Advice: Physical Logistics & Super Air Coolers SLI-DR

[kosch]

Hi Guys

 

I'm looking for some advice. I decided to revisit the overclock on my X2 4400

 

I've gone from my no brainer overclock at 2.5 GHz with no thermal problems on the AC Freezer 64.

 

To 3 days of fiddling at 2.7 GHz (246x11 1.513 VID) (how much do I love & understand the CPU VID Special Control now!)

 

And it seems I've reached the limit of the AC Freezer 64. I believe this is also due to the fact I went SLI a few months back and had to rotate the heat sink/fan out of the way of the 2nd graphics card in the top PCI-E lane because of the rather large fan, this also sort of mucked up the nice air flow setup as I have two exhausts top left and top of the case as it’s a Antec P180.

 

I also notice that core #1 is running 5-7 degrees hotter than core #0

 

Super PI runs

 

Core #0 at about 58-62

Core #1 at about 62-68

 

So it’s time to replace it as I believe with extra cooling I might be able to achieve 2.8 on air cooling )

 

I've narrowed my selection down to 3 but I'm unsure of the physical logistics.

 

I'm worried about being able to physicaly fit them in case and get optimum position for the airflow.

 

Can anyone offer any experience with the below coolers and my setup?

 

 

 

I'm also a little worried about the weight of these super cools I don’t want to crush my chip or snap my motherboard.

 

Current AC Freezer 64 528g

 

NINJA PLUS Rev.B 640g

Zalman CNPS9700 NT 764g

Tuniq Tower 120 798g

 

I've taken some pictures so you can sort of get a rough idea of how busy my case is.(The cabeling isnt ideal atm as I had to replace the chipset fan last night as it finally died )

 

http://www.kosch.co.uk/images/p180/1.jpg

http://www.kosch.co.uk/images/p180/2.jpg

http://www.kosch.co.uk/images/p180/3.jpg

 

In total I've got 4 120mm fans, a PCI slot air extractor and a closed case :angel:

 

Thanks

 

Kosch

[Guest r3d c0m3t]

The P180 is more than able to house any of the three HSF's you've mentioned there. You're best bet would be to go with Tuniq Tower, a friend of mine has it and it's given him nothing but good results and with it you might be able to hit 2.8GHz+. I, too have a 4400+ (look in my sig) and I used to own a CNPS9500 and the farthest it got me was 2.75GHz.

 

Now, the 9700 has a bigger fan and meatier fin dimensions and it should (I haven't read up on it) deliver about 5 - 10% better performance than the 9500. Ultimately it's all up to what you're willing to spend.

 

http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75274 (Check that out.)