Recommend me a new heatsink and fan.

MJO

Hi

I am currently using a Zalman CNPS 9700 NT cooler in my rig, but things are heating up and the cooler isn't excactly silent.
Here is the info from CPU-Z



And here is the idle temp measured with CoreTemp.
(It gets much worse under load, but the system is stable)



Are there any coolers out there that does a better job compared to the Zalman?
And futhermore, it wouldn't be a bad thing if the noise level is lowered too.

Beside the hot CPU I have a power hungry Geforce 8800 GTX that is probably contributing its share to global warming.
And in my case I have one fan sucking air in at the front, at two blowing it out the back.
One right next to the CPU cooler and one right above in the PSU.
Case temperature is 27 degrees C right now.
Specs are in my signature.

(And yes I am using an AM3 processor on an AM2/AM2+ board with DDR2, it works just fine )

MAGIC

I use a Thermalright TRUE on my CPU and HR-03 on my 8800GT with 120 MM fans on both. Very quiet very cool.

Cliff_Forster

On a AM2+ / AM3 socket I just prefer to use AMD's spring retention system for ease of use. Pulling a heatsink on and off in my Antec P183 is nothing short of a nightmare. I really need to dremmel out a hole in the motherboard tray so I can access the motherboard plate from the back.

Here is the deal though, using the extreme cooler in my case I'm only staying about four degrees centigrade cooler than the Kabuto 6 got on one of my customer builds. To me, its just not worth the installation trouble, I want to just put two spring retention clips down and be done with it. The Kabuto 6 performs well and is very quiet. A good choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185098

MJO

Well it isn't exactly going to solve my cpu cooling problems.
But I just bought this monster on ebay.
The Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme 8800.
The reviews have been quite good and it will fit my 8800 GTX.
It was quite hard to find though, I had to buy it on ebay from a guy in England. (Sheffield )
There was one shop here in Denmark that was selling this cooler but they wanted roughly $90 for it, forget it.
The price on ebay was $48 including shipping. :bigggrin:

Here is a picture.

mirage

Good old Thermalright TRUE and the new Prolimatech Megahalems are the first ones come to my mind. But if you want to stay with Zalman, CNPS10X or even CNPS9900 series will do better job than CNPS9700.

I am using two Accelero S1's with active cooling and I am very happy with their cooling. Your new Accelero should be even better. I hope you can keep using that GPU cooler with your next graphics card as well.

Sledgehammer70

It is no secret I am a fan of the - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler - maybe it is because it is so quiet & has ran my system cooler than any other Cooler I have used before.

As I type this my system is running at 4.0GHz and is at a nice cool 36C

Leonardo

Here, this ought to keep you busy for a while, and it's fun reading:

Benchmark Reivew's best CPU cooloer's, Q3 2009

The article also has links to their previous high-end cooler comparisons, which includes the Megahalems and TRUE.

Tim

I've got a Noctua NH-U9B on my E7300 Socket 775 and it keeps the temps down nicely and is quiet too.

MJO

Well maybe my current cooler is doing an ok job, although a bit noisy. (even if it is a Zalman)
It needs to dissipate 136W if my calculations are correct, that is a fair amount of heat.

BTW I have just installed my Accelero 8800 Extreme, and everything looks good.
Note: that these tests are with fresh thermal paste, they might decrease further later on.
But right now it is 55 degrees C during idle, and during load it went to 76 degrees C.
Both are very good result, with the stock cooler it idled at ~67 degress C and during load well probably 85+ degrees.
Tests were performed with the fan spinning at 100% to give the best result.
Oh and BTW: The 8800 GTX puts out ~155W according to a page found online with GPU specs.

Leonardo

Concerning Zalman CPU heatsinks:

a bit noisy. (even if it is a Zalman)

Hate to burst your bubble, but Zalman has been riding the "quiet" reputation for years. I believe that reputation has not been deserved for several years now. Zalman was an innovator, one of the first manufacturers to provide high performance, aftermarket CPU heatsinks that didn't sound like vacuum cleaners. We're talking circa 2000-2002. Comparitively, they were low noise, but their competition at the time included nasty wonders like the Thermaltake Orb series. Once Thermalright and a couple other makers aggressively entered the market, Zalman was no longer the king.

My last Zalmans - and I've had many of them, were 9700 series. It's my opinion, based on extensive experience with several AMD and Intel sockets, that Zalman's excel mainly in quality of materials and craftsmanship. For performance, both thermal dissipation and low sound output, there are several manufacturers superior to Zalman. One big nod that I will give to Zalman though, is that they look fantastic in a windowed case.

At reduced fan speeds, Zalmans are fairly quiet, but they irritatingly buzzy when the fan is cranked up for cooling performance.

mirage

Have you seen this review? They are comparing some of the latest top coolers including TRUE, Megahalems, Noctua, and Zalman's latest.

Leonardo

Benchmark Reviews has another of their excellent high-end multiple heatsink comparisons up that I failed to put in the links in my previous post. The Cogage TRUE Spirit continues to be an excellent performer for almost half the price of some of its competition.