Cooler for mild overclocking

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H

_HU_

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I currently have a Phenom II 955 and I'd like to push it moderately, let's say 3.6-3.7GHz.

My system has the following components:
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Rev. C3 (max 95W TDP) at stock speed (3.2GHz).
- MSI 870A-G54 AM3 motherboard (not FX version).
- Kingston 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM (2 DIMMs on Dual Channel mode)
- Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Pro Rev.2 heatsink (supports up to 90W TDP only) with a 92mm diameter fan.

Now, during summer, my temps are 39ºC at idle and 60-61ºC with Prime 95; during winter, 29ºC at idle and 57-58ºC with Prime 95. So environmental heat it's a problem with this cooler.

I'm looking for an affordable cooler with good performance and restrained size, with a 92mm fan if possible, mainly for aesthetic reasons and easy DIMM handling. I wonder if a cooler with those features exists on the market. I've considered the following:

Thermalright True Spirit 90M
Scythe Katana 4
Zalman CNPS5X Performa
Raijintek Aidos
Xigmatek Loki II

I've read over thirty reviews and still I'm not clear about anything, because most of reviews are for Intel CPUs and coolers with 120mm fans.

What do you recommend? Does a cooler with a 120mm fan but with compact size exist? It must have a height lower than 150-155mm and enough RAM clearance for easy handling as I've said. Note I cannot remove the module located at slot 1, because my mobo does not support it, so RAM clearance is a MUST.

Thank you in advance.
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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IF you have a standard size heat sink on the ram a Hyper 212 will fit those conditions but be a 120mm. The fan brackets for these coolers are designed in a way that you can move the fan up on the fins to allow some extra room. If you have "Tall" heat sinks on your Ram then this option is out.

2 reasons I suggest this cooler 1st is It is cheap and works very well and 2nd is I have one on my Phenom II 965 Oced to 4.073 GHz and only hit 64°c in summer with Intel Burn Test with a high air flow case. ITB will hit higher temps than Prime95 so it is tried and tested to work well with your setup.

Edit: Opps the hyper 212's are 158mm tall so it might be a tight fit. I honestly thought they topped out at 155mm.
 
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H

_HU_

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Thank you for your replies. I suspect a quad-core Phenom II 955 (95W TDP) cannot be comfortably overclocked with a 92mm fan, right? If this is true, what do you think about the following coolers?

Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition
Thermalright True Spirit 120M
Xigmatek Aegir (discontinued, but still available)
Scythe Mugen 4
Zalman CNPS10X Performa

I've read wonders about the Aegir on Frostytech. It's included in the Top 5 list of best AMD coolers by temperature. Is this heatsink still worth?

On the other hand, could any cooler on that list be problematic with RAM clearance?

I forgot to say my case is a Cooler Master N400, which supports up to 164mm height heatsinks.

Thank you again
 
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bartholomew

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H

_HU_

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Can you elaborate, please? The manual of my motherboard states that it is ready for overclocking, although they don't recommend to exceed the vendor limits, as usual. In fact, my mobo has special features for overclocking, such as a physical dial and a built-in wizard in BIOS. Also keep in mind my CPU only has 95W TDP (max) and my mobo is ready for up to 140W CPUs.

Regarding the Mugen 4, could it be considered as an "overkill" for my needs? The i7-4770K is a very hot processor, much hotter than my P2, AFAIK.

To put it simply: I'm looking for a cooler whose heat dissipation is not an "overkill", because I don't plan to replace my CPU in the long-term. I don't need a mammoth (regarding size) nor spend too much money. I hope you get the picture.

Regards and thank you very much, indeed.
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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Your CPU is a 125W TDP processor not 95W. When the revision C3 was released they dropped it from 140W to 125W TDP.

What blackbird is referring to is the fact the voltage regulators are not covered by a heat sink and OCing to far will Kill them. the board may come with options to OC but the board can be damaged by Ocing.


Edit: here is what amd says about your CPU : CPU Model 955*, Frequency 3.2 GHz, L2 Cache 2MB, L3 Cache 6MB, socket AM3, TDP 125W , CMos Technoligy 45nm, SOI

have a look for yourself. http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/desktop/phenom-ii
 
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H

_HU_

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Excuse me, but you're wrong. My CPU has 95W TDP becase is an OEM special revision which is not listed on AMD's website. Check out THIS. The version what you meant is THIS. So I suppose I have a wide margin to overclock, right? (45W = 140 - 95)
I bought this low-power version at eBay for this reason (it's not sold in the market because comes only with OEM systems).

