Mixed reviews on arctic freezer 7 pro for E8400

[steve1616]

I know Anandtech shows the arctic freezer 7 pro as having great value and perfomance. I am going to order the E8400 when it is available at Clubit, and I was wondering if you guys thought that this fan would be a good selection. If I overclock, it will be just a little, so I don't need a fan to handle extreme overclocking. I just want something that is good at the stock frequency that could probably handle a very very slight overclock. I have read tons of articles on intels speed step technology, but I wonder if cpu temperature plays any part in when the processor ups it frequency range. What are your opinions on the arctic freezer 7 pro. Also, the thermalright ultima 90 is a decent price also, but according to anandtech's review the artic freezer 7 pro outperformed it at stock frequencies. I have found one review that rates the freezer 7 pro poorly also, so I am wanting advice from the people that have experience with them.


Thank You

Steve

 

[lopri]

Why not try the stock fan first? What's your target frequency? I am using a stock E6400 fan for my E8400 and it stays below 55C @3.6GHz. I've been enjoying this new-found love for stock Intel HSF ever since I OC'ed my E2140 100% with the stock heat sink. When I bought an E2140 for $60, it just didn't make sense to get an after-market heat sink for $50. No doubt after-market HSF is better in most counts, but it costs $$.

 

[steve1616]

I think I have just read too much marketing crap saying how your cpu will last so much longer if it is cooler, but I doubt that there would be any difference in cpu life between an aftermarket cooler or the stock cooler. I have to buy the retail version anyway, so I think I will use your advice and try the stock setup first.

 

[steve1616]

I forgot to say my maximum target frequency. If I felt really crazy, I would go for 3.6, but I would probably never even shoot that high.

 

[imported_Scoop]

3.6Ghz for E8400 isn't high at all.

 

[dopod]

I'm running arctic freezer 7 pro on my E8400
OC to 4.05G @ 1.42V
Idle 45C 5H orthos @59C
it's always summer here in Jakarta with room temp @30C
Sure you'll get better temp with more $$$ but I'm happy with my set up

 

[MarcVenice]

Buying a arctic freezer 7 pro ALSO quiets up your rig a little, no doubt about it. And it performs better. I'd buy it just because it's so quiet compared to the stock HSF. And yeah, it allows for pretty good overclocks, which is an even bigger plus.

 

[Amaroque]

The stock cooler is pretty quiet. If you don't OC much, it will be fine. You need better coolers when you start overvolting the CPU to get higher OC's.

However, if you want a better HSF, I'd reccomend the Thermalright ultra 120, or Tuniq tower.

 

[sammyunltd]

Let's say I buy this CPU and do a mild overclock(like OP) to 3.6 GHz - with the stock cooler. If 3.6 is not enough for me (I realize), can I buy a retail HSF (Tuniq, Arctic Freezer, etc.) in order to further overclock that beast?

 

[alfa147x]

any cheaper fans that will do 3.6ish ?
Im thinking of getting a older intel HSF from ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Sock...VWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[tomken]

Hi dopod!

I just recently purchased an E8400 with an ASUS P5K-E. What Motherboard are you using and at what settings for your overclock?

Thanks!

Tommy

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: alfa147x
any cheaper fans that will do 3.6ish ?
Im thinking of getting a older intel HSF from ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Sock...VWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That'll certainly do 3.6GHz. That specific one could get loud, though. Since all Intel stock HSF uses 12V and the fans are identical (except the Extreme Series, I guess), what you should look for is the Amperage. 0.60V on that specific one sounds like the fan will spin up to 2300~2500rpm. 0.40V ones will top around 1800~2000rpm, and a 0.20V one will spin up to 1500~1700RPM. Of course, depending on the model the heat sink material and structure differs. For hotter running CPUs, the heat sinks tend to have more copper and thicker but densely packed fins. (<- not 100% sure on this one but you get the idea) Of course you can always adjust how fast a fan spins via BIOS as long as the board support is there.

I have my E8400 @3.6GHz running under 0.20V one. I believe it came with an E6400 originally.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: lopri
Why not try the stock fan first? What's your target frequency? I am using a stock E6400 fan for my E8400 and it stays below 55C @3.6GHz. I've been enjoying this new-found love for stock Intel HSF ever since I OC'ed my E2140 100% with the stock heat sink. When I bought an E2140 for $60, it just didn't make sense to get an after-market heat sink for $50. No doubt after-market HSF is better in most counts, but it costs $$.

