Small-size cooler?

[tweakbz]

Hey folks.

First up, my limitations: My case is a Thermaltake V9 Black Edition, and due to the side fan, there is not much headroom for a tower heatsink. Second, I have a Zalman CNPS9700 on my i7 atm. I want to overclock, and have had decent success with it so far (3.35ghz), but temps. were pretty far above what I was expecting, so I dialed it back until I found a good heatsink!

SO. What do you all recommend? I'd really like to get the CM V8 or V10(if it fits), or the Noctua NH-U12P (either 120mm or 92mm). I'm not sure if any of these will fit into the case I have? Does anyone have any experience with it? If so, please share with me.

As far as the mentioned heatsinks go, is there much of a CFM difference (or xxxW?) between the 120mm and 92mm Noctua? Could I reasonably expect to NOT see load temps of 55C (average.. under Prime95 at that) with a Noctua, or any other newer aftermarket cooler, like I do with the Zalman?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[ghoulsrulefools]

Take off the side fan, it wont help as much with cooling as a good cooler. Also, there is a big difference between 120mm fans and 92 mm fans. Even if the 92mm pushes almost as much air it is going to be much louder. A better cooler might help lower your temperatures but it depends on other factors like case airflow and ambient temp.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Here is a link to a very good web site with a lot of useful information about cpu heatsinks:

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

The site also has a link to useful information about low profile cpu heatsinks.

 

[tweakbz]

Thanks Johnny. That website is pretty damned good.

After a bit of thought, and being bored, I rewired my case and took some measurements.

A CM V8 at 161.1mm (Appx. 6.34in) will fit, but the side panel will not close with the 230mm fan. Here's the happy part..

There are (round) holes for a 120mm fan to be mounted dead-center of where the 230mm currently is. I don't know how many people may or may not have missed it, but finding it made me happy

A Noctua fan + the V8 would be perfect together. I hear those Noctua's are amazing.

My search seems to be over. Thanks for the input Johnny, ghouls.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

You're welcome!