AMD · Ryzen 3000 · AM4

Best coolers for the Ryzen 7 3800X

A 105 W base, 142 W boost ceiling, about 105 W in games and a 95 °C junction limit. 60 of 70 coolers keep it in the Excellent band; every cooler below is scored against those numbers.

Reviewed by Farrukh Sufyan SarwarHow we estimate temperaturesPrices verified

60
excellent
3
acceptable
6
Throttle
1
No fit
01

Three picks

Silent liquid pick

$53.90as of Sep 17, 11:38 PM UTC · Only 4 left in stock - order soon.
Thermalright Frozen Infinity 360 product photo

ThermalrightFrozen Infinity 360

360 mm AIO liquid cooler · 52 mm

Excellent fit

Estimated 60 °C under full load with quiet fan curves

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

Power behaviour of the Ryzen 7 3800X

The AMD Ryzen 7 3800X is a Ryzen 3000 processor for the AM4 socket with a 105 W base power and a 142 W PPT package limit. That is 1.4× its base figure, so a cooler chosen from the TDP alone will be undersized for sustained all-core work; this site rates every cooler against the 142 W ceiling instead.

Ryzen parts boost until they hit the 95 °C junction limit or the PPT ceiling, whichever comes first, so a stronger cooler often yields slightly higher sustained clocks rather than just lower temperatures. In GPU-bound games the package draws about 105 W.

Which cooler classes suit it

69 of the 70 coolers in the database ship with AM4 mounting hardware, and 60 of those (87 %) keep the Ryzen 7 3800X in the Excellent band with at least 25 W of thermal headroom under a sustained load.

By class: 19 of 19 dual-tower air coolers, 12 of 14 single-tower air coolers, 0 of 7 low-profile coolers, 15 of 15 240/280 mm AIO liquid coolers and 13 of 13 360/420 mm AIOs rate Excellent. The smallest cooler that avoids a throttling risk is rated 150 W (Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition). The cheapest Excellent option is the Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE at about $18.

AM4 mounting notes

AM4 hardware is included with nearly every cooler made since 2017. The stock backplate is reused by most brackets, so check that yours is present before installing.

