Heatsink Suggestions?

[yieldan]

Hey guys what are your opinions on the best HSF to cool an overclocked E6400 @ 3.2GHz? I am using the Asus P5B "Vanilla." I'm also worried about weight and cooling of the chipset etc. So, what are your suggestions?

 

[KOne]

check out anandtech's motherboard review for the heatsink they used on the 975x boards. they got a really high oc with this cooler.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=3

 

[yieldan]

Cool thanks man, any other ideas?

 

[yieldan]

Anyone use anything personally that they really recommend, I've done the research on google and whatnot, but I just would like to know if anyone has any recommendations themselves.

 

[wolfman140]

I have a Zalman 9500. To tell you the truth I'm not impressed with its performance. Maybe its my case airflow (although it SHOULD be good)...maybe its my seating job (although I've built other comps just fine with good temps) so I dunno. Either way I idle at around 43 C +/- 2 and I believe it should be a lot lower....even if I AM OC'ed

 

[yieldan]

Interesting Wolfman... I was considering the 9500, thanks for the advice.

 

[Anoobis]

The Tuniq-Tower is an excellent choice, but hard to find last time I looked. The Scythe Infinity is also an excellent choice and easier to find. Both can be pricey. If you want to save a few bucks, the Scythe Mine is decent setup too. Once it becomes available, the Cooler Master Hyper 7 looks promising too as a mid-priced alternative as well. It's due out anytime now. And then I'll pimp my personal favorite, the Arctic Cooling Freezer series (the "7" for Intel, the "64" for AMD). They're not as powerful as the ones listed above (except for maybe the Hyper 7, as the vote is still out on that one) but they can be had for around $25.00 U.S. and offer the best performance at that cost.

The Zalman 9500 is a good performing heatsink. However, it's high-cost competley negates that since the you can buy alternatives that cost half as much and work just as good (see Arctic Cooling Freezer series). This pretty much status quo with all Zalman products.

 

[yieldan]

Thanks for the advice, I'll check those out... that's the same thing I was thinking about the Zalman... although it does look pretty cool.

 

[jrivera04]

I have a Zalman 9500 and it works great. Even at max RPM it is the quietest fan in my case. The fan from my video card (ATI X800XL PCIe) is much louder. I also have two 120mm fans in my case. One in the front and one in back.

I am overclocking a Pentium D and it idles in the 40* C range and maxes around 60* C while doing video encoding.

I recommend it to all my friends.

 

[Anoobis]

Oh dear, it appears you've failed the qualifications.

@yieldan, looks usually come as one of the last things to consider when dealing with performance and overclocking.

 

[yieldan]

Hahahaha, that is true. I actually have been hearing really good things about the Scythe Ninja and Infinity and the Thermalright XP-120. Any opinions?

 

[Anoobis]

You cannot go wrong with either the Ninja or the Infinity but the Ninja is hard to find. Some people around here have indicated that it is going to be replaced with the Infinity.

The XP-120 is also a good choice, but you'll probably have to factor in the cost of a fan and a bracket for S775. For less money you could go with the Scythe Mine and get better performance I suspect. The nice thing about the XP-120 is that the fan aims towards the motherboard, which will also help cool the VRM. Tha AC Freezer Series are the only tower style coolers (that I know of) which have their lower fins angled down to provide some cooling to the VRM on motherboard as well. The Thermaltake Big Typhoon is another cooler to consider if cooling of the VRM is an issue.

Honestly, we're splitting hairs. Generically speaking:

On the cheap: Arctic Cooling Freezer Series, ~$22.00 U.S.

Mid-Range: Scythe Mine, perhaps Cooler Master Hyper 7 when available ~$35.00

High-end: Scythe Infinity, Thermalright Ultra-120 ~$55.00

This is more or less the same advice I've seen floating around the forum that was posted by a more senior member (Aside from the Hyper 7 that is).

 

[yieldan]

Thanks for the help man

 

[KOne]

thermalright 120 is a really good choice. they always worked great on amd, should go the same for intel.

 

[Canai]

I ordered a Scythe Infinity for my C2D 6600, and I'm planning on some decent overclocking. The only thing about it is that it ships with a low CFM fan, so I had to spring an extra $12 or so for a 92 CFM 120mm fan. Hopefully it will arive today and I'll have it running tonight, so I'll come back and post my results.

