KT7a-RAID, quiet cooling?

[Diesel]

Hi, i'm about to drop a 1.2ghz T-Bird in my new KT7a-RAID. What's the quietest Heatsink/Fan combo that will fit on a KT7a-RAID that will get me the best cooling while making minimal fan noise? I don't plan on overclocking - unless i have to unlock it and run it at 133mhz fsb, but nothing hardcore. Basically i want the quietest combo alive that still cools well, i'll easily sacrifice a few degrees if it means it won't be as noisy. Thanks!

- Brian

PS: With that said, I've seen alot about the (ALPHA PAL6035 or PEP66) w/ either a (Sunon or Sanyo Denki) fan... I've gotten the general idea that i should be looking at these (unless there is a better setup out there for my needs as defined above) but which is the best Heatsink out of the two and which is the quietest fan out of the two? thanks again! - i hope i haven't rambled on too much...

 

[Guest]

I am still using the DP5-6H11 CoolerMaster that came installed on my TBird 1ghz / KT7A-RAID.... it cools very well (24 cel mobo, 41 cel cpu)and is very quiet. I was, however, going to pickup a ThermalTake Volcano II and try it out....

 

[Guest]

Well everyone has their opinions on fans, heatsinks, etc... so here is mine. I currently use the Alpha PAL6035 with the Sunon 30cfm fan. It is fairly quiet, especially when compared to a Delta fan @ 7000rpm's. I have tried three of the Coolermaster's, which work fine on a 1ghz CPU, but not at 1370mhz which I currently run at. The Global Win FOP38 with the Delta Fan and the Copper Hedgehog heatsink with Delta Fan both cool well, but at the expense of noise! The Delta fan is unbearable in a home or quiet office space. I tried the Global Win FOP38 with a smaller fan but it does not cool as well as the Alpha at all. My temps went up to 58C on the Global Win FOP38 with the same fan as the Alpha PAL6035, which is the Sunon 30cfm fan. Max temps on the Alpha under 100% load is 50C, usually during Quake 3 the temp hovers around 46C at 1370mhz.

 

[Guest]

Did you by any chance try or know anything about the coolermaster copper heatsink/fan, the cb5-5g12? I haven't seen anything on it. http://www.coolermaster.com/home.html

 

[Guest]

My Fop38 ISNT that loud! I think alot of people overreact or they heard something from someone. What I did is go into my local comp store that had them and told them to throw it on a plug on their test bench so I could hear it for myself. I thought it was much quiter than I imagined after reading all the junk. Anyways, I am running the exact same system at 1450Mhz stable and LOVE it not to mention having one of the fastest computers now on the Madonion benches. Check out my scores at their site if you don't believe me! I'd say overclock the Bieeooochhhh and get a globalwin fop38!

 

[Guest]

I tried the Copper CoolerMaster heatsink. Again, it is copper, so a higher airflow fan is needed to help the copper heatsink shed it heat. I held the heatsink after startup, and copper definitely transfers heat throughout the cooler much faster than aluminum, but the cooler is small. It will keep a 1.2Ghz CPU from overheating, but it runs a bit warmer than I prefer. At only 1050mhz the CPU reached 51C under full load, at 1.2Ghz the CPU reached 56C under full load. I currently can run my 1.2Ghz at 1.4Ghz with the Alpha PAL6035 with the Sunon 30cfm fan with temps never going over 51C, usually 48C is max. So if you want a small cooler setup, the Copper Coolermaster is a good unit, but is not the best cooler out on the market.

 

[Guest]

I posted earlier (look up) about trying the Volcano II.... I installed the Volcano last night, along with another fan. Here's the scoop: (note: all temps are in celcius, don't ask me why) I was getting 22 ambient room temp, with 22 case temp and a 41 degree CPU. The system was louder than I wanted. I figured that since the room temp and the internal case temp were the same, I was getting enough air through the case. I decided to compromise this somewhat in the name of noise. I replaced my Sunon high output 80mmm case fan (blowing out, under the PS) with a Sunon quiet 80mm. I figured that this swap would raise the internal temperature a little bit and cut down on the noise. to deal with the higher (theoretically) case temps, I would need a better a cooler. The CoolerMaster that was in there had a lower CFM and higher DB rating then the Volcano, so I figured that I could also make that switch and keep the cpu to 41 degrees.

Let me tell you how it went:
The temps are, in fact, as I had guessed. The case temp is another degree warmer, and the cpu stayed the same. The noise seemed quieter... then it hit me... I was probably ignoring room temperature, and imagining the noise difference.

As is usually the case with lab tests vs real world tests, a lab test can only guess at what will happen in the real world. Frankly, my room was a little warmer last night (the heat was on, and if there was a difference in noise, it was drowned out by either the desk or the street noise.) I'm sure that I could make a huge difference in performace if I went bannanas with active cooling and multiple fans, even dropping the cpu temp another 5 degrees, but is it important? In the end, my Case temp is close to ambient temp, and the CPU is usually 15-18 degrees warmer than that (under load). My system is only considered loud if I'm sitting under my desk, and with my windows open, I don't really notice it at all. In all honesty, I wish I could quiet the savage little bastards at the coffeeshop downstairs.

So people, don't sweat it. If you can stand the nooise, and the system is stable, you've won. Don't fool with something that isn't broken.

$.02

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the input. I ended up ordering a vantec 60mm cube with 27 cfm fan.($13) It should cool a 600 celeron @927. I needed to stay small (<64mm) because I am using it on a bh6 mb with a slotkett card with the power supply directly overhead and the video card not far in front. Hope it fits. One thing I did notice on the coolermaster info was the lack of high cfm fan 9.18 cfm and looked like a pull airflow design?(shroud around sink) which would have blown the hot air directly into my video card.