Standing tall as one of the best value processors around, our AMD Ryzen 7 5800X review saw it praised at launch for incredible performance, let down only by its higher MSRP and incremental performance upgrades over the Ryzen 5 5600X. At least one of those issues has been solved with age.
These days, you can pick up the 5800X for a much more than reasonable price from practically any retailer offering PC parts. At Best Buy, for example, it's down to just $179 compared to the launch price of about $449. You'll still need to grab a great CPU cooler to pair it with because there aren't any AMD-branded freebies in the box.
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December 4, 2024: Cyber Monday and Black Friday are over, so I removed some of the extra buying advice offered for the shopping events. — Cale Hunt
The best CPU coolers for AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
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Best air cooler
The NH-U12A is practically silent, keeping your 5800X cool under load. It's 158mm tall, so ensure you have enough clearance that your RAM won't be obstructed and you won't have any issues.
Silent running
The Dark Rock Pro 4 offers ample cooling with dual PWM fans that run nearly silently. This is a big cooler with a lot of thermal potential, but you'll want to be sure it can fit your case. It's great for more budgets.
Value AIO
The PL240 FLUX delivers strong cooling performance with customizable RGB lighting for its two 120mm PWM fans. It will fit into more cases thanks to the relatively compact dual-fan design.
Premium AIO
The Kraken X73 AIO features a gorgeous RGB pump header with an infinity mirror effect. It's more expensive, but it'll keep your 5800X from getting too hot while looking stylish if you can mount the radiator.
For white builds
Corsair's H150i Elite has customizable RGB lighting as the radiator, head, and hoses have a white finish, and the 2.1-inch LCD screen can be customized. It'll keep your Ryzen 7 5800X cool without issue.
Budget air cooler
The Scythe Fuma 3 is as cheap as it gets before sacrificing quality. It only stands 154mm tall, so it won't wholly tower over your entire motherboard, and it'll even cross over to AM5 sockets if you ever upgrade further.
My personal gaming rig has the Ryzen 7 5800X installed with an NZXT Kraken AIO, and it works perfectly. I'm in no rush to upgrade, as this 5000 Series CPU still manages my modern games just fine.
The 5800X is so great that I bought it myself (but..)
While it's technically outperformed ever so slightly in pure value by its more lightweight sibling, the Ryzen 5 5600X, I still can't resist recommending the 8-core Ryzen 7 5800X whenever it's on sale. I even bought it for my personal gaming desktop, but there is a glaring oversight that you likely noticed when buying one yourself: there's no CPU cooler in the box.
The best CPU cooler for the Ryzen 5800X depends on your needs and case size. You might want to look at something more affordable, like the Scythe Fuma 3 for air cooling or the Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL240 FLUX AIO, to keep the costs down. My top pick, the Noctua NH-U12A, is a super-quiet air cooler with incredible performance if you can spare the space inside your PC case.
I usually stick with AIO coolers in my machines simply because I'm a sucker for aesthetics and RGB. My go-to choice would be the NZXT Kraken X73 with a radiator appropriate for whatever case I'm building in. Clearance is crucial for any CPU cooler, especially the chunkier air-cooled variants, so double-check your available space for clearance over other components like low-profile RAM.
If you're building a system from scratch, be sure to check out our favorite motherboards for the Ryzen 7 5800X.
Should you choose air cooling or liquid cooling?
The choice between air and liquid cooling for your Ryzen 7 5800X ultimately comes down to budget and available space in your PC case. Liquid cooling used to be a much more involved process before AIO radiators, but you can now drop a loop into your PC without a lot of effort. Just get the head situated on your CPU and install the radiator at the front or top of your case.
An AIO might be the better option if you have limited space around your CPU, whether due to RAM or other hardware getting in the way. AIOs generally run cooler and offer better cooling performance; RGB lighting on the fans is just icing on top.
However, air coolers are still more than capable of keeping the Ryzen 7 5800X cool. You'll need more clearance around your CPU, but you can usually spend quite a bit less on reliable cooling.
What about an upgrade to AMD's AM5 socket?
The Ryzen 7 5800X operates on the AM4 socket, which is still fully supported by AMD. Heck, AMD even released a couple of new Ryzen 5000-series chips in 2024 alongside its new AM5-based Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" hardware that's expected to launch at the end of July.
If you do eventually want to move away from the AM4-based Ryzen 7 5800X, the coolers listed here should be compatible. At worst, you'll have to pick up a separate conversion kit, which is still a lot less money than a brand-new cooler. Most companies ensure easy compatibility even across AMD and Intel, so your choices remain mostly open when it comes time to upgrade.
