Choosing a CPU cooler

[Bardique]

Hello,

I am seeking some advice on a CPU cooler. It is to go on the Intel P965LT board and cool a Conroe E6300

I am looking for something that will lower temperatures a little and also lower the amount of noise produced by a ?notch?. The noise produced by the stock cooler is generally fine- it just gets a little loud under load.

I thought about undervolting the stock cooler with Speedfan but that would cause temperatures to go a little higher than I would like (the case produces a lot of heat although it doesn?t seem to be a problem).

I am not planning to overclock at all.

I am looking for a cooler that doesn?t require a back plate and that isn?t difficult to install (basically something that installs in much the same way as the stock cooler would be ideal). Installation is my biggest concern.

I have read through a lot of the reviews in the post stickied on top of the forum but a lot of the coolers seem like overkill, or too hard for me to install.

It needs to go in a HTPC case, albeit a large one (the Silverstone LC20). I?d prefer something that wasn?t too big.

The Samurai Z may be a good option?

Grateful for any advice

 

[Ayah]

Thermalright XP-120!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Ayah
Thermalright XP-120!

Guess you didn't read his requirements. He doesn't have much room for a tower heatsink.

 

[Baked]

Check out the Zalman CNPS7700-Cu or CNPS7700-AlCu. They're low profile heatsinks w/ 120mm fan that can be controlled by the included fanmate2, which allows you to manually set the fan to operate at 3 different speeds. From the Silverstone LC20 pics, these 2 HSFs should clear all sides.

 

[Operandi]

If you are short on space (height) the Alpha PRE9060M93 would be a good choice. Even at full speed the 2100RPM Sanyo Denki fan should be fairly pleasing to the ears, as these are very smooth high quality fans.

Also the trick to SpeedFan is that the control can (and should be) dynamic. You set a desired a CPU temp (45-55c is good) and let SpeedFan automatically control the speed of the fan by specifying a min and max fan RPM.

 

[Bardique]

Thanks for the advice given. Looking around- what I am after is something more like this (MST-9775) http://www.overclockersonline.com/?page=articles&num=441

It fits on the standard mountings and appears to offer slightly better cooling and better noise performance. Ideally I?d like slightly better thermal results and corroboration of the lower noise from another review- but this is what I will probably buy (or something like it ? if anyone can provide another option)

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: Bardique
Thanks for the advice given. Looking around- what I am after is something more like this (MST-9775) http://www.overclockersonline.com/?page=articles&num=441

It fits on the standard mountings and appears to offer slightly better cooling and better noise performance. Ideally I?d like slightly better thermal results and corroboration of the lower noise from another review- but this is what I will probably buy (or something like it ? if anyone can provide another option)

Did you look at the performance chart? If you're gonna buy this heatsink, you might as well stick w/ the stock retail heatsink. But then again, it looks like you already have your mind set, so it's not any other recommendation's gonna change your mind.

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Ayah
Thermalright XP-120!

Guess you didn't read his requirements. He doesn't have much room for a tower heatsink.

Guess you didn't know that the XP-120 is 63mm high. Though a fan would add a bit more.

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Ayah
Thermalright XP-120!

Guess you didn't read his requirements. He doesn't have much room for a tower heatsink.

guess you didn't read the spec sheat for the xp120, it's not a tower cooler. Decent sink, but the si128 is a world better.

 

[Bardique]

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: Bardique
Thanks for the advice given. Looking around- what I am after is something more like this (MST-9775) http://www.overclockersonline.com/?page=articles&num=441

It fits on the standard mountings and appears to offer slightly better cooling and better noise performance. Ideally I?d like slightly better thermal results and corroboration of the lower noise from another review- but this is what I will probably buy (or something like it ? if anyone can provide another option)

Did you look at the performance chart? If you're gonna buy this heatsink, you might as well stick w/ the stock retail heatsink. But then again, it looks like you already have your mind set, so it's not any other recommendation's gonna change your mind.

Oh, I certainly looked at the chart (hence my comment that I'd like slightly better thermal results). The key for me was the ease of installation and the comment about noise

...saying the MST-9775 provides much better cooling as we do see a drop by a couple of degrees. Where the real advantage came was when we compared the noise levels. The stock cooler is quiet loud when the fully throttled but the MST-9775 with an RPM of 2500 remains much quieter. Your stock video card fan or chipset fan would create just as much noise.

I really do appreciate the thoughts provided here. When I get home from work I'll look at more of the heatsinks mentioned above. I had been interested in the CNPS7700 but for some reason I thought it required a back plate.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The CNPS 7700Cu is a heavy one. If the HTPC case sits so the board is horizontal, I don't suppose it will make a difference for the weight. But it takes up a lot of motherboard real-estate.

If the XP120 will fit (and add 25mm for a 120x25mm fan), that's probably the best compromise for the cooling. It may be there are newer models out there that have a lower profile.

The key cooling factor is thermal resistance. XP-120 has a TR of 0.13 C/W. The SI-120 is better (sitting an inch higher, though) -- for 0.11 C/W.

It's an interesting twist on the cooling problem, since a lot of us use tower cases -- with full-tower probably being easier to cool with the least noise.