ThermalTake Duorb question

[Ausmus]

I am currently building a new system and I plan on using a Q9550 and a Rampage Formula board in an antec 1200. I think there should be enough room, however, I want to make sure so I don't have to start removing fans or have it not fit at all for some reason!

 

[anartik]

I would not waste my money on anything Thermaltake. Spend your money on something proven to work well like Thermalright, Scythe, Zalman or others. Take a look at the rankings over at Frostytech and buy a good cooler in the range you want to spend. I use a thermalright ultra 120 extreme and it fits the rampage fromula just fine and it performs.

 

[Ausmus]

think a zalman 9700 would be fine?

 

[Ausmus]

or a xigmatek s1283.

 

[spathotan]

Ive personally had a bad experience with the Xiggy S1283. I just do not like the HDT cooling, the unevenness of the base, the screwy paste application, and the cooler position for quads. Even after lapping the base of the cooler it still performs way under spec. /shrug

However im not putting it off as a good cooler, as it is. I would still susgest it, just make sure you order the Crossbow backplate with it. As far as the zalman goes, I do not susgest Zalman's for quad cores. Espically at $65...its beyond a ripoff considering the Xiggy performs better and is a THIRD of the price, the Xiggy can be found for $25.

**EDIT** Well....at least I got it for $25, must have been on sale. Its $37 now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003 . Still half the price of the Zalman. Also here is the backplate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233019 . But then after this its only ~$20 cheaper than the Zalman. Still better though heh.

 

[ragsters]

I have the zalman 9700 with a rampage formula and it looks sweet. What I mean is that the copper cooler matches the motherboard as if it should go together. The cooler performs well with my overclocked e8400.

 

[rambo117]

I would not waste my money on anything Thermaltake. Spend your money on something proven to work well like Thermalright, Scythe, Zalman or others.

your forgetting arctic cooling though

i agree with you though, i have come to dislike thermaltake myself..

stupid golden orb 2

 

[Superhal]

i made a little buyer's guide:
http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=100223&enterthread=y

It basically looks at the different features and talks about the pros/cons of each so that someone can make an educated decision based on new designs. Personally, I feel no-one should spend more than $50 on a cooler. I got mine (sunbeamtech core contact freezer) for $39, $50 after shipping and with good TIM. It comes with a fans, mounts and fan control. A typical thermalright Ultra 120 costs $70 and doesn't come with fans, mounts or fan control, and they cool about equally.

 

[anartik]

I would have to disagree... the Ultra 120 X can be had all over in the low to mid $50 range and it includes mounts for LGA 775 and AM2. Older sockets like 939 require a separate adapter and AM2 just requires you use the existing AMD backplate. I sell a variety of coolers but I used the U120X for my own system and I'm pretty happy with it. If you have a decent mobo the CPU fan power plug will handle and control the fan. I ended up using a Scythe Slipstream 110CFM and the mobo controls it just fine. So manual speed control to waste another PCI slot is just fluff.

One thing that was a deciding factor for me is that it uses a backplate with spring loaded mounting screws vs. push pins. As far as performance it depends on whose review you read. Even then top 10 are usually very close in performance so the real decision is mounting, fan orientation, motherboard compatibiliy and price. You might want to look at weight too. Take some coolers like the Zalman 9700, Scythe Orochi and they far exceed the Intel weight specs. I would also to prefer to get a cooler w/o an integrated fan so it's easy to upgrade or downgrade the fan to your own noise & performance tastes

As for Arctic cooling yes... I tend to lump them in with Scythe since they are the US distributor.