Best CPU Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

Last Updated on October 9, 2020 by Scott Krager

The Intel Core i7-10700K is successor of the i7-9700K, and a part of the latest 10th-Gen Comet Lake desktop processors’ lineup released by Intel.

Priced around ~$379, the i7 10700K offers a good improvement over its predecessor in the form of more thread count (the number of cores is the same though), 4 MB larger L3 cache, and slightly higher base/turbo boost frequencies of 3.8 GHz and 5.1 GHz respectively. Power consumption is the area where 9700K still holds the advantage because it has a TDP of 95W in comparison to 125W TDP of 10700K.

As a powerful processor, you’ll want to find the best CPU cooler, air or AIO (all-in-one, a water-cooled CPU cooler in a self-contained package), to pair with the 10700K. I’ll be reviewing a few of my top picks for cooling the i7 on this page.

Best Cooler For Intel Core i7 10700K Buying Guide

Since the new Intel 10th Gen processors have come up with a new socket called LGA 1200, many PC builders feared that the new socket will have compatibility issues with their existing AIO and air coolers but fortunately that’s not the case here.

As Noctua has pointed out here, the heatsink mounting on the LGA 1200 socket is the same as it was in the previous LGA 115x sockets (LGA 1150, LGA 1151, and LGA 1155 for example). Therefore, if you already have a CPU cooler compatible with LGA 1151 socket, you don’t need to worry at all.

With this aside, here we have compiled a list of coolers that we think to be best for i7-10700K CPU. Since 10700K has just been announced, it will take a while before we see its reviews, real-world benchmarks, and what PC components work best with it.

This is the reason why we think that this post will need an update 2-3 months down the road. Until then, these are my recommendations.

Best Coolers For Intel i7-10700K

Without any further ado, let’s start.

CORSAIR H100i PRO XT

Best Air Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

Next up we have the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler.

Although more and more people are putting AIO coolers into their PC builds these days due to aesthetics, there are still many people who prefer air coolers for their relatively cheaper price, ease of use, and more reliability than AIO options.

The successor of Dark Rock Pro 3, Dark Rock Pro 4 features a dual-tower design like the Noctua NH-D15, in a push-pull configuration, and comes the two silent wing fans. There’s a 135 mm fan in the middle of the aluminum-fin stack, along with another 120mm fan at the top. They rotate at 1400 rpm and 1200 rpm respectively.

Thanks to these two fans, Dark Pro 4 comes with a TDP of 250W – more than enough to handle any consumer-based overclocked CPU in the market (let alone i7-10700K).

Although be quiet! has kept most of the good things Dark Pro 3 had, some adjustments have been made in the form of mounting mechanism (which is now more easier) and extra space for RAM compatibility.

At its base, there are seven copper heatpipes that are arranged in a U-shaped pattern. These heatpipes transfer the heat from the copper base (that’s in contact with your i7-10700K) to aluminum fins where it’s dispersed by the fans.

All of the cooler is painted black in order to give it to stealthy look. Although it looks good indeed, this black-colored powder coating is fragile and can be easily removed by scratching.

In terms of thermal performance, we found Dark Pro to be better than the likes of Scythe Mugen Rev. B and Noctua NH-L12S in both stock and overclocked load. Some AIO coolers such as NZXT Karken X62 went slightly better in this regard, but Dark Rck Pro 4 is simply great when it comes to air coolers.

In terms of noise, Dark Rock Pro 4 was bettered only by Noctua NH-D15.

All in all, this is pretty good option if you’ve got a i7-10700K processor and are looking for an air cooling based solution. In fact, we’ve recommended this cooler for Ryzen 3700x too.

You can consider Noctua’s NH-D15 cooler here as well, but we like Dark Rock Pro 4 because of its black color scheme which takes your rig’s aesthetics to whole new level despite not having anything fancy.

Check Price on Amazon

Best 360mm AIO Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

The H100i is a good option for small/medium PC cases but there are some folks who have bigger chassis and want to go in full enthusiast mode.

For those PC builders, DEEPCOOL Castle 360EX can be a feasible option. It’s a bigger variant of Castle 240EX and comes with features like Anti-leak technology, 3 TF120S fans, and LEDs on the pump.

Those LEDs can be controlled by a software as well as by an in-line controller if your motherboard does not have RGB support. This controller comes with three buttons for customization: Mode +, Speed, Mode -, etc.

Mode + and Mode – buttons are used to load the next and previous lighting mode respectively, while the middle one is used to control the speed.