That's amazing that you were able to OC the E2140 100% on the stock heatsink. What voltage did you have to use to reach 3.2Ghz? Mine took 1.425v, and required a HyperTX2 cooler to even stay at 85C core temps under load. With the stock cooler, temps were at least 10C higher. (I stopped the testing when temps hit 10C higher and appeared to keep going.)

The stock heatsink is crap IMHO.

 

[lopri]

Apparently I was lucked out with an exceptional E2140. The below Orthos shots were taken when I had it on 680i as well as Scythe Andy Samurai.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1700/3400auh9.jpg
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5184/3400bmg5.jpg

On Bad Axe 2, it takes 0.03~0.04 less vCore for the same frequency. As mentioned in my previous post in this thread, the E2140 is housed in a Bad Axe 2 with a stock E6400 HSF now. vCore set in the BIOS = 1.30V with Enhanced Power Slope on. In Windows, it idles @1.29V and loads @1.27V. Temps stays below 60C according to the latest CoreTemp, which are good 12~15C higher than what Everest shows. I honestly don't know which one to believe because the discrepancy between readings from CoreTemp 0.95 and 0.96 only happens with these E2xx0 chips. (E6600 reads the same)

 

[hennethannun]

Just got an E8400/Freezer 7 Pro rig set up today.

so far i'm seeing 46C idle and 63C load at 3.6 ghz (on coretemp). It's noticeably quiter than my old cpu (an athlon 64 X2), but i didn't bother using the stock cooler so I can't compare to that.

I'm a bit irked about the high idle temps, but everyone is reporting some much inconsistency with the temp reporting on these processors that I'm not all that surprised.

 

[steve1616]

Hennethannun, I just got an E8400 tonight. I was set to go quad core, but I will be very happy with this E8400. What motherboard are you using with your E8400. I almost bought a P5K tonight at microcenter, but I had only read the reviews of the Deluxe version. I know that I won't benefit from a X38 board over a P35 board, but I found the GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 cheaper than the P5K Deluxe. I have read a lot of forums where people have had great luck with this board right out of the box with an E8400. Would you pay $10 more to get the P5K Deluxe or would you just get the Gigabyte board. I really don't think I could go wrong with either board, but I just wanted some opinions since I will be buying one of these boards by tomorrow. Also, I went to microcenter and got the cooler master 690 case, Samsung Sh-S203 dvd burner, E8400, Open box 8800GT by EVGA for $125. I am so happy that this thing is coming together. I have now purchased everything except my motherboard and a floppy drive. I really feel like the motherboard I choose is going to make this whole project good or bad. I just really feel like the motherboard is so important. Please give me opinions on the two motherboards I have just mentioned. I better post this in the motherboard section so I don't get in trouble.

 

[mageslayer]

GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 for sure

Did you say FLOPPY DRIVE?!?!?!

 

[hennethannun]

I have absolutely no experience with gigabyte boards whatsoever. Never even used one (unless it was unknowingly in an OEM) let lone built a pc with one. So I really can't comment on that board in any meaningful way.

So far I have very much enjoyed my P5K-3, though it's been less than 48 hours. It has plenty of options, seems very stable at a fairly wide range of settings and overall a pretty solid product. I also loved my old s939 Asus boards (that's why I went with them again for the new machine).

In general I don't think the X38 is worth the price premium. 2 x16 PCIe slots is only useful if you will actually USE them and PCIe 2.0 isn't really worth it until video cards actually start maxing out their current bandwith. that being said, if you can the extra features of the X38 at no extra cost then it's definitely more attractive.

so basically, assuming both boards are stable and well reviewed, then it comes down to the different features. the asus board seems to have more OC'ing options, bracketless eSATA and integrated wifi. On the other hand the the gigabyte offers the X38 features. How much is the price difference and which of those features are likely to be more valuable to you? Also, if one of them is an open box item remember to consider that fact (ie the potentially lower reliability) when comparing the two items.

 

[steve1616]

I agree with you 100% hennethannun. I was looking initially at a picture of the GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 that showed all kinds of options. It wasn't an actual picture of the product. The picture I saw had 8 usbs, wifi, and many more slots of every kind than the GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 actually has. You can get the same Gigabyte motherboard in the P35 chipset for way less than this X38 chipset board. After reading enough reviews, I think the Gigabyte P35 motherboards look pretty decent, but the feature set of the P5K-wifi is what makes it a very good deal, especially since I will actually utilize most of these extra features.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm running my E8400 at 3.8Ghz at 1.325V (CPU-z) at the moment, on an OCZ Vendetta coupled with Arctic Silver 5. In a room with an ambient temperature of 26ºC the CPU idles at 29ºC and loads at around 51ºC after 11 hours Blend Orthos test.