02

All 70 coolers, ranked

Coolers ranked by thermal verdict then price for the Ryzen 7 3800X
CoolerTypeHeadroomFull loadHeightVerdict
Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE~$18Single-tower air cooler+38 W82 °C148 mmExcellent fit
ID-Cooling SE-224-XTS~$25Single-tower air cooler+38 W82 °C154 mmExcellent fit
ID-Cooling FROZN A620 Pro SE~$27Dual-tower air cooler+118 W68 °C157 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Assassin X 120 R SE~$30Single-tower air cooler+78 W74 °C155 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Burst Assassin 120~$30Single-tower air cooler+58 W78 °C155 mmExcellent fit
Vetroo V5~$30Single-tower air cooler+38 W82 °C158 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120~$32Dual-tower air cooler+98 W71 °C155 mmExcellent fit
Arctic Freezer 36~$35Single-tower air cooler+98 W71 °C159 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE~$35Dual-tower air cooler+103 W70 °C155 mmExcellent fit
Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB~$36Single-tower air cooler+98 W71 °C159 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Assassin King 120 SE~$40Single-tower air cooler+88 W72 °C160 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Frozen Magic 240 ARGB V2~$44240 mm AIO liquid cooler+108 W69 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Aqua Elite 120 V3~$45120 mm AIO liquid cooler+38 W82 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Frozen Infinity 240~$45240 mm AIO liquid cooler+118 W68 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE~$45Dual-tower air cooler+108 W69 °C154 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Digital ARGB~$46Dual-tower air cooler+108 W69 °C157 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Frozen Notte 240 ARGB V2~$47240 mm AIO liquid cooler+108 W69 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Cooler Master Hyper 622 Halo Black~$50Dual-tower air cooler+113 W68 °C157 mmExcellent fit
ID-Cooling FX240 Pro~$50240 mm AIO liquid cooler+118 W68 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Aqua Elite 240 V3~$50240 mm AIO liquid cooler+108 W69 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 ARGB V2~$50360 mm AIO liquid cooler+178 W62 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140~$50Dual-tower air cooler+138 W65 °C157 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO~$50Dual-tower air cooler+113 W68 °C158 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 Digital~$52Dual-tower air cooler+138 W65 °C157 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Frozen Infinity 360~$54360 mm AIO liquid cooler+198 W60 °C52 mmExcellent fit
be quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3~$55Single-tower air cooler+58 W78 °C155 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Vision MAX ARGB~$58Dual-tower air cooler+108 W69 °C157 mmExcellent fit
Thermalright FW360 ARGB~$59360 mm AIO liquid cooler+198 W60 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Cooler Master 240 Core II~$60240 mm AIO liquid cooler+108 W69 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Scythe Fuma 3~$65Dual-tower air cooler+108 W69 °C154 mmExcellent fit
MSI MAG CoreLiquid A13 240~$70240 mm AIO liquid cooler+108 W69 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-U12S~$70Single-tower air cooler+38 W82 °C158 mmExcellent fit
be quiet! Dark Rock 5~$70Single-tower air cooler+68 W76 °C162 mmExcellent fit
be quiet! Dark Rock Elite~$85Dual-tower air cooler+138 W65 °C168 mmExcellent fit
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360~$95360 mm AIO liquid cooler+228 W58 °C63 mmExcellent fit
Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth~$100Dual-tower air cooler+128 W67 °C165 mmExcellent fit
Corsair Nautilus 240 RS ARGB~$100240 mm AIO liquid cooler+118 W68 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-D12L~$100Dual-tower air cooler+78 W74 °C145 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-U12A~$100Single-tower air cooler+88 W72 °C158 mmExcellent fit
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5~$100Dual-tower air cooler+128 W67 °C168 mmExcellent fit
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB~$105360 mm AIO liquid cooler+228 W58 °C63 mmExcellent fit
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 420 A-RGB~$110420 mm AIO liquid cooler+248 W57 °C63 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-D15~$110Dual-tower air cooler+108 W69 °C165 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-D15S~$110Dual-tower air cooler+98 W71 °C165 mmExcellent fit
Cooler Master Atmos II Stealth 240~$120240 mm AIO liquid cooler+138 W65 °C63 mmExcellent fit
NZXT Kraken Plus 240~$120240 mm AIO liquid cooler+118 W68 °C52 mmExcellent fit
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 6~$120Dual-tower air cooler+138 W65 °C168 mmExcellent fit
Corsair Nautilus 360 RS~$130360 mm AIO liquid cooler+178 W62 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Lian Li Galahad II Trinity 240~$130240 mm AIO liquid cooler+118 W68 °C52 mmExcellent fit
NZXT Kraken Plus 280~$130280 mm AIO liquid cooler+148 W64 °C52 mmExcellent fit
NZXT Kraken Plus 360~$130360 mm AIO liquid cooler+188 W61 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Lian Li Galahad II LCD 280~$140280 mm AIO liquid cooler+158 W63 °C52 mmExcellent fit
MSI MAG CoreLiquid I360~$140360 mm AIO liquid cooler+178 W62 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Corsair iCUE Link Titan 240 RX RGB~$150240 mm AIO liquid cooler+138 W65 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Noctua NH-D15 G2~$150Dual-tower air cooler+138 W65 °C168 mmExcellent fit
Lian Li Galahad II Trinity 360~$160360 mm AIO liquid cooler+188 W61 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Corsair iCUE Link Titan II 360 RX RGB~$179360 mm AIO liquid cooler+208 W59 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Corsair iCUE Link Titan 360 RX RGB~$190360 mm AIO liquid cooler+198 W60 °C52 mmExcellent fit
NZXT Kraken Elite 280 RGB~$232280 mm AIO liquid cooler+158 W63 °C52 mmExcellent fit
NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB~$300360 mm AIO liquid cooler+198 W60 °C52 mmExcellent fit
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition~$30Single-tower air cooler+8 W92 °C159 mmAcceptable fit
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo Black~$40Single-tower air cooler+18 W88 °C154 mmAcceptable fit
Thermalright AXP120-X67~$40Low-profile air cooler+8 W92 °C67 mmAcceptable fit
Thermalright AXP90-X47~$30Low-profile air cooler-47 W95 °C47 mmThrottling risk
ID-Cooling IS-55~$35Low-profile air cooler-12 W95 °C55 mmThrottling risk
be quiet! Pure Rock Low Profile~$43Low-profile air cooler-42 W95 °C45 mmThrottling risk
Noctua NH-L9a-AM4~$55Low-profile air cooler-77 W95 °C37 mmThrottling risk
Scythe Big Shuriken 3 Rev.B~$55Low-profile air cooler-12 W95 °C69 mmThrottling risk
Noctua NH-L12S~$65Low-profile air cooler-22 W95 °C70 mmThrottling risk
Noctua NH-L9i-17xx~$55Low-profile air cooler-77 W95 °C37 mmIncompatible socket

Terms used on this page

PPT
Package Power Tracking, AMD's socket power ceiling. It is roughly 1.35 × TDP (65 W TDP → 88 W PPT, 105 W → 142 W, 170 W → 230 W) and is the figure a Ryzen cooler actually has to dissipate.
TjMax
The maximum junction temperature (typically 95–100 °C, 89 °C on Ryzen X3D parts). At TjMax the CPU throttles clocks to stay in place; it will not overheat, but it will lose performance.
Thermal headroom
The cooler's sustained dissipation rating minus the CPU's boost power limit, in watts. Positive headroom lets fans run slower and quieter; 25 W or more is rated Excellent here.
Thermal throttling
Automatic clock reduction when the CPU hits TjMax. A pairing is flagged as a throttling risk when the modelled full-load temperature reaches the junction limit or the cooler is rated 15 W or more below the CPU's boost power.