air cooling - size/sound vs performance

[alphase7en]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to replace the stock heatsink on my 3200+ Venice.

I wont be doing any serious overclocking, but may bump it up a little. I'm looking for a fan/heatsink that isnt so big and loud (xp-90) but still performs well enough for a little overclocking. I've looked at a lot of coolers, but I cant tell anything from the manufacturers marketing write up, so reviews would be helpful.

Let me know what you guys have in mind. Thanks.

[silenze]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to replace the stock heatsink on my 3200+ Venice.

I wont be doing any serious overclocking, but may bump it up a little. I'm looking for a fan/heatsink that isnt so big and loud (xp-90) but still performs well enough for a little overclocking. I've looked at a lot of coolers, but I cant tell anything from the manufacturers marketing write up, so reviews would be helpful.

Let me know what you guys have in mind. Thanks.

Well.. heatsink's dissipation is really dependent on it's size, so that is unavoidable.. if you want very small & completely silent, water cooling is your cheapest option..

Recommendation: XP-90 with a ~50 CFM 92mm fan on a $10-15 fan controller (adjust it all the way down for quiet, turn it up for gaming.. I run my 3200+ Venice @ 2.6Ghz topping out less than 40° C under load with an XP-90-C & 46CFM 92mm at minimal..)

[FunkZ]

Agreed. Get a Thermalright XP-90 aluminum heatsink and put something like a Thermaltake Silentcat 92mm fan on it. 52cfm @ 21dB.

$25 + $8 + shipping from SVC.com

If you want something more fancy than a plain white fan Thermaltake makes a LED "UFO" fan that comes with a speed controller and a thermal probe so you can adjust it manually or automatically.

[alphase7en]

the xp-90 is huge, not including the fan. Any smaller ideas?

[silenze]

the xp-90 is huge, not including the fan. Any smaller ideas?

Anything the size of the OEM cooler is going to cool just the same.. to cool better than the OEM, a highspeed fan would be needed, which means it would be noisy.

Things to consider... (in general... some fans are designed MUCH better than others and for specific purposes..)

CFM = Noise, varying... the larger the fan, the more CFM with less noise..

Larger surface area = less need for CFM...

More CFM = less need for surface area (to a point).. (not a good direction to go..)

We suggest the XP-90 because it has more surface area spread out over a larger area, accepting a larger fan...

A high rpm 80mm fan can push the same CFM as a 92mm or 120mm fan, but it will need to be spinning like twice as fast... hence you get twice (if not more) the noise..

In other words; A small, efficient air cooler, is going to be insanely loud.

If you're going to be moderately overclocking a venice, you probably won't need anything but the OEM cooler... I mean I can hit 2.4Ghz on 1.4v, and not break 36° C load temps with my XP-90, I'm sure an OEM cooler would keep me well under 50° C....

[FunkZ]

Maybe the Thermaltake Venus SilentBoost if you put a better fan on it. Or the Thermalright SLK-948u or Alpha Pal 8150T.

Most of the good ones are huge, like the Artic Cooling Freezer 64 or Swiftech MCX6400-V. And of course the XP-90/90c/120.

[Bio-Hazard]

On my back-up A64 system I'm running air right now and I'm extremely happy with the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. It's big, it's silent and it cools very well, I'd recomend it to anyone looking for a high performance, quiet air cooling solution.

http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0114bigtyphoon/cl-p0114.htm

http://www.thermaltake.com/images/coolers/ComboCool/cl-p0114/enlargedView.jpg

[alphase7en]

think im gonna go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835106038

Any bad reviews?

[silenze]

Yep that's a pretty good heatsink/fan combo..

[SHaCK]

On my back-up A64 system I'm running air right now and I'm extremely happy with the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. It's big, it's silent and it cools very well, I'd recomend it to anyone looking for a high performance, quiet air cooling solution.

http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0114bigtyphoon/cl-p0114.htm

http://www.thermaltake.com/images/coolers/ComboCool/cl-p0114/enlargedView.jpg

Hey man , hopefully you can give me some advice about the Big Typhoon..

I was running my 2500+ barton cooled by a noname hsf 100% aluminium and i recently replaced it with a big typhoon, unfortunately the temps didn't dropped, no way, i got a 10degree increase :cry:

I removed it, cleared it and re-applied a thinner layer of as5 , hoping i had use too much the first time. Right the temps dropped to 51-53 idle :S ... i had around 45 with the cheap hsf..

Maybe i tightened the typhoon too tight on the socket?

Any advice would be greatly apprecied.

[Bio-Hazard]

Sounds like the HSF isn't sitting flat on the CPU core or you didn't tighten it down evenly. Try and reseat the cooler again.