Shopping for the best CPU cooler probably isn’t the sexiest way to spend this Black Friday, but it’s still very important. Just like a good quality PSU, the best AIO cooler for CPUs won’t give you much in terms of extra frames, but they’re extremely important for building a solid PC that will actually work. And speaking of the best processor frostiness money can buy, the EK-AIO Basic 240 is, in our opinion, and it’s been nicely discounted to $82.44.
If you’ve not heard of EK, all you need to know is that it focuses on components that just work. No extras or over-the-top RGB. Most of the time, anyways. Some of its liquid cooling loop components are a bit extra, but classy nonetheless. It’s something that certainly appeals to me as an RGB-phobe, until I realised that the most important thing was that my AIO matched my Corsair keyboard and mouse when I came to my new PC build, naturally.
Anyway, back to the EK Basic 240. It’s build quality is excellent, with good fans, and without unnecessary noise—although that can change if you try to push an overclocked Rocket Lake CPU. You can’t really ask for more than that, really, especially if you’re going for a no-frills, pure performance, stealth build. $82.44 (down from the usual $96.99) is a very decent price, too, although it has been lower than $80 in the past.
One other thing to mention, if your interest has been piqued in this thing: Make sure you tick the ‘LGA 1700 upgrade kit’ option for just a single cent. You must use this if you’re thinking of pairing this cooler with the latest 12th Gen processors. Even if that’s not in your plans right now, you might as well tick it just in case. It’s just a cent!
And speaking of processors, you can’t cool what doesn’t exist. So here are the best AMD CPU Black Friday deals, and the equivalent for Intel. While I went over to the red team for my processor for my current system, it’s worth pointing out that Intel’s latest CPU generation, Alder Lake, has just launched, which either means you’re planning to be at the cutting edge, or hunting for deals on older chips. There are still deals to be had on the latest CPUs, like the i5 12600K ($20 off at Newegg), and on the latter, like the i3 10100F ($91.90 at Amazon).