 

[yieldan]

Cool, looking forward to seeing your results.

 

[chuckshissle]

Thermalright Ultra-120 has a very impressive performance in cooling and low-noise. However you can also replace the 120mm fan with Silverstone FM121 for better airflow and low noise.

 

[yieldan]

Yeah the thermalright Ultra 120 looks good, I'm a little worried about weight though as I do have to transport my machine to a from college a few times a year... I don't have to ship it but I still don't want to worry about too much extra force being exerted on the board.

 

[Canai]

After several tries (the cooler was taller than the slot for the mobo tray grr) I got the Infinity in, and damn. mobo from 40º/55º idle/load to 25º/33º. cpu from 45º/69º to 29º/46º! I am very impressed with this cooler. I did put a 92 CFM thermaltake fan on it so maybe that helps. Haha my computer now sounds like a jet engine with the fans turned up. I put in four adjustable fans instead of the slow ones that my Lian-Li case came with and it made a huge difference. I have close to 200 cubic feet of air moving thru the case every minute. But it's rather amazing now.

The cooler is nice, but very, very heavy at 960 grams. It seems nice and stable with the four post 775 mount, and it fits inside my midtower case. Like I mentioned before it's taller than my mobo tray, and as a result I had to take the whole thing apart and re-assemble it inside the case, which was a bit tough since I have a nice cast on my arm from an accident a few months ago, but I managed to get it together without too much difficulty. One problem though is that the fan retention springs scraped and dented the heatsink cover on the northbridge chip, but since I plan on removing the cover as soon as I get a stable overclock it doesn't really matter. There was also only one side of the cooler that I could easily mount the fan on, since on the other side towards the rear of the case the fan was sitting directly on top of the radiator for the heatpipe from the chipset. So I ended up having an 80mm fan as intake in the rear of the case blowing directly on the cooler with the 120mm fan on the other side of the cooler sucking air thru it instead of blowing air into it. After an hour of orthos the CPU was at 45ºC which means I have a good 15º to play with for OC'ing.

Oh and what's the highest temp the chip will take for a good period of time? I think I want to stay below 60º at load, but since the chip was getting up to 65º+ at stock with the intel cooler I am thinking maybe it can take a bit more.

 

[KOne]

i have seen mine get to 69c but didn't let it run for too long at that temp. the cooler the better, any where between 35c-50c idle/load would be the best temp when oc'ing. the max temp is listed at 60c for conroe.

 

[fishboi]

I really worried about the pressure on the board. 1st time builder here, and 1st time overclocker to be. I ordered the Thermalright Ultra 120. It looks awesome. BUT IT LOOKS BIG - Scythe Infinity is even bigger. Massive in fact.

Doesnt the weight really screw things up on your board? It just doesnt seem normal. Obviously if you move it around and shake it, you could have problems, but over time, wont it crack the board?????

Anyway to secure the heatsink to take the pressue off ?? (ie. using wire to get it dangling from the top of the case).

Thanks.

 

[KOne]

i think you should be alright. just be gentle with it when moving it and some extra support wouldn't hurt. i'm looking forward to hearing how well that heatsink works, and how far you can oc it with decent temps.

 

[clue69less]

check out anandtech's motherboard review for the heatsink they used on the 975x boards. they got a really high oc with this cooler.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=3

Since the OP wants to OC, I'd not recommend the Tunic Tower unless he insures very good airflow over it. It's an excellent passive cooler but it needs airflow if you want a big clock.

 

[clue69less]

but over time, wont it crack the board?????

No

Try break any PCB with your bare hand.

Yea, PCBs are very tough because they are laminated composites. What I've heard from two mobo designers is that deformation causes delamination around the socket. In the worst cases, this causes a short and the mobo is toast. Two major manufacturers say this has become an issue regarding RMA'ed boards. Damage to the PCB at the bracket mounting holes is becoming more common and it looks like bracket design is improving lately.

So to the person that mentioned moving their box often, at the least, lay the case over so that the mobo is flat. You can also build a bracket to support the HS pretty easily. If that looks too uncool, just hang a cluster of LEDs off of it and call it a bling mod.