When my Fractal Design 280mm AIO decided to die suddenly, I found a 'like new in box' Fuma 2 Rev B being sold near me for $25. Good thing, too, as I really had no other cooler to use. It's doing well on an I7-11700F. I also have a Scythe Big Shuriken 3 in another case on a Ryzen 7 3700X, but I lost the mounting hardware for Intel. So I used the Ryzen system until I got the Fuma 2 installed. I am a big fan of Scythe coolers!
When I compare MY results with MY paste of choice (Arctic Silver 5) and MY application method (spread on the CPU, spread on the heatsink base), I always get better temps than reviewers do. I get better temps than 360 AIOs according to these review channels with my Fuma 2 Rev B and 5900x. But I've been doing this for decades. You gotta spread the paste. You have to use the exact right amount of paste, which is different for each type of paste. And you don't need LLC on anything other than the lowest setting. Take it from the guy with 2x 1st place overclocking competitions under his belt. The only two I ever entered. 93% overclock for one 1st place and then a 72% or something performance gain got me the other first place. But, I'm a nerd like that. When I love something, I learn it inside and out and have to be a perfectionist about it. I become an "I can see it, but I can't explain it" kind of guy. Except now, I can explain what's going on with my techniques. Edit: The only time you need to use bumped up LLC settings is when you're overclocking on a board high enough that the natural Vdroop is becoming too much and can't give you the voltage you need at the frequencies you're asking for. At stock or low overclock settings on any halfway quality motherboard, LLC should be set to the lowest possible setting. For example, he's running a 5800x. All of these boards come out of the box ready to handle a 5950x. If you don't know what LLC is doing, don't mess with it. Well, wait, I take that back. Do mess with it. Go check your BIOS right now. Look for your LLC (Load Line Calibration). It may be called Digi+ VRM/Digi VRM+ or whatever on Asus... and set it to the lowest setting. Not auto. Manually set it as low as you can. The VRMs has ZERO issues supplying the voltage for 5900x/5950x's with stock 142 watt PPT's out of the box. Step back for a moment. Look at the bigger picture. Does anyone think these CPUs are pulling massive watts? WRONG! Ever had an FX-8350? Yeah.. overclock one of those and come back and tell me about wattages. The mobos today have double the VRM quality and capacity as what we were using back then with FX-8350's, and those would pull WELL over 200 watts with slight overclocking. Now consider you had to keep those under 62C lmao. We've got it made, today, fellows. Take advantage of this awesome hardware. Ryzen starts the throttling at 70C. YES, they'll throttle hard at 90-95C (depending on generation), but 70C is the starting point of throttling. I'm stopping there... just do the LLC thing I said. Set it to low/regular/level1/off. Whatever you have as an option on your motherboard. Not auto. Not high. Definitely not Extreme. You'll drop 10-15C easily and gain performance because of less throttling.
Fuma 2 Rev B is hard to beat. You don't have to use the stock fans. I started out using 2x of the fans that come with Hyper 212 Evos. 120mm 2000RPM 83CFM fans. That was overkill for my 5900x, so I ended up putting the stock Fuma 2 fans back on, and using those 2000RPM fans on my case. One directly behind the Fuma 2 as the exhaust on my case, and one on the top front intake. Airflow for days. So, in total, 2x intake in the front (1000RPM bottom, 2000RPM top), 3x exhaust up top (all 1000RPM), 1x exhaust in the rear (the other 2000RPM fan). The 1000RPM fans are just what came with the case. I may upgrade them at some point, but it's not even a necessity at this point. And I don't mind fan noise, I game with headphones, so I have the fans all set to hit max at 65C on the CPU. Only a couple of games push me to 65C on my 5900x. BF2042 and Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk only does it because it hits a particular couple of cores hard. BF2042 does it because it uses 50% of the 5900x (12c/24t) and pulls 115-120 watts. I technically average about 64C in BF2042. The vast majority of other games have me averaging around 58-60C. Some closer to 62C. So, the fans are all quiet in those games..... not that I care. I don't hear them with headphones, anyways, and if it ever did bother me, I can ease those curves as 65C is super cool, anyways. Funny how the 5900x runs so much cooler than the 5800x. 2x CCD's with 6 CPUs each (like a 5600x * 2 in one CPU) vs 1xCCD with 8 cores (5800x). I mean, CPU-z only has me hitting 65C at 142 watts PPT. I'm guessing the 5800x hits 80C doing the same thing at less watts with a much lower score. Then, again, you reviewers don't know much about motherboard settings and always turn LLC up to the max like a special ed kid.
At its price it is hard to consider. For 10-15 Euros more there's the U14S or a LiquidFreezer II 240, or the twin tower be quiet!. It's not that much better than the cheaper coolers as well - all the Arctics, be quiets, other Scythes... Not worth it for the asking price (in Europe at least).
Really not hard to consider at all. You're comparing apples to organges: U14S is 20 Euros more, or 33% more expensive than the Fuma 2. It's also 2cm taller, which - for example- renders it useless for small form factor builds like the popular NR200. The Liquid Freezer is, as the name implies, a liquid cooler, which has no place in such a comparison. There's a reason the Fuma 2 gets so much praise: It's small, it's quiet, it performs well and is cheap. Which ultimately makes it a no brainer when those criteria matter.
@@smaller_cathedrals Well, it's not a no-brainer. But that is ultimately a good thing, more competition is better for us. The Arctic liquid cooler does have a place in the comparison when it's that close in price to the air coolers. The Fuma 2 is 60 Euros currently, the Liquid Freezer II 240 is 75 Euros. U14S is 70 Euro, U12S Redux is 50E. The Pure Rock 2 FX is 45, Freezer 34 esports Duo is 49. All negligible differences for most people. The Fuma 2 is not ideal because it's right in the middle. It is not noticeably better than the slightly cheaper coolers (noise or temperature wise), and it loses out to the slightly more expensive coolers. 15 Euro difference up or down is not that much, but if you're after every possible savings, then the Freezer 34 and the Pure Rock 2 FX are much better than the Fuma. The DeepCool AK400 is also very good at 45-50 Euro. They are more compact than the Fuma as well. Ultimately all are great and it is good we are spoiled for choice. Personally I would not go for the Fuma.
