What's the quitest/best heatsink + fan combo that's less than $40?

[caselogic]

I'm looking for something other than stock cooling for my possible E6600/E6550 that I'm going to buy in a couple weeks, and I want to go quieter (main goal), but also better cooling than stock (otherwise it's not worth switching). I don't need the absolute coolest or quietest solution, but something that's quiet and offers at least better cooling than stock.

Thanks for your suggestions

 

[daverimer]

I've got a Scythe Ninja Plus cooling my E6400. It is very effective and quiet. I paid $39.99 4 months ago for it.

It happens to be on sale(still) @ Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185038

One thing about it - It is huge! Make sure you have room for it.

 

[caselogic]

I think I'm looking at getting the Antec P180, so I think I should be able to get it to fit without any problems. It's also been suggested that w/ the P180, you could almost get away with running it fanless because of the 2 case fans in such close proximity.

 

[13thmonkey]

stock is very quiet, and cool, try it first before you discard it, even on the lower speed settings.

 

[caselogic]

I might just do that, because all these new heatsink/fans are so bulky that I don't even know if it'll fit right.

 

[lghtmup98]

stock is very quiet, and cool, try it first before you discard it, even on the lower speed settings.

I agree. If you are not going to go for a high overclock, the stock heatsink is suprisingly good. I also can't hear mine running.

 

[accord99]

The Ninja is good enough to cool a C2D passively, when overclocked. I can reach 3.2GHz with an E6600 without it throttling using just a Ninja and a single 900rpm 120mm case fan.

 

[jsc]

One of the things that I discovered when I built my system was that, with my E6600, at a vcore of 1.25 volts (1.35 volts is stock), I could run at 3.0 GHz with stability. Lower vcore = less heat, so the stock HSF should be more than adequate.

At a moderate over-clock - in my case, 3.3 - 3.4 GHz, for price vs. performance; I think that it's hard to beat the Arctic Cooling AC Pro. I cannot, however, reach 3.6 GHz without raising vcore to ridiculous levels (above 1.55 volts).

 

[caselogic]

One of the things that I discovered when I built my system was that, with my E6600, at a vcore of 1.25 volts (1.35 volts is stock), I could run at 3.0 GHz with stability. Lower vcore = less heat, so the stock HSF should be more than adequate.

At a moderate over-clock - in my case, 3.3 - 3.4 GHz, for price vs. performance; I think that it's hard to beat the Arctic Cooling AC Pro. I cannot, however, reach 3.6 GHz without raising vcore to ridiculous levels (above 1.55 volts).

A quick glance at the specs show that the E6600 has a voltage range of 1.187V-1.325V. Does that mean it's stable throughout that entire range? So I could run it at 1.187V and it should be stable? Or is that the WORKING range, and 1.187V would result in a slower than 2.4GHz clock speed? Basically, if I were not concerned with overclocking, what's the lowest voltage I could supply to it without sacrificing the 2.4GHz performance.

 

[accord99]

The E6600 I have runs stably at 1.1v at 2.4GHz. 1.1v is the lowest voltage that can be set on my particular motherboard, the Asus P5B-Deluxe.

 

[jaguarskx]

A quick glance at the specs show that the E6600 has a voltage range of 1.187V-1.325V. Does that mean it's stable throughout that entire range? So I could run it at 1.187V and it should be stable? Or is that the WORKING range, and 1.187V would result in a slower than 2.4GHz clock speed? Basically, if I were not concerned with overclocking, what's the lowest voltage I could supply to it without sacrificing the 2.4GHz performance.

That's the voltage range when SpeedStep is enabled. When the E6600 is throttled down to a 6x multiplier, it is naturally slower than when it runs at max speed with a 9x multiplier. The lower the speed the lower the necessary voltage.

You can try to run the E6600 at stock speed with 1.1 volts, but it's not guaranteed to work.

 

[jaguarskx]

Damn it. The edit button doesn't seem to work.

Anywaste, I just wanted to add that the Scythe Ninja is a very good HSF. I use it to cool my overclocked E6600.

 

[netburst]

Well from exp., the stock fan is quite silent but 4 a better cooling its better to use a tower cooler but that would depends on your casing... plus if ur tight on budget, you can actually try the artic cooling freezer 7 pro... its gives quite a good cooling performance and has PWM control... and it is small enuf to fit in my case with a fairly huge NB cooler (CM Blue Ice).. (Mobo: P5N-E SLi)