Like most other AIO coolers, 360EX comes with a plain, non-fancy radiator that is connected to the pump through the 465mm long sleeved tubes.

The pump also has a standard design but comes with a unique feature: After installing the cooler in your system, you can unscrew the top cap to rotate the internal logo on the pump. This way you can have its correct orientation no matter which way you install it in your rig.

The radiator features three TF120S fans, with each of them running at 500–1800 RPM and providing a maximum airflow of 64.4 CFM.

While Castle 360EX does not have easiest of the installations and will require a little bit of patience, it’s still a straightforward process.

In our testing, it performed really well but didn’t had the best performance as far as cooling was concerned – which was kinda expected as AIO market is really saturated and all coolers perform more and less the same.

One thing that goes into 360EX’ favor is that it’s cheaper as compared to other 360mm AIO coolers in the market.

On the other hand, the bad things we noted here is the no lighting on fans and slightly higher noise at full throttle. If you can live with those downsides, Deepcool Castle 360EX is the best 360mm AIO cooler to put with an i7-10700K.

Check Price on Amazon

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

Best Air Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

Next up we have the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler.

Although more and more people are putting AIO coolers into their PC builds these days due to aesthetics, there are still many people who prefer air coolers for their relatively cheaper price, ease of use, and more reliability than AIO options.

The successor of Dark Rock Pro 3, Dark Rock Pro 4 features a dual-tower design like the Noctua NH-D15, in a push-pull configuration, and comes the two silent wing fans. There’s a 135 mm fan in the middle of the aluminum-fin stack, along with another 120mm fan at the top. They rotate at 1400 rpm and 1200 rpm respectively.

Thanks to these two fans, Dark Pro 4 comes with a TDP of 250W – more than enough to handle any consumer-based overclocked CPU in the market (let alone i7-10700K).

Although be quiet! has kept most of the good things Dark Pro 3 had, some adjustments have been made in the form of mounting mechanism (which is now more easier) and extra space for RAM compatibility.

At its base, there are seven copper heatpipes that are arranged in a U-shaped pattern. These heatpipes transfer the heat from the copper base (that’s in contact with your i7-10700K) to aluminum fins where it’s dispersed by the fans.

All of the cooler is painted black in order to give it to stealthy look. Although it looks good indeed, this black-colored powder coating is fragile and can be easily removed by scratching.

In terms of thermal performance, we found Dark Pro to be better than the likes of Scythe Mugen Rev. B and Noctua NH-L12S in both stock and overclocked load. Some AIO coolers such as NZXT Karken X62 went slightly better in this regard, but Dark Rck Pro 4 is simply great when it comes to air coolers.

In terms of noise, Dark Rock Pro 4 was bettered only by Noctua NH-D15.

All in all, this is pretty good option if you’ve got a i7-10700K processor and are looking for an air cooling based solution. In fact, we’ve recommended this cooler for Ryzen 3700x too.

You can consider Noctua’s NH-D15 cooler here as well, but we like Dark Rock Pro 4 because of its black color scheme which takes your rig’s aesthetics to whole new level despite not having anything fancy.

Check Price on Amazon

Best 240mm AIO Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

H100i Pro XT is the recently-launched upgraded version of the original H100i Pro AIO cooler.

Since H100i Pro was liked by critics as well as masses, Corsair has refrained from making big changes (why fix something that’s not broken, after all) and has only made small adjustments along with a slight touch of RGB.

In terms of compatibility, H100i Pro XT supports a wide range of sockets from Intel, AMD Ryzen, and AMD Threadripper platforms. For Intel LGA 115x, you get some mounting brackets and backplate, which we think will work fine with LGA 1200 too.

Apart from this, you also get a USB cable which’ll be further used to enable iCUE software control. Using this software, you can monitor things like temperature, RPM speed, as well as configure the RGB lighting.

H100i Pro XT comes with a 240mm dual-pass aluminium radiator and has 277 x 120 x 27 mm dimensions. It has two 4-pin PWM 120mm fans that run at 2400 rm and provide a maximum airflow of 75 CFM.

Except the logo on one side of the radiator and another one (RGB enabled) on the CPU block, corsair has followed a pretty minimalist approach. A good thing we liked here is that the tubing is 350 mm long and has black sleeve braiding.

If we talk about the performance, H100i Pro XT is one of the quietest coolers out there in idle – even quieter than the likes of NZXT Kraken X62, Arctic Liquid Freezer II, and Asus ROG Ryojin 360.

