Hey guys,
I am thinking about upgrading my CPU cooler from my current Zalman CNPS9500A-LED. The Zalman is compact, looks great and is nice and quiet at low fan speeds, but I'm getting into thermal trouble at anything more than 3.6 GHz on my CPU (Phenom 2 955 BE). Also, although the Zalman is rated at 27 Db at peak fan speed, it sounds plenty loud to me. Thus I'm a little apprehensive about popular coolers like the 212, which is listed at about 10 more Db.
My top priority is something that's quiet, both at idle and when playing games at a moderate overclock. I am shooting to go quieter than my current Zalman. That's ultimately more important than absolute peak performance, as I don't intend to try for a ridiculous overclock (though a little more headroom would be nice of course).
One other issue is that my motherboard, being an AMD Micro-ATX ,has the RAM pretty close to the CPU socket, and I'm using all four slots with relatively tall heat spreaders. So I don't think a lot of the super-huge coolers would fit. Cooler height (I think) less of an issue as the Antec 900 is pretty big.
I'm fine with either air or closed-loop liquid cooling, but am not looking to do any major mods on my case, so I'm probably constrained to a single 120mm radiator fan if I go liquid.
Budget is probably not a big issue given the non-huge coolers just aren't that expensive, but would be nice to keep it under $100 or so.
Some of the options I'm considering are:
-Hyper 212, replacing stock fan with a quieter fan like a Noctua, and maybe switching fan to opposite side.
-Corsair H55 Quiet liquid cooler
-Thermalright True Spirit 120M, 140M or Archon SB-E (though the last two might be too big)
-Prolimatech Genesis Black (though this would be kind of pricey after buying a couple quiet fans to go with it).
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on which of these (or anything else out there) might be the best option. Thanks!
Current specs:
MB: MSI 890GXM-G65
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.6 GHz
Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500A-LED
Video: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950
RAM: Gskill Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM 8GB (4 x 2GB) @ 1600 MHz 8.8.8.24
HD 1: Monster Digital Daytona 240 GB SSD
HD 2: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA-750 - 750W
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit
I am thinking about upgrading my CPU cooler from my current Zalman CNPS9500A-LED. The Zalman is compact, looks great and is nice and quiet at low fan speeds, but I'm getting into thermal trouble at anything more than 3.6 GHz on my CPU (Phenom 2 955 BE). Also, although the Zalman is rated at 27 Db at peak fan speed, it sounds plenty loud to me. Thus I'm a little apprehensive about popular coolers like the 212, which is listed at about 10 more Db.
My top priority is something that's quiet, both at idle and when playing games at a moderate overclock. I am shooting to go quieter than my current Zalman. That's ultimately more important than absolute peak performance, as I don't intend to try for a ridiculous overclock (though a little more headroom would be nice of course).
One other issue is that my motherboard, being an AMD Micro-ATX ,has the RAM pretty close to the CPU socket, and I'm using all four slots with relatively tall heat spreaders. So I don't think a lot of the super-huge coolers would fit. Cooler height (I think) less of an issue as the Antec 900 is pretty big.
I'm fine with either air or closed-loop liquid cooling, but am not looking to do any major mods on my case, so I'm probably constrained to a single 120mm radiator fan if I go liquid.
Budget is probably not a big issue given the non-huge coolers just aren't that expensive, but would be nice to keep it under $100 or so.
Some of the options I'm considering are:
-Hyper 212, replacing stock fan with a quieter fan like a Noctua, and maybe switching fan to opposite side.
-Corsair H55 Quiet liquid cooler
-Thermalright True Spirit 120M, 140M or Archon SB-E (though the last two might be too big)
-Prolimatech Genesis Black (though this would be kind of pricey after buying a couple quiet fans to go with it).
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on which of these (or anything else out there) might be the best option. Thanks!
Current specs:
MB: MSI 890GXM-G65
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE @ 3.6 GHz
Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500A-LED
Video: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950
RAM: Gskill Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM 8GB (4 x 2GB) @ 1600 MHz 8.8.8.24
HD 1: Monster Digital Daytona 240 GB SSD
HD 2: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA-750 - 750W
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit
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