Cpu cooler help

[-iain-]

I'm building my first gaming computer and I'm going to use a phenom ii x4 955 black edition CPU. I'm planning on overclocking it and I know I can't use the stock cooler for that so is the thermalright ultra 120 extreme a good cooler? I'm trying to save some money since I'm only 15 and don't have a real job so would the difference in terms of cooling between the thermalright cooler and a cheaper cooler like a arctic cooling Freezer 7 be small enough for it not to matter?

Here are the specs of the new system if your interested:

GPU: msi 5870 1Gb (I will get another one in corssfire in about a year)
CPU: phenom ii x4 955 BE (hopfully with a great overclock)
Mother board: crosshair iii formula
Memory: 2 x 2gb DDR3 Corsair XMS3 1600mhz (I know the motherboard doesn't naturally support 1600)
Case: antec 1200
Power supply: Corsair TX750W
Hard drive: Western Digital 500GB, black caviar, 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache

 

[obsidian86]

the best of the best "cheap" coolers are
sunbeam ccf 120 $40
coolermaster hyper 212 + $40
scyth mugen 2 $40
Rosewill FORT120$40(loudish)
XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE $40
Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan $43
COOLER MASTER V8 $45
all perform bout eqaully but the sunbeam is $25 after rebate

 

[-iain-]

Im in scotland so there aren't as many choices for me and alot of computer components are more expensive than they are in america. I could only find the XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE and the coolermaster hyper 212. I use a website called Scan.co.uk for my parts. Does anyone have any thoughts on this cooler? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Arctic-Cooling-Freezer-7-Pro-v2-S1366-A1156-S775-AM3-AM2plus-AM2-939-Up-to-130-Watts!

 

[buzznut]

I like the Xigmatek, but I personally use the thermalright Ultra 120. If you can find a good price on that, it is still a very good cooler.

The ac freezer 7 is ok, and inexpensive but not in the same class as these others in my opinion. My wife uses the non-pro version and it barely keeps her PH I 9850 idling at 40C. Not that great. I guess the "Pro" is better, but still...

 

[-iain-]

Its not just the pro version its the second version of the pro version, but anyway I can get the thermalright ultra 200 for £32 so thats something like $60-$70 and I can get the XIGMATEK for £27. which is around $60.

What should i get out of these two, I'm leaning toward the thermalright ultra 120.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xigmatek-HDT-S1284-Enhanced-Edition-anti-vibration-120mm-PWM-fan-4x-Heat-Pipe-for-Intel-AMD-Cooler

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-120mm-Heat-Sink-Fan-for-AM2-CPU-(Without-Fan)

 

[obsidian86]

you have to buy fans for those

but here a few good options

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Titan-Fenrir-TTC-NK85TZ-120mm-PWM-17dBAplus-HDT-CPU-Cooler-%28775-1366-K8-AM2-AM3%29

http://www.dabs.com/products/coolermaster-hyper-212-plus-cooler-65B2.html

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158603

 

[-iain-]

Thanks for your help guys. Do you know what stable overclock I could get with the Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ?

 

[obsidian86]

the titan is one of the best if you lucky 4ghz easily but 3.8 would be manageable for most 955's

 

[-iain-]

Thanks very much for clearing things up for me. I think I'm gonna learn loads from this forum.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I am a little late in responding.

I still use my original Thermalright Ultra 120 cpu heatsink in my AMD system. It was one of the original, if not the original tall tower style heatsink. The 120 Extreme is an improved version of the original. For the past several years the original 120 has been able to hold it's own against the competitor's variations of the original design. It has consistently remained one of the top 5 heatsinks for AMD systems.

Here is a link to a web page with a lot if useful information about cpu heatsinks:

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

Scroll down the page for the AMD list. Click on the Thermalright 120 for a detailed technical review. You can also used the embedded Google search feature to find more information at the web site.