Help me chose a cooler

[Shirogamer]

i have had a Gigabyte P965-DQ6 rev2.0 for a couple of years or so now
recently i managed to buy a Q6600 and i would like to Overclock it
now where i live,we dont get too many Cpu Coolers,so now i have two choices either the Asus Silent Knight II,or the Zalman CNPS9500, the price difference is nothing

now if you can please guide me which is better suited for me ,giving that i have a Gigabyte Mars Case ,so no worries about space and such ,i want BEST cooling possible

thx in advance

ps: please link some benchies if possible

 

[Zenthar]

You can always find reviews and benchmarks on FrostyTech.

The Zalman will cool better, but also be noisier. Do you know any places where you could get a Xigmatek cooler instead, I think many will agree that they are usually one of the bests.

 

[Shirogamer]

nope,i live in Egypt and a part form the crappy look-alike coolers we get here
i have found both the above mentioned and the Asus Evo but that is like two times the price
i looked at this site but it does seem to show diff stuff than people have told me ,mostly people told me the Asus SK II is better

waiting for more opinions
thx btw zenthar

 

[Zenthar]

Depends on the CPU and the characteristics you favor. For example, I favor low-noise over absolute best cooling so I went for the Xigmatek HDT-S1283.

You can also try to find other benchmarks to compare; I think frostytech use some kind of heat-generator to test. This will give more consistent results from test to test, but might be slightly off from reality.

 

[Shirogamer]

i dont really care about noise,i put head phones on all the time
only care about cooling

and i couldnt find any thing comparing those two models
also i dont see the Asus SK II comin with a fan controller as the Zalman one ,how on earth would i be able to adjust its speed and such ?

 

[Zenthar]

Maybe you just can't. If it's a PWD fan, the MB controls the fan speed. You can always override that with a fan control device you will have to buy separately.

 

[Shirogamer]

Maybe you just can't. If it's a PWD fan, the MB controls the fan speed. You can always override that with a fan control device you will have to buy separately.

ok ,forget the fan controller
which one would you pick and why

 

[Zenthar]

If sound wasn't an issue for me I would just go for the best cooling, in your case it's the CNPS9500.

If you want, there is a couple of sound samples here. Keep in mind that these samples were taken close to the HSF, but you can get an approximate idea. Sound samples are also available on FrostyTech BTW.

 

[Shirogamer]

thx for keeping up with me

ok now to be more specific the CNPS9500 is the one that was bundled with the MSI Zilent Thing ,which was a P45 Mobo +the Zalman Cooler ,this is the Cooler am talking about,the retailers here found no way of selling the whole package so they are selling the cooler alone so this should be the CNPS9500,right
also that sound clip wasnt too loud

one more thing,is there a huge difference between the CNPS9500 9500LED and all the other stuff thts 9500 ?

am still looking for some comparison that has both Coolers

thx a alot for bearing with me

 

[Zenthar]

I think all the 9500 are the same, the LED version simply has a LED in the fan for windowed casing. The 9500A simply adds AMD's AM2/2+/3 socket mounting support I think.

However, you might want to check what model the HSF really is because I'm unable to find definitive spec on which one is included. Some sources say it's a 9500-AT (most of them), but a few said 9300 and some seemed to have the LED version; might want to clear that up before you buy.

 

[Shirogamer]

good idea ,i will have to check myself to see if its the 9500 ,or the 9300
will report back
Quick question,whats the AT ? because i will bring the cash and go round the shops if i find anything that says 9500 will get it
thanks alot man for your help

 

[Shirogamer]

ok
now we can forget about the whole Zalman thing,because there are only few left overs and they wont agree on selling it separately

but i have seen a Gigabyte G-Power Pro,its about 20$ cheaper than the Asus SK II,so which one you think i should go for ?

 

[Zenthar]

I looked at reviews of the G-Power and this thing is literally as loud as an air dryer (and I mean really ... 71dBA at max speed). Therefore I would rather go for the Asus. Before settling for the Asus, I would suggest you look at all your options like online stores even if in another country depending on the shipping cost.

