C2D - Which HSF?

[Ruhnie]

I wanted to see if I could get a consensus on what cooling to go with, because I'm not happy with my temps on the stock HSF. I'm getting 35-38C (BIOS) and 52-55C (CoreTemp) at idle, with 48-52C (BIOS) and 63-67C (CoreTemp) at load, at stock speeds/volts. I'm using a DS3 mobo, so are there any space concerns I should have?

I'm looking @

Scythe Ninja
Thermalright 128 SI128
Thermaltake Big Typhoon

 

[Pabster]

I'd go with either a Scythe Infinity or the Big Typhoon. Ninja is a bit dated now and Infinity is a better unit.

I've also had great results with the ASUS Silent Square.

 

[Ruhnie]

Thanks for the tip, that Infinity looks pretty sweet.

 

[jpeyton]

Tuniq Tower

 

[jose]

Will a XP120 fit ?

I have one and would like to use it on my next build..

Also since it blows down, it would probably help cool the memory & other chips on the mobo..

Regards,
Jose

 

[Geekwannab]

Infinity all the way. If only I went with the DS3, i would have gotten the Infinity too but I went with P5WDH and the ninja.

 

[dguy6789]

Have a Big Typhoon myself. It is a very nice heatsink.

 

[kpamir]

I had the SI 128 on my e6600 system and it kept it nice and cool. 28 C idle and 39 C with both cores under full load, according to speed fan.

Nothing was O/Ced.

I am quite happy with it and as long as you put the thing on outside the case everything will be smooth sailing.

Now i wait until i can get my new motherboard....... damn that p5w dh and the PIO problems it kept giving me, waste of $310.

 

[lopri]

Make sure to have some sort of means for air-flow around the CPU socket area if you go with one of those L-type HSF. (Zalman 9500, Scythe Ninja/Infinity, Thermalright Ultra-120, etc.) I did some shooting with a thermo-gun on my board (P5W-DH) and astound by the hot temps. (50C+ on the highest spots)

 

[crspyjohn]

artic cooling pro 7

 

[zodiak]

What kind of case do you have? Do you plan on overclocking?

If you don't plan on overclocking - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro ($22 shipped @ Provantage)

If you do plan on overclocking:

If you have intake on the window/side panel blowing directly on the CPU - Big Typhoon
If you have a lot of air flow from the front to back without a side panel fan - Ultra-120
If you don't have that much airflow - Scythe Infinity

The problem with the Big Typhoon is that without a fan blowing on it, it isn't THAT good. When it does, its arguably the best HSF for the money. The Ultra-120 is a very good HSF as well, and doesn't necessarily need a fan blowing directly on it. The Infinity is great with a case with little airflow because its made as a passive cooling HSF (no fan), but when paired with a fan its pretty much the best HSF available. Downside is that the Ultra-120 and Infinity are rather expensive.

 

[Conky]

Your temps seem way too high for the stock cooler. Are you using the factory thermal material? I am running a factory heatsink with a very thin layer of ArcticSilver3 and I am idling 35-37 and maxing out at 46-47 under load with a mild 290fsb overclock.

Text My mobo is an ASRock-Dual so I am sorta limited on overclocking options.

 

[Ruhnie]

Originally posted by: zodiak
What kind of case do you have? Do you plan on overclocking?

If you don't plan on overclocking - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro ($22 shipped @ Provantage)

If you do plan on overclocking:

If you have intake on the window/side panel blowing directly on the CPU - Big Typhoon
If you have a lot of air flow from the front to back without a side panel fan - Ultra-120
If you don't have that much airflow - Scythe Infinity

The problem with the Big Typhoon is that without a fan blowing on it, it isn't THAT good. When it does, its arguably the best HSF for the money. The Ultra-120 is a very good HSF as well, and doesn't necessarily need a fan blowing directly on it. The Infinity is great with a case with little airflow because its made as a passive cooling HSF (no fan), but when paired with a fan its pretty much the best HSF available. Downside is that the Ultra-120 and Infinity are rather expensive.

