Air Cpu Cooler Recommendations

[Rokkaholik]

I'm currently running an Antec 900 case with the fans on medium with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2 board and a Q6600 at stock settings. For a cooler, I have the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with a Scythe S-Flex Fan mounted to it and Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.

 

After running the OCCT program, I found my 4 cores to average 35-38 under idle and 58-61 at full load. I'd like to bring those numbers down a little, if not considerably.

 

Anyone have any recommendations on any different coolers? Money isn't too much of a problem

 

So far, I've looked into these

 

Scythe SCINF-1000 120mm CPU Cooler

 

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

 

OCZ OCZTVEND2 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

[Verran]

Sorry to say it, but if you're already running an Ultra-120 Extreme, it's not going to get any better. In fact, all three that you listed will probably perform worse.

 

The temps you listed are pretty normal for a quad even on good air.

[CanadaGUY]

Ya that freezer 7, although pretty decent at cooling dual's will not come close to the Ultra-120.

[damian]

Going from a "TRUE" to an AC7

Thats one of the best if not THE best heatsinks on the market.

Try lapping it, i just finished lapping my heatsink and my temps dropped by like 8C degrees, Im not sure what your results will be but it wont hurt.

[Great_Gig]

I concur - having done an awful lot of research lately into HSF you will struggle to find a better cooler than you already have. If you have only just installed the Ultra, then AS5 can take up to 200 hours to 'break-in' and your temps are likely to lower, but only by up to around 5 degrees C at best.

 

If you are still not happy, you could try looking at the Arctic Silver website on how they recommend applying the compound, just in case it's not 100%. I reseated a GPU cooler once, that didn't have enough compound - second try saw a drop of over 10 degrees C! If you have done a good job already, then those are the temps you will have, but they are about right for air cooling, especially if your ambient is above 20 degrees C.

 

Maybe if you have not done so already, a cable management job in the case might help? Or you might have a go at lapping the HS and CPU?

 

GG

[Rokkaholik]

I'm going to try lapping the Cooler. It was close when I got it and I didn't mess with it. I'm also currently replacing the SATA cables I have, which are too long, with much shorter 6" ones, since my hard drives are right next to the SATA ports on the motherboard. I used the cables that came with the motherboard, which are 18" I think, They are all coiled up and pretty much out of the way, but it could be better. I've also been using IDE Rom drives, so I have SATA Roms coming. Hopefully that'll improve the airflow getting rid of that wide ribbon

[Rehit]

try lapping your CPU and your TRUE.

they may look close to being flat but are not.

you will see this very quickly when you start lapping.

i have lapped all 3 of my TRUE heastsinks and it makes a big difference in the temps.

[Warby35]

Have a look at the Noctua NH-U12P http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=768118 I had temp issues and it did a great job, and no need to lap it (its got like a kind of machined finish) its flat as glass. and the fan is exellent

 

Warby

[Great_Gig]

Have a look at the Noctua NH-U12P http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=768118 I had temp issues and it did a great job, and no need to lap it (its got like a kind of machined finish) its flat as glass. and the fan is exellent

 

Warby

 

 

This is indeed an excellent HSF and comes highly recommended, as does the very quiet Noctua fan. If it wasn't up against the Thermalright, then it's a fantastic upgrade over a stock HSF. But it's no better than the Therm - this has been shown in many head to heads, one here too http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/noctua_nh_u12p/5.htm

 

So although the Noctua is a great product and a worthy recommendation, it won't be any better. Lapping, case cooling improvement, cable management or water cooling is the only thing that will get your temps below what they are now.

Trying another $60-70 HSF would (IMHO) leave you even more frustrated and a few dollars short!

 

GG

Edited May 30, 2008 by Great Gig

[Rehit]

you can get almost water cooling temps with the TRUE if you use high CFM fans in a push pull config like this.

i have 2 rigs set up this way and soon will have a 3rd.

at 4.7 GHZ at 1.65 volts my Xeon E3100 idles at 30C and full load is about 58C.

[Great_Gig]

you can get almost water cooling temps with the TRUE if you use high CFM fans in a push pull config like this.

i have 2 rigs set up this way and soon will have a 3rd.

at 4.7 GHZ at 1.65 volts my Xeon E3100 idles at 30C and full load is about 58C.

 

Now that's a cool idea (excuse the pun!)

[Rehit]

here is an idea of what is possible with a lapped TRUE.

this is a QX6800ES chip that runs very hot at stock speeds overclocked to 3600 400x9 at 1.55 volts.

all 4 cores at 100% for about 10 minutes with memtest running on 4 out of 6 gigs of ram.

these temps will be hard to beat...

that is without the ghetto AC mod...