And what about this?
To put it simply: I'm looking for a cooler whose heat dissipation is not an "overkill", because I don't plan to replace my CPU in the long-term. I don't need a mammoth (regarding size) nor spend too much money. I hope you get the picture.
Click to expand...

Your help is very appreciated. Regards.
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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There is one thing with this 955 that you are wrong about and that is that it was only sold in OEM PC's. here is the link for proof. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113007

you can't go by the board being able to handle a 140w "TDP" CPU for overclocking. TDP stands for thermal design power. Now this is not how much the CPU will draw for electrical wattage but the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated by the cooler. Both the electrical wattage and thermal heat generated by the wattage are both close to each other but can and will vary.

It is the voltage delivery and regulation that will be the issue when OCing that CPU with the lower end board. Most OCing boards will have a 8 pin CPU supplemental power connection, you have a 4 pin. This does not mean that the board is unable to OC it just means that the power delivery will be less and less stable. Your VRM's do not have heat sinks. This can be remedied by Buying some C10 mosfet heat sinks but this is a stop gap measure as air needs to flow properly over them also.

You CPU is a non "Black Edition". This means that your CPU can only be overclocked by the reference clock. By upping the reference clock every thing on the motherboard that runs on this clock will speed up. This includes ram, north bridge and hyper transport to mention a few. Your OC will be low at best seeing 3.6 -3.7 GHz. for these clocks a 92 mm CPU cooler should work fine as long as you have a front and rear case fan.

as for a cooler there have been some really nice suggestions put out for you to choose from. If you can spare the 3 extra mm I recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ or the Hyper 212 EVO . The + version goes for around $25 USD and the Evo goes for around $35 USD and are excellent at cooling the Phenom chips. Yes it is a tower cooler but it will blow the heat at the rear case fan to exhaust it. It is not over kill but a good price to performance cooler with a low cost.
 
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H

_HU_

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Of course! I was not wrong, I told you this CPU was bought at eBay because it's not sold in the market. Yes, it was removed from an OEM system and the seller ensured this CPU was not overclocked before.
you can't go by the board being able to handle a 140w "TDP" CPU for overclocking. TDP stands for thermal design power. Now this is not how much the CPU will draw for electrical wattage but the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated by the cooler. Both the electrical wattage and thermal heat generated by the wattage are both close to each other but can and will vary.
Click to expand...
OK, I understand.
It is the voltage delivery and regulation that will be the issue when OCing that CPU with the lower end board. Most OCing boards will have a 8 pin CPU supplemental power connection, you have a 4 pin. This does not mean that the board is unable to OC it just means that the power delivery will be less and less stable. Your VRM's do not have heat sinks. This can be remedied by Buying some C10 mosfet heat sinks but this is a stop gap measure as air needs to flow properly over them also.
Click to expand...
I also have 2 additional fans (NOT installed yet) for cooling the case/components: a 120mm Cooler Master Blade (up to 2000RPM) and a 140mm Tacens Ventus II. I plan to install the former on top of the case in order to cool mobo components. Is it good or is still necessary to buy a heatsink for the VRM's? The Ventus II would be installed on the left side to cool the graphics board. Also note my Cooler Master N400 case has both front and rear fans and, in addition, top, bottom, side, rear and front air vents. Is this enough to reach 3.7GHz speed? I'm content with this speed.
You CPU is a non "Black Edition". This means that your CPU can only be overclocked by the reference clock. By upping the reference clock every thing on the motherboard that runs on this clock will speed up. This includes ram, north bridge and hyper transport to mention a few. Your OC will be low at best seeing 3.6 -3.7 GHz.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know. If I enable the wizard in BIOS, without any tweaking, I achieve 3.6GHz, but temps are too high at idle and I cannot use my computer even at normal load.

for these clocks a 92 mm CPU cooler should work fine as long as you have a front and rear case fan.
Click to expand...
My problem is I currently have a 92mm cooler and I already said it's unable to stand a light OC like 3.6GHz. Do you think the Katana 4 will perform much better than my current Alpine 64 Pro?
as for a cooler there have been some really nice suggestions put out for you to choose from. If you can spare the 3 extra mm I recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ or the Hyper 212 EVO . The + version goes for around $25 USD and the Evo goes for around $35 USD and are excellent at cooling the Phenom chips. Yes it is a tower cooler but it will blow the heat at the rear case fan to exhaust it. It is not over kill but a good price to performance cooler with a low cost.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will check it out.

