Which heatsink is better?

[david8115]

Will be cooling E8400, on ep45-Ud-3l board

I can get the Arctic Cooling 7 for 31$ CAD
or Zalman CNPS9500 AT for 41$ CAD

Which one is better? if the zalman is better, is it worth it to spend the extra 10$?

Or is there anything else that is better for about $40, preferably lower

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Here's a link to a web site with a lot of useful information about cpu heatsink coolers:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

 

[Proximon]

Because of it's bolt-down installation, I generally recommend the Xigmatek Dark Knight. It's the same cooler as #4 on the Frostytech list, just a newer version with nickel plating:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

 

[Cache]

I second the Dark Knight--if you've got the space to put it. Outstanding cooling, and very quiet for what it's doing.

 

[Oakley707]

I have an E8400 and a similar Gigabyte motherboard and love my Xigmatek. I definitely recommend the Dark Knight because it comes with the bracket which is a MUST. It cools my E8400 @ 3.6 ghz to 34-35 C idle and 50 C Max under Prime95 Stress Test. This is down from 46 C idle and 65+ C Max with the intel heat sink. The link below is to the canadian newegg where it is listed @ $49 with free shipping. The higher price you pay is worth the cooling and low noise of this heat sink.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

 

[david8115]

so you guys think: arctic cooling 7 (30$)<Zalman 9500 AT (40$) < Dark Knight ($65 atm on canada newegg

plan to oc e8400 3.6ghz, i am on a kinda tight budget, cause i'd hate to keep bumping the price up and up for this pc, which would be the best value? ill probably go with the cheaper ones, cause i don't need xtreme performance.

 

[Oakley707]

The Xigmatek I linked you is $49 CAD...

 

[Proximon]

The thing is, the relative cooling. We're talking almost 10C difference in some cases with the Xigmatek.

 

[david8115]

The Xigmatek I linked you is $49 CAD...

rly, i clicked the link and it says $49.99. Then i pressed add to cart the continue, then it was 49.99+2.56 handling and 13.29 shipping with a gran total of 65.84$.

 

[RJR]

Here's the one for $49 + FREE SHIPPING

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023

If you check out Frosty Tech there is a big difference in performance between the one's you have listed and the Xigmatek's.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2335&page=4

 

[david8115]

I wanna avoid the push pins as much as possible, kinda afraid to break the board with larger heatsinks.

Anyways how reliable are these push pins?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Push pins are a mixed bag. Biggest problem is getting even pressure at all four corners. I had one motherboard where the pressure on the mosfett heatsink was totally out of whack. One side had almost zero contact. I did a couple of builds where I replaced the push pins with #40-4 nylon nuts and bolts. Replaced the push pins on the cpu heasink, northbridge chipset, southbridge chipset, and mosfett heatsink. Replaced the stock thermal compound while I was at it. Works good. The nuts and bolts are available at Ace Hardware for 11 cents each. I learned about them over at the ASUS forum.