It’s very good under load as well, but here the above mentioned coolers take some tiny lead. And the same is the case regarding the temperature – very good but just slightly higher than what it’s with Liquid Freezer II and Ryujin 360.

It was expected though, as lower noise level achieved by fans running at lower speed will always result in a slightly high temperature.

The only downsides we could think of in H100i Pro XT are is the fact that RGB lighting is pump-only and you don’t get RGB fans.

Like most of other AIO coolers, you get a 5-year warranty with H100i Pro XT.

Check Price on Amazon

DEEPCOOL Castle 360EX

Best 360mm AIO Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

The H100i is a good option for small/medium PC cases but there are some folks who have bigger chassis and want to go in full enthusiast mode.

For those PC builders, DEEPCOOL Castle 360EX can be a feasible option. It’s a bigger variant of Castle 240EX and comes with features like Anti-leak technology, 3 TF120S fans, and LEDs on the pump.

Those LEDs can be controlled by a software as well as by an in-line controller if your motherboard does not have RGB support. This controller comes with three buttons for customization: Mode +, Speed, Mode -, etc.

Mode + and Mode – buttons are used to load the next and previous lighting mode respectively, while the middle one is used to control the speed.

Like most other AIO coolers, 360EX comes with a plain, non-fancy radiator that is connected to the pump through the 465mm long sleeved tubes.

The pump also has a standard design but comes with a unique feature: After installing the cooler in your system, you can unscrew the top cap to rotate the internal logo on the pump. This way you can have its correct orientation no matter which way you install it in your rig.

The radiator features three TF120S fans, with each of them running at 500–1800 RPM and providing a maximum airflow of 64.4 CFM.

While Castle 360EX does not have easiest of the installations and will require a little bit of patience, it’s still a straightforward process.

In our testing, it performed really well but didn’t had the best performance as far as cooling was concerned – which was kinda expected as AIO market is really saturated and all coolers perform more and less the same.

One thing that goes into 360EX’ favor is that it’s cheaper as compared to other 360mm AIO coolers in the market.

On the other hand, the bad things we noted here is the no lighting on fans and slightly higher noise at full throttle. If you can live with those downsides, Deepcool Castle 360EX is the best 360mm AIO cooler to put with an i7-10700K.

Check Price on Amazon

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

Best Air Cooler For Intel i7 10700K

Next up we have the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler.

Although more and more people are putting AIO coolers into their PC builds these days due to aesthetics, there are still many people who prefer air coolers for their relatively cheaper price, ease of use, and more reliability than AIO options.

The successor of Dark Rock Pro 3, Dark Rock Pro 4 features a dual-tower design like the Noctua NH-D15, in a push-pull configuration, and comes the two silent wing fans. There’s a 135 mm fan in the middle of the aluminum-fin stack, along with another 120mm fan at the top. They rotate at 1400 rpm and 1200 rpm respectively.

Thanks to these two fans, Dark Pro 4 comes with a TDP of 250W – more than enough to handle any consumer-based overclocked CPU in the market (let alone i7-10700K).

Although be quiet! has kept most of the good things Dark Pro 3 had, some adjustments have been made in the form of mounting mechanism (which is now more easier) and extra space for RAM compatibility.

At its base, there are seven copper heatpipes that are arranged in a U-shaped pattern. These heatpipes transfer the heat from the copper base (that’s in contact with your i7-10700K) to aluminum fins where it’s dispersed by the fans.

All of the cooler is painted black in order to give it to stealthy look. Although it looks good indeed, this black-colored powder coating is fragile and can be easily removed by scratching.

In terms of thermal performance, we found Dark Pro to be better than the likes of Scythe Mugen Rev. B and Noctua NH-L12S in both stock and overclocked load. Some AIO coolers such as NZXT Karken X62 went slightly better in this regard, but Dark Rck Pro 4 is simply great when it comes to air coolers.

In terms of noise, Dark Rock Pro 4 was bettered only by Noctua NH-D15.

All in all, this is pretty good option if you’ve got a i7-10700K processor and are looking for an air cooling based solution. In fact, we’ve recommended this cooler for Ryzen 3700x too.

You can consider Noctua’s NH-D15 cooler here as well, but we like Dark Rock Pro 4 because of its black color scheme which takes your rig’s aesthetics to whole new level despite not having anything fancy.

Check Price on Amazon

Last update on 2020-12-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API