The reference ones are better.
Duly noted, the ones with the full covering around the heatsink and the squirrel cage fan?
this dont matter much if you are like some of us that simply strap our mobos, psu & hd to a plate and run it without a case. Much better cooling, especially in my field stone basement.
What do you mean by plate? Like just on the counter? Have a link? I'm looking for a good case system for my next rig build.