Nice analysis, thanks. I'm using the Antec P180b and am OC'ing. I have 5 120mm fans in the case, with front-to-back airflow, no fan on the side. I am kind of torn now. Turns out that the Big Typhoon is the only one that Fry's carries, and I really want to get my temps down asap and start OC'ing more. Perhaps I will try it, and if I don't like it buy one of the others from newegg and return the Big Typhoon.

 

[Ruhnie]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
Your temps seem way too high for the stock cooler. Are you using the factory thermal material? I am running a factory heatsink with a very thin layer of ArcticSilver3 and I am idling 35-37 and maxing out at 46-47 under load with a mild 290fsb overclock.

Text My mobo is an ASRock-Dual so I am sorta limited on overclocking options.

I agree my temps seem high. In fact, they are about 5-7C higher than they were a week ago, so I'm not sure what's going on. I used AS5 after removing the stock thermal stuff. How are you measuring your temps?

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Ruhnie

Originally posted by: Beachboy
Your temps seem way too high for the stock cooler. Are you using the factory thermal material? I am running a factory heatsink with a very thin layer of ArcticSilver3 and I am idling 35-37 and maxing out at 46-47 under load with a mild 290fsb overclock.

Text My mobo is an ASRock-Dual so I am sorta limited on overclocking options.

I agree my temps seem high. In fact, they are about 5-7C higher than they were a week ago, so I'm not sure what's going on. I used AS5 after removing the stock thermal stuff. How are you measuring your temps?

I use the temps in MBM5 and in Orthos when testing. The Intel TAT thing seems broken... tells me I am idling at 42 or so and every other program says different. MBM5 has been my longtime favorite for measuring temps of the cpu and the mobo.

 

[zodiak]

Originally posted by: Ruhnie
Nice analysis, thanks. I'm using the Antec P180b and am OC'ing. I have 5 120mm fans in the case, with front-to-back airflow, no fan on the side. I am kind of torn now. Turns out that the Big Typhoon is the only one that Fry's carries, and I really want to get my temps down asap and start OC'ing more. Perhaps I will try it, and if I don't like it buy one of the others from newegg and return the Big Typhoon.

You can give it a try. Another thing you can do, if you don't mind modding your case a bit, is getting a 4-1/2" Hole Saw and putting a hole right over top of the CPU. Doing this with the typhoon, you might not even need to put a 120mm fan in the hole, just throw a fan guard over the hole. And you could always try to lower temps even more by installing a fan there as well.

 

[Ruhnie]

Originally posted by: zodiak

Originally posted by: Ruhnie
Nice analysis, thanks. I'm using the Antec P180b and am OC'ing. I have 5 120mm fans in the case, with front-to-back airflow, no fan on the side. I am kind of torn now. Turns out that the Big Typhoon is the only one that Fry's carries, and I really want to get my temps down asap and start OC'ing more. Perhaps I will try it, and if I don't like it buy one of the others from newegg and return the Big Typhoon.

You can give it a try. Another thing you can do, if you don't mind modding your case a bit, is getting a 4-1/2" Hole Saw and putting a hole right over top of the CPU. Doing this with the typhoon, you might not even need to put a 120mm fan in the hole, just throw a fan guard over the hole. And you could always try to lower temps even more by installing a fan there as well.

Now that would be hardcore lol, I don't even know what a Hole Saw looks like

 

[zodiak]

Originally posted by: Ruhnie
Now that would be hardcore lol, I don't even know what a Hole Saw looks like

A good hole saw is rather expensive $30-40, but I find it better than using a dremel tool to make circular cuts. The 4-1/2" is the best for 120mm fans since you'll have to grind down the edges to make sure they aren't sharp, which will take it down a decent bit as well.

Hole Saw example.

Its a pretty easy project too. Just measure to where you want the center of the hole to be. Drill a pilot hole into the side panel and then place the hole saw's arbor in the pilot hole. Make sure to be as square as possible to the panel and use a low to medium RPM to cut through the metal. It's even easier if you have a drill press. Then just grind down the cuts to get ride of all sharp edges.