Thermaltake Gravity i2 95W Intel LGA 1200/1156/1155/1150/1151 92mm CPU Cooler CLP0556-D, Compatible with Desktop

I've built about 80-100 computers in the last 30 years. I've used dozens of different air coolers over stock. With the exception of some high performance zalmans in Oc'd computers, I have to rate this as exceptional for the cost and performance of an air cooler. I mean I have put in $60-$80 air coolers for pretty typical computers that were only ok, heavy and loud. I did not over burden this cooler by overclocking. But seriously, $9, you wouldn't be looking here - but if your are in between - I'd buy it again with zero reservations. If you want even more quiet buy an adapter to reduce voltage for a couple dollars.I only bought this one because I bought a i9700k without a cooler and a Corsair H100i pro radiator cooler. The Corsair was not installing properly to the point I was ready to return it. I bought the Thermaltake cooler as a stop gap to get the computer running, loaded and then troubleshoot the Corsair.I think it took me only a few minutes from unboxing to booting. I was nervous and monitored temps in bios, they were in low 30's degC. I had the case open in my face and it was a bit louder (but not bad) than my silent case fans so I installed an adapter to drop voltage to 7V to lower noise while I was working on software. The temps never rose even with the reduced fan speed and now really quiet cooler.I can't say how impressed i am with a cooler that costs so little, is of high quality and is really pretty quiet. For me it was a stop gap until I go my Corsair water system running ( I did and well it's amazing but still) I'd never buy a stock intel cooler again. I did an i3 HTPC build not long ago and figured the stock would be good enough. Well, I'm pulling the stock cooler and replacing with this because I KNOW it will out perform it for the same sound level.

Dead quiet and easy to install. Works perfectly with an Optiplex 5070 motherboard.

If you need a great, basic cooler for your Intel chip that’s slightly better than the default cooler, look no further! Make sure you check to ensure your motherboard/processor are < 95W (so most of the relevant intel chips) and are one of the compatible sockets (again, most recent sockets) - once you do that, this CPU cooler is easy to install (install the backplate then screw in the 4 screws and plug in the fan header. Done.Couple of quick notes - first, this does use a backplate (unlike the push-pin based default included cooler) which means you’ll need to access the back of your motherboard. Not an issue if you’re installing a new motherboard in a new case, but if you’re replacing an existing cooler in a complete build, you may have to remove the motherboard if you don’t have access to the back of the board in the case. I actually like this as the install is much more secure that the push pins - and you know you have the right tension - but it is something to be aware of.Second, this does have pre-applied thermal paste which makes it easy to use. The thermal paste seems to be of reasonable quality and is well applied - I used it as is for the initial install, but ended up moving the chip to new board and having to use my own. Expected and no issues - but if you’re looking for a bit more performance, you might want to think about changing the paste. If you’re running stock clocks and not running at max all the time, the included paste should be just fine.Third and final consideration - this is not a cooler for overclockers. It can probably handle a minimal overclock - but it’s really designed to be cool and reasonably quiet at stock settings, voltages and the like and it does well at that.With those considerations out of the way, if you have a compatible chip and don’t mind the above caveats, this is a great cooler and highly recommend!

After using and testing this for a few months I decided it was time to wring an update about it's functionality.Pros:Easy to install.Good cooling design.Very quiet.Cons:Did not include thermal paste. (It did have some on the the heat sink and has worked OK so far)Overall I think it's a good buy for the price and I would buy it gain.

Good fan, easy to install very quiet. Much beefier than the INTEL fan that stopped working ages ago. I wonder how I lasted this long without a working fan. Needed to open the case for something else and found the fan not spinning at rest or load. After installation the new fan shows up in the BIOS and the HWMonitor software shows the speed. This fan was a good replacement. Have not yet noticed my temps go down much but will monitor and post an update if something happens.FYI read the description, the mount on this fan is a threaded screw type (not the plastic click on type) and it comes with the bracket you can install underneath your MOBO if you need to install this fan. If taking your PC apart to install the bracket under the mobo is not for you, then move on to another Fan type.Hope this helps.

Bought this as an upgrade for my travel PC since I just upgraded the CPU from i5-6402P to i7-6700K, and the i5 was previously cooled by a stock Intel passive cooler. Since the 6700K is rated for 95W TDP and the stock Intel cooler is only rated for 65W TDP, I went with this cooler as a fairly priced option that met my TDP requirement. I installed this yesterday and I'm seeing honestly really good temps for such a simple air cooler. On basically idle (Discord + Steam + MSI Afterburner open), I am averaging around 29-30C. I played approximately 3 straight hours of Battlefield 1 (very CPU-intensive game) on 1080P with all "Ultra" settings + DX12 disabled, and I never saw my CPU temperature reach above 65C. I think is great value and performance for a $13 air cooler operating almost at its rated TDP (91W CPU v. 95W cooler). Please note my temps are from an open air PC build and I removed the pre-applied thermal paste from the Thermaltake Gravity i2, which was replaced with Thermalright TF9 paste.*According to BIOS, the fan is spinning from 1980-2000 RPM.*There is pre-applied thermal paste