Best air cooling? Options

[guyrichi247]

Ive been looking at some reviews for air cooling and I like the look of the Coolermaster V8 and Prolimatech Megahalem. Does the Megahalem fit 1366 socket? And is it worth having extra cooling for the RAM? Its mainly for video editing and some gaming but im also looking to overclock it so needs to be cool.

The setup im going to have is this:

MOBO - eVGA X58 SLI LE
CPU - i7 920 "D0" Stepping
RAM - 6GBKingston hyperx 1600
PSU - OCZ stealthXstream 700W
Case - Antec 900
GPU - ATI 4670
Monitor - Apple 30"

I'd probably upgrade the fans on the CPU cooler and case fans if i can get some decent low noise ones...any suggestions? Its gonna be running 100% (or thereabouts) load 24/7 so needs to be reasonably quiet AND keep temps down. I dont really have money for watercooling so any help with case/fan/cooler choice would be great!

[ScapeGoat]

The Megahalems is without a doubt one of the best coolers of the market if used in push-pull configuration (a fan in the cooler pushing air into it while a fan in the back of the case, in the cooler or both pushes air out).

If you are not planning in a high OC on the RAMs you don't need to buy an aftermarket cooler. If your case has a good airflow there will be no problem with a little OC.

Now about the fans, for price performance go for to the Noiseblocker XL1 or XL2 (XL1 for more silence, XL2 for more airflow). If you want a more expensive but great fan go for the Noctua S12B FLX.

This post has been edited by ScapeGoat: Nov 3 2009, 04:21 AM

[guyrichi247]

The Megahalems is without a doubt one of the best coolers of the market if used in push-pull configuration (a fan in the cooler pushing air into it while a fan in the back of the case, in the cooler or both pushes air out).

If you are not planning in a high OC on the RAMs you don't need to buy an aftermarket cooler. If your case has a good airflow there will be no problem with a little OC.

Now about the fans, for price performance go for to the Noiseblocker XL1 or XL2 (XL1 for more silence, XL2 for more airflow). If you want a more expensive but great fan go for the Noctua S12B FLX.

Thanks That is really helpful, ill check them out

EDIT: Ive been looking at the Delta 120mm Focussed Flow Fan and it seems like a beast. I was wondering if it would blow enough air on low setting and be quiet enough to compete with other 120mm fans on high? This would be pretty good as I could just turn it up when OCing or gaming and just wear headphones...

This post has been edited by guyrichi247: Nov 3 2009, 09:21 AM

[Bob16314]

If or when I need a better air cooler, It WILL be the Megahalem with a push/pull setup..Without a doubt..And imho and experience, the best fans are either Coolermaster or Masscool (highly efficient and relatively quiet) over Noctua (uffff).

[ScapeGoat]

guyrichi247 can't really give my opinion on the fan you mention because I've never head about it but reading the reviews on the page it's seems to be very loud.

Bob16314 if you have better better fans give him the model for gods sake Although in my opinion the Noctua I mentioned is a pretty good fan.

[enrgizerbunny]

I haven't used this heatsink, but it supports TWO 120mm fans. You might have heard of it.
Personally I use a thermaltake Big Typhoon

I want to get one before they all disappear, but I'm a little weary, it warns against using in vertical setups because it weighs 1.9 Kg heatsink alone, can we say bolt through kit?

Thermalright "Limited Edition" TRUE Copper Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink (Socket LGA 775 / LGA 1366 / LGA 1156* / AM2 / Xeon*)

Here's a 217 CFM Delta as well, they have several others that might be less than 69 db though. >.<
Delta 120 x 38mm Mega High-Speed 11-Blade Fan - 217.8 CFM

[Puck]

Best is a relative term...best cooling, best quiet cooler, best for the price, etc.

IMO the TRUE 120 is still top dog, and delta fans are my favorite for high performance use. The ones linked though above are WAY too powerful - 30+ watts is too much to put on a fan controller unless you build your own, so they will be stuck running full powered and they are llloouuudddd.

I used two delta 120x38mm SHE tri blade fans, almost 150cfm each with good static pressure and not too noisy. Plus, they can be put on most pre made fan controllers without burning them out.

[Crazy_Nate]

I adore my TRUE - when you get past the fact that they're not very flat on the bottom. A little time lapping will fix that.

I have heard quite good things about the Megahalems, and it's probably on the top of my list for my next heat sink

[enrgizerbunny]

I'm not trying to threadjack, but is the TRUE a particular danger in a vertical setup when used with a bolt-through kit?

I have an ASUS Crosshair II Forumula and I don't want my socket to pop off, but I'd really like to have the capacity of the heatsink.

[Bizzlenitch]

The Megahalems is a great cooler. Never used a TRUE, but the Megahalems does not leave me with the desire to try it. Overclocked to 3.9GHz at 1.2V full load (1.26V idle), my Q9550 never runs above 65C on its hottest core after 20 runs of IBT. OCCT/Prime temps never go above 56C at 100% load. Although not exactly apples to apples considering your i7 920, this should give you some sort of idea as to the performance of the cooler. I'm sure I could push my chip further, but 3.9GHz at those volts ain't too bad for 24/7 use.

Forgot to mention, this is using a Scythe S-FLEX 1900RPM fan pushing around 80CFM I think. Tried a dual fan setup but didn't notice enough temperature difference to warrant the extra noise. Always an option in the future, I suppose.

This post has been edited by Bizzlenitch: Nov 3 2009, 07:27 PM

[rourkchris]

I'm not trying to threadjack, but is the TRUE a particular danger in a vertical setup when used with a bolt-through kit?

I have an ASUS Crosshair II Forumula and I don't want my socket to pop off, but I'd really like to have the capacity of the heatsink.

No. You'll find many using it here and I've yet to see a thread warning about anyone's sockets falling off.

[TropicalPreist]

Pics of the prolimatech megahalems and the temps it can provide on an 4ghz i7.

http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.p...howtopic=168689