its small size and how fast it had to run to accomplish anything useful. With the Zalman CNPS9X Optima, my baseline temps, with and without side panel installed, are 43° C and 39° C. Impressive! And the noise? There really isn't any. 27dB is literally whisper quiet.Attaching the fan to the heatsink fins is pretty simple and I think the instructions are clear enough that I won't address it here. But do yourself a favor: install the damper rings on the fan's mounting holes. It will help keep things as quiet as possible. You will probably find it easier to attach the fan to the heatsink before you install the heatsink on the CPU.I cannot speak to the effectiveness of the included thermal grease, since I used some high-quality stuff that I already had on hand from a new PC build a few months ago. But at least they include some, which is nice.Installing the heatsink on the CPU is a little challenging (remember, I am talking specifically about AM3/AM3+). First, you must have a #2 screwdriver that is long enough to reach the screws on the clips (don't try to come at them from an angle if you can avoid it). You will loosen these screws almost all the way, so that the clips can tilt outward to grab either side of the bracket surrounding the CPU socket. Once they are loose, you will just need to find a combination of tilting and sliding to get both clips to grab onto their corresponding pegs on the bracket. I used a screwdriver to help guide the front clip onto the bracket after having secured the rear clip with a tilting motion. Once both clips are in place, you can keep them that way by pulling up slightly on the heatsink. Then, while continuing to pull up gently, you can start to tighten the screws (alternating between the two) until you feel that the heatsink is physically secure. And of course, don't forget your thermal grease!Great cooler! And best of all, it's a serious bargain at $17!

Our old fan was many years old and just started to howl/scream. Luckily it held out till this once came in and could replace it.This one is very quiet and with the lights, really cast a glow through the case ventilation holes.Installation can be tricky, if you've never done one like this before. I had a similar setup so was maybe easier for me.Depending on case layout and orientation and size of hands, it might be easier to install the fan first to the heatsink, then the heatsink to the CPU. Your setup and experience can help determine that.Once installed, turned the Compter on and it was like an aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh moment. After dealing with the old one for a while.Good price.Can't hear it from my desk or hers... Local crickets are louder.

Installation was a breeze for AMD. Fan is quiet. Looks good. Cools good. My only gripe is that it's so wide I had to move the case fan... Still I was relieved I didn't have to return it like the few other coolers I had ordered.

Nice cooler. Looks good and works as expected. Fan is very quiet but the white lights are very bright. I won't be using the fan in my glass paneled case in bedroom. It looks like I have one of those movie entities trapped in my regular black steel case. The stark white light shows through every gap or vent in the case. Heck of a night light.

Very quiet! With Ryzen 5 5600x temp down from 90 °C stock cooler to 67 °C full load. Mounting the fan is very tricky and manual is confuse..so have to figure it! In general, its a good cooler!

Some reviewers stated this tower cooler is hard to install; it's not THAT bad. For AMD, just loosen the screws on each side until the catch tabs can be slipped over the bracket catches on the motherboard and then tighten the screws down. It's a little tricky but pretty easy.

there were little instructions on how to actually mount the cooler, not recommended for first time builders.