Should I buy an aftermarket CPU cooler?

[totalmojo]

As the topic suggests, I'm wondering if I should have tacked on a CPU Cooler of some sort (preferably not a water cooler though) to my recent purchases. I still have plenty of time, as components won't begin arriving until later this week...

I picked up the E6850, and am tossing it into an Antec P182 case. Actually, the full list of what all I just purchased:


EVGA nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard
Intel E6850 Dual Core 3.0Ghz
(x2) Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) [4GB Total]
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS
Matrox TripleHead2Go
(x3) Acer AL1917WABD 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 5ms, 700:1, WSXGA+ 1440x900
(x2) Seagate / 320GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive (Planning on RAIDing them)
OCZ / GameXStream / 700-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / Power Supply
Lite-On Super-Multi LH20A1H Lightscribe DVD Burner - 20x
Lite-on LH-16D1P-187 / 16x DVD-ROM / 48x CD-ROM /
Antec P182 Case
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit DSP OEM DVD


Would it be wise to invest in an aftermarket cooler now, or wait until such time as I look into overclocking and/or adding a second GTS around Christmas time? I imagine the stock cooler fan should be sufficient... but I'm leary about such assumptions. It's been a long seven years since I plotted out and built my own computer from scratch.

 

[maverick7]

no i would definitely suggest getting an after market cooler now. im not too sure, but im fairly certain that the E6850 runs quite hot. So if your just looking for an air cooler, i highly suggest the thermalright ultra-120 extreme. that is the best air cooler you can buy and it goes for around $70. of course though u have to buy a 120mm fan as well.. be sure to get a good one.

by the way why not save some money and go for a E6700 or even better why not a Q6600 and then oc it to 3Ghz.

 

[TyroneShoelaces]

If you think you might do some overclocking in the future, you might be better off getting the aftermarket cooler now. Many coolers today require you to have the motherboard out of the case to mount it properly. Doing it now will save you the headache of having to tear your whole system apart later just to install a HSF.

-TyShoe

 

[bydesign]

Maverick7 doesn't know what he's talking about or trying to mislead you. The 6850 doesn't run hot at all less than an EE6800. Until you start OC'ing the stock cooler is fine. You can even OC to around 3.2 or 3.4 just watch your temps. When you do upgrade skip the air solutions altogether you be much happier on water. I think the basic swifttech kit is around $200. I've been there and done it.

 

[dragonsprayer]

Based on the x6800 i would say yes - but u can use the stock cooler.
If you are going to over clock you can get 3.7-3.8ghz with an x6800 with a good after market cooler.

I run a x6800 in microatx box (silverstone) it hits 3.7 np, but i run it 3.3 with low profile zalman to keep temps in the 50's

 

[jaguarskx]

I would definitely go with an after market HSF even if you don't plan on overclocking. The quad core will run a bit hot and I also would prefer to have a quieter fan than the one on the stock HSF.

 

[MikePcGamer]

Yes, get one! the Hyper 212 Evo is a good choice!