COOLING PRODUCT

Cooling is one of those things that doesn’t tend to change much year over year. The same fundamental principles apply. Depending on what your case will accommodate and the TDP of your CPU, you should generally try to buy the best cooling you can, within reason. Some trends did emerge. All cooling makers began to sell ultra-luxurious and very expensive coolers, complete with head mounted customisable screens. They look fantastic, but they cost a lot and some don’t cool any better than units costing half the price. Air cooling remained perfectly viable. A high-quality air cooler will last you as long as it remains compatible and there’s no reason that a good 2021 air cooler won’t last you for many years to come. 2021 did introduce the brand-new Intel LGA 1700 socket, which meant that users with older coolers needed to obtain an updated mount. There were also concerns that the base plates of some coolers weren’t adequate to cover the larger heat spreader and elongated die of 12th Gen CPUs. Such concerns are mostly unfounded though.