Thank you very much for your replies :)
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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It is not necessary to put heat sinks on the VRM's but it is recommended if you OC with that board. It will help keep the heat down to help keep the OC stable.

because all boards and CPUs are different no one can say if you can hit 3.7GHz and be stable for 24/7 use. You should be able to hit that frequency but this is just in theory and in practice it could be different.

the Katana 4 has a review for it with temp tests. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Scythe/Katana4/6.html
 
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H

_HU_

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Thank you one more time! :)

But you didn't answer about the additional fans. Can they help? Can they cool the mobo components (including the VRMs) as explained?

And finally, what do you think about the Raijintek Aidos (92mm)? It has a very favourable review at TechPowerUp. It looks like the Aidos has a performance pretty similar to the bigger Hyper 212 Evo, but I don't know if that result can be extrapolated to my CPU.

Thanks a lot! :) :)
 
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H

_HU_

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Yes, I know my VRM's are very low-end, but I'm referring to heat.

What do you think about the Aidos?
 
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H

_HU_

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Could those additional fans cool the mobo components (including the VRMs) as I explained before?

Does anyone have an opinion about the Raijintek Aidos?

Thanks for your inputs.
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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the fans will help some air flow if installed properly for the case they are going in. But you will always have hot spots. Some times it is a trial and error with the case fan directions.

at this point it would be best if you start looking at bench marks for CPU cooler to help you make a decision.
 
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H

_HU_

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OK.
at this point it would be best if you start looking at bench marks for CPU cooler to help you make a decision.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did, but most reviews are for Intel CPUs, i5-2500K and Haswell i7s. How can I compare the heat created by these CPUs with my Phenom II?

 
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bgunner

bgunner

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the phenom will be higher temps but those temps in the benchmarks will tell you which coolers are better than the ones below it for cooling. If your looking to know the exact temps you will see, this is impossible to say. This is because of ambient temp fluctuation, case air flow and air pressure differences and thermal paste differences. all these will make one CPU hotter than another. These tests are done to show how coolers compare to each other not how they work on a bunch of different CPU's.
 
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H

_HU_

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Are you absolutely sure? The case is there are many reviews like this where Haswell CPUs reach up to 90º Celsius. My CPU cannot go beyond 62-65º before a premature shutdown is performed, AFAIK.

Thank you for your patience and advices.

 
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bgunner

bgunner

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unless they changed it for your OEM version it is 72°C then shutdown but best to keep the CPU to around 55°C but can be up to an everyday 60-62 max before the life expectancy really gets hurt.

On my 965be with good air flow I idle at 36°C, high gaming of 54°C and a IBT high temp of 62-64°C. Core Clock at 4.073 GHz with an ambient temp of 25°C. core voltage of 1.416V. I have the CM Hyper 212 Evo with 2 fans in push pull and a Antec 902 case. Is this more what your looking for?

go by these figures when looking at how well a cooler works. Now you know where the Hyper 212's stand for cooling a chip like yours. look at the benchmarks and see how the others sit and you should see similar performance difference if you placed those coolers on your chip. you also need to figure in Voltage, core speed, ambient temp and case air flow.

 
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H

_HU_

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I'm pretty sure my max operating temp is 62º. I have a special low-power version of C3 Rev that has even a lower max temp than the 'normal' version.
then shutdown but best to keep the CPU to around 55°C but can be up to an everyday 60-62 max before the life expectancy really gets hurt.
Click to expand...
I think it's better to keep a max temp near 55-58º to increase lifetime.

On my 965be with good air flow I idle at 36°C, high gaming of 54°C and a IBT high temp of 62-64°C. Core Clock at 4.073 GHz with an ambient temp of 25°C. core voltage of 1.416V. I have the CM Hyper 212 Evo with 2 fans in push pull and a Antec 902 case. Is this more what your looking for?
Click to expand...
If the Hyper 212 Evo was not a huge cooler, my decision would be clear. But I created this thread, mainly for searching for a cooler with a similar performance than the Evo, but much smaller. Hence I'm asking opinions about the Raijintek Aidos or another small cooler (not a tower cooler) which you already know with similar performance to the Evo. I don't know if such thing exists.

Thanks.
 
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