Intel’s i9 chipsets are one of the most powerful chipsets you can buy today. They without a doubt give you the best performance when compared to any of the other options that Intel provides.
You can juice even more performance from these beast chipsets by overclocking them. This is something you are gonna wanna do if you are building a high performance rig for yourself.
When you push these chipsets to their limits they tend to heat up quite a bit and this is where the role of a coolers comes in. As the chipset heats up you start to lose a lot of performance that affects multiple processes such as frame rates.
When you are building the rig it is of high importance that you have good ventilation to allow for parts much like the i9 processor to cool. But when you are pushing the limits coolers are the way to go.
This cooling can be provided in two major ways namely cooling by air or cooling by liquid. In this post we will be looking at both the options which can help you make a better decision during your build.
Noctua NH-D15
The Noctua NH-D15 is a popular choice among hardware enthusiasts mainly because of its great performance.. This cooler actually produces results cose to that of a liquid cooled loop or the 280mm AIO cooler.
If you want to increase the effectiveness of the Noctua NH-D15 we recommend that you replace the stock fans with the fans from the NF-A12s to see an immediate reduction in temperature.
Since most people usually overclock theri rigs to 4.8GHz at 1.245V they have reported temperatures around 50 degrees celsius and when pushed even further to 5GHz then the temperatures started to touch the mid 70s.
It is in these conditions the Noctua NH-D15 provides a lot of assistance with its effective cooling. The Noctua NH-D15 however might not fit into you rig if you don’t have enough space for it. If your rig is a little more compact then we suggest you opt for the Noctua NH-D15s instead.
You can check out the Noctua NH-D15 for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
This cooler from Be Quiet is another great option if you are looking for an air cooler. It provides similar performance with regards to the temperature reduction when compared with the Noctua NH-D15 if not better.
The Dark Rock Pro 4 is also significantly quieter than the Noctua, so if you are looking into having a rig that does that create too much of noise this is the way to go. The Dark Rock Pro 4 is also in general much smaller and sleeker in design than the Noctua so it can easily be incorporated into most setups.
The Dark Rock Pro 4 also incorporates twin cooling towers made up of copper coils. These coils are separated from the hence creating more surface area to cool.
You can check out the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Corsair H150i Pro
If air cooling isn’t cutting it for you then we suggest you take a look at some cooling devices that have a liquid based cooling system. One of the best coolers that does this is the Corsair H150i Pro.
Liquid cooling is only really needed if you are pushing your rig to the complete maximum otherwise you can get away with the stock coolers itself.
In a push/pull type fan setup users have been able to overclock and push the processor to 5.1GHz at around 1.25V with temperatures staying well below 80 degrees celsius.
Now of course, the temperature within the rig can be reduced even more if the rig is built with air flow and ventilation in mind.
This cooler is also very quiet and does not have too much of an annoying hum. Also the LINK software that is provided offers a lot of customization options as well as system wide monitoring.
There is also RGB lighting that is incorporated. You can check out the Corsair H150i ProCorsair H150i Pro for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Noctua NH-C14
If you are going for a more compact Mini-ITX or SFFPC build then we suggest you opt for the Noctua NH-C14. In such systems space is extremely limited and also air flow is not consistent or smooth.
Usually the more higher end cooling solutions will have a bigger frame and hence cannot be easily incorporated into smaller builds. This usually means that you have to sacrifice or skimp on the cooling devices.
This is where the Noctua NH-C14 shines, it comes in at a compact 105mm in height allowing it to easily fit into smaller enclosures. The Noctua NH-C14 is also extremely quiet and shows great performance due to its six heatpipe ‘C-type’ design and the included 140mm fans.
Because of such high performance and great design the Noctua NH-C14 has won many awards such as the TweakTown Editors Choice Award, KitGuru Must Have and so on. This device is in high demand currently and if you find it in stock consider yourself lucky and grab one ASAP.
You can check out the Noctua NH-C14 for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT
The Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT is a great competitor to the Noctua NH-D15. It offers similar performance to the Noctua NH-D15 but is quieter with the maximum dBA rating of only 20 and also offers better RAM clearance.
The better RAM clearance can be credited to the offset design of the heatsink. The Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT in general does have a great looking design with a great color scheme that gives it a subtle and classy look.The top of the cooler is made with black anodized plate that gives the device a classy premium feel.
At stock speeds the CPU runs smoothly and even when overclocked to 5GHz the temperatures still stay within a comfortable range. The one thing that the fan lacks in the support for a secondary fan. It has only a single fan design, but as we have seen the performance still racks up!
You can check out the Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Noctua NH-U12A
The Noctua NH-U12A is another great option to use a cooler for your build. It has a compact shape coming in at 120mm but offers performance very close to that of the 140mm coolers.
The Noctua NH-U12A has a design wherein they have built or incorporated seven copper heat pipes. These heat pipes are built in such a way that the soldered to the heatsink fins for better contact and heat dissipation.
The Noctua NH-U12A cooler in general is very quiet with a maximum noise level of 22.6dBA. Performance of this cooler is excellent in stock speed and can comfortably allow you to clock to 4.7 to 4.8GHz without having to worry about the temperatures soaring high.
The only thing however, is that the Noctua NH-U12A is priced higher than the Noctua NH-D15, but considering the benefits it provides with regards to the size and reduction in noise levels it is well worth the extra few bucks.
Having better RAM clearance while also delivering similar results is in itself a great reason it is worth the price.
You can check out the Noctua NH-U12A for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
NZXT Kraken X62
The NZXT Kraken X62 is a slightly larger cooler that comes in at around 280mm. This is a high performance liquid based cooler that comes with two high static pressure Aer P140 fans.
The NZXT Kraken X62 shows good performance in stock speeds and also keeps the temperature in check even when all cores are overclocked to 5GHz. This high performance is achieved due to the design of the cooler which incorporates a full copper base plate for maximum heat dissipation to the liquid.
The build quality of the NZXT Kraken X62 is als extremely good, it comes with sleeved AIO tubings that help in protecting the tubings. This in turn extends the lifespan of the cooler.
The NZXT Kraken X62 also comes with its own software called the NZXT CAM software which allows for all round monitoring of parameters.
You can check out the NZXT Kraken X62 for your 9 9900K/9900KS range of processors here.
Final Thoughts
So these were some of the best coolers for the i9 9900K/9900KS range of processors. These processors are extremely powerful and hence keeping them at optimum temperature is necessary to achieve the best performance and not having any throttling issues.
There is a cooler for any sort of user in the above list. We have listed both air and liquid coolers in the list.
We have taken into account power users and als users who would want a cooler that matches theri setup to curate this list. Hope you found this helpful and if you have any other suggestions for coolers for the i9 9900K/9900KS series of processors post them down in the comments below.