The OCZ Vendetta is quite performing, it's cheap, but it was quite difficult to install for me, it has push-pins just like the stock cooler, but due to the aluminum fins I couldn't have enough space for my hands and fingers to properly install it and push the pings without putting just too much pressure on the motherboard, so I had to completely remove the motherboard as if I installed a better cooling solution, so without the case, the power supply or any other components in the way I could have enough space to install it. And then pushing the pins was easy until I had to push the last one, which took me a good 20 minutes to do (maybe I was just too afraid to bend the motherboard by forcing too much). It certainly wasn't anywhere near easy like make professional reviews claim.

And, on a side note, I modded it a little. I've put some duct tape to cover the extra spacing between the base of the fan and the corresponding Vendetta base so that air wouldn't leak on the sides of the actual cooler without properly going through the fins all the way to the other end like it should, so with the tape the air directly gets sucked into it by the fan and is blown up to the other end entirely without any leaks which from what I've seen so far helped reduce the temperatures by an extra 6ºC at load. But keep in mind that the Vendetta, like I said, is installed just like a default cooler, push-pins, and that in all honesty is cheap, and it might simply break if you're not careful (it's just plastic pins). I would have preferred the use of screws to fix it in place but then it wouldn't have been the Vendetta anymore... it's a "cheap" cooling solution that yields superb results, in my opinion, when compared to the stock Intel HSF.

 

[OLpal]

Hi Steve, just built similar system that your thinking about & i think it's the best & smoothest iv'e built so far !!
The E8400 stock fan isn't as robust as the 6600 C2D we have built, looks to me to be more of a celeron fan.. probably because E8400 45nm specs running so cool !!
I'm not greedy & have mine running @ 3.6 gig smooth & cool.. Just blows away more expensive CPUs unless you run that rare software that will utilize the Quad core !!
If your not needing dual video or firewire, then isuggest looking @ less expensive gigabyte ultra-durable boards, but for the money your choice is great, as i also considered the X38 DS4..
Good Luck with your build & a couple of tips i try to install my coolers on a flat surface [static free] to prevent flexing the board when pushing in fan pins !! Also if you use 4 gig of mem w/Vista 64 , then download the memory fix & only install 1 2gig chip till your Vista is installed !!
Ol"pal

 

[toadeater]

I was told this bolt-through kit works with push-pin coolers:

http://www.svc.com/lga775-bolt-th.html

For price-performance, these are the best CPU coolers you can get right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835124019 (same as the others, but rebranded by Kingwin)

They're made by the same company that designed the OCZ Vendetta, except they're 120mm and cool almost as well as the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I haven't found any coolers for the price that perform as well as these. Google some reviews of them, you'll be surprised. Why pay $70 for the TRUE120+fan, or $60 for a Zalman 9700, or deal with trying to fit a Tuniq Boat Anchor in your case when you can pay $35 for one of these?

The only other coolers I'd recommend, considering price, are the Zerotherms, and the Coolink Silentator, which is a rebranded Noctua. Ofcourse, if you don't need extreme cooling, the AC Freezer Pro is still the best deal; it's almost as good as the Vendetta, and it's quieter.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: lopri
Apparently I was lucked out with an exceptional E2140. The below Orthos shots were taken when I had it on 680i as well as Scythe Andy Samurai.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1700/3400auh9.jpg
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5184/3400bmg5.jpg

On Bad Axe 2, it takes 0.03~0.04 less vCore for the same frequency. As mentioned in my previous post in this thread, the E2140 is housed in a Bad Axe 2 with a stock E6400 HSF now. vCore set in the BIOS = 1.30V with Enhanced Power Slope on. In Windows, it idles @1.29V and loads @1.27V. Temps stays below 60C according to the latest CoreTemp, which are good 12~15C higher than what Everest shows. I honestly don't know which one to believe because the discrepancy between readings from CoreTemp 0.95 and 0.96 only happens with these E2xx0 chips. (E6600 reads the same)

Only 1.27V to get to 3.2GHz?! Nice, you got an exceptional batch of the E2140. My E2180 needs 1.325V to stay at 2.7GHz.

 

[Putz]

Was using an older 775 intel cooler with the copper insert , the new thin boxed cooler sucked

went to the ac freezer 7 pro and dropped 12 deg C off load temps with prime 95 and alot of the whine you get then the intel hsf maxes out in speed

even went from 3.6 to 3.9 and the temp didnt change, 1.32v i beleive