Heatsink that will fit Mid-Tower?

RussianCarl

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2008
39
0
18,530
I am putting together a budget gaming computer by cannibalizing parts from my 5 year old rig that is now failing. It isn't anything fancy - so far I have a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L mobo, E2200 cpu, and GeForce 800GT on order but I am having problems finding a suitable heatsink.

The case I am using is an old mid tower atx with 4 5.25" bays and 2 3.5" bays measuring 17" long, 7.5" wide, and 17" tall. Due to the size, the mobo sits just below the PSU and appears it won't allow me to use any of the 120mm fan heatsinks. I don't have the Gigabyte board in hand yet, however measuring the distance between where the CPU fits in my current Asus P4P800 board and the PSU ther eis maybe 4-5"of space.

So - the dilemma is I want to OC, not too much probably only up to 2.6 or 2.8, but I need a good heatsink to do this. I've searched around looking at several models but I just don't know what will fit well and provide adequate cooling.

Some of the models I have looked at are the Thermaltake V1 (which is huge), Cooler Master Hyper TX2, Arctic Cooler 7 Pro, and the MassCool 8WA741. I do prefer the look and performance of vertical heatsink/fan combos - but will this be possible? If not - suggestions please.
 

iluvgillgill

Splendid
Jan 1, 2007
3,732
0
22,790
for your budget system i recommend the AC 7 Pro and lap both the CPU and heatsink to get a 10C drop in temp or 8C guaranteed! your processor will max out at 3.4Ghz if you try very hard.