whats a good CPU cooler?

sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
edited June 2006 in Hardware
Im definatly goin with air coolig and DEFINATLY not sticking with the standard CPU hest sink (clear perspex box = MUST HAVE BLING)

been pretty set on a Thermaltake beetle CPU cooler for a while as it seems to have pretty decent performance and looks pretty sweet. I was wondering if anyone else out there has had experiance with it as to its day to day performance or if they can recommend another HSF. Ill be running a 939 processor under it.

-SN-

Comments

  • xokmillzoxokmillzo
    edited June 2006
    I use a Thermaltake they are pretty good never had any problems.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I use a Thermaltake
    No offense, but that doesn't tell us anything. That's like saying you drive a General Motors. Is it a Corvette or an imported subcompact with a Chevy badge glued on? S.Nomad, tell us a little more about your system. What CPU is installed? Will you be overclocking?

    Probably the best looking CPU heatsink (my opinion), which is also a very good performer is the Zalman CNPS 9500. It's not up to par with in cooling efficiency with the Thermaltake Big Typhoon or Scythe Ninja, but is still very good. It's a bit pricey.

    If you won't be overclocking, you won't have to go for top of the line.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    i'd sugest going with the thermaltake big typhoon...anything with the words "big" and "typhoon" in the title make it awesome...the scythe ninja also looks pretty awesome, just make sure that you get a fan on it, it seems that coolerguys.com has a "plus" version of it which has a 120mm fan on it.. but if you could somehow add another 120 mm fan onto it...making one fan blow onto it...then another fan sucking that air into the exhaust...i think that would be pretty awesome

    also...perforamance is always key...but one thing to take into account is the noise...with a 12omm fan you will get less noise coming from the fan at a less high pitched noise..we all remember the 60mm global win38 fans dont we
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Concerning the Typhoon - you can mount an Antec Tricolor 120mm fan on it. The three colored LEDs reflecting off of the aluminum fins looks great. It gives heatsink unit a shimmering effect. I