 

[Shirogamer]

i have, and all online stores are a pain in the a**,am gonna have to pay taxes customs(god knows how much that could get )and have to pay the dude thats gonna get those to me,which in the end is a HELL lot of money,i cant afford all that
i can barely afford the Asus ,its about more than half of my monthly paycheck anyway
but why did i sense you dont like the Asus now ?

 

[Zenthar]

It's not that I don't like it, I think I just know there are much better coolers out there for the money (when you can get them :-/). For example here the SK2 is about 60$CAD and the Xigmatek is about 30$CAD, but the Xigmatek would keep a quad-core about 10-15C cooler than the SK2 for the same noise level. Twice the performance, half the price .... not a tough choice.

Compared to Intel stock cooler, the SK2 will keep your CPU 5-10C lower and produce 5-10 dBA more noise. I have never OCed a Q6600 before so you might want to ask how much more heat it will produce, if OCing from 2.66GHz to 2.8GHz rises the temp the 5-10C the SK2 cools, then it might not be worth half a month salary.

 

[Shirogamer]

this is annoying
just looked and its worth mentioning that we also have here
ASUS Triton 77
ASUS V60
ASUS Silent Knight AL

btw the Q6600's stock speed is 2.44 not 2.66

didnt wanna mention them tbh,though they are not as good (i think ) ,what do you think ?

 

[Zenthar]

Actually, I think both Triton 77 and V60 are better than the SK2. The V60 is even the best rated Asus HSF on NewEgg (but they don't have the SK2). Someone even mentioned this about the V60 which should interest you:

Cools my Q6600 clock @3.00ghz great idles at 39c at load 49c

As for the Triton 77, not as well rated on NewEgg, but it should cool 4-7C more than the SK2 (based on FrostyTech review) at max settings while producing no more noise than the SK2 at low settings.

 

[Shirogamer]

its seems alot of people think its not as good for the Quads,the price difference is like10$ or less,so you think i should go for the SK2 instead ,you know ,for me to be sure

 

[Zenthar]

Found the following comment on this thread:

get Asus silent knight 2, im running my QUAD at 3.4ghz , idle at 26-32. depends on my room temp and the weather . usually 26 at night

So I guess the SK2 is a good option as well. Not easy to find reviews as not many places have it in stock here in Canada ... only found 3 online stores .

 

[Shirogamer]

i see i will keep looking and keep you updated aswell
thx for the help ,man
you really helped me on this

 

[Shirogamer]

hi
sorry for adding info little by little like that ,but thats how i got em ,dont hate me now
i just found the ASUS Silent Square EVO
what do you think about it ,its 100LE more than the SK2.is it worth it ?

 

[Zenthar]

100LE, it that 100 Egyptian Pounds? If so, not really worth it, what you will gain is reduced noise moistly, the temperature drop would be of about 2C.

SK2 review
EVO review
(Both from the same site so more easily comparable)

 

[Shirogamer]

got ya
and yes thats egyptian pounds
will reconsider and get back to u
thx alot man

 

[Shirogamer]

hi

just wanted to say that i got the Asus SKII and a Arctic Silver 5 to go with it
hope that will improve the results

thx alot for your help ,will hit you back for OCing tips and temps crap

 

[Zenthar]

My OCing experience is mostly from other people's experience, but I can try to help you as much as I can.

I just very recently started to OCing my E3110 (like last Friday ) since I made a little "cooling upgrade". I went from an old Xaser III casing and stock cooler to an Antec 902 casing with Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and AC MX-2 thermal paste (pretty much the same as AS5, I wanted to change from AS and the MX-2 is supposed to be non-conductive).

I found the process to get my CPU from 3.0GHz to 3.6GHz "strangely" easy so far, I just changed the FSB from 333MHz to 400MHz and set DDR ratio to 1:1. I ran Prime95 for 24 hours without errors and my CPU temp never got over 51C with is much better than the 70C I was getting at stock speed with stock cooler.

If you want very detailed information about OCing, there is a sticky thread in the OCing forum. Read it a bit diagonally to get a general idea, but I will probably read more carefully to see if I can get my CPU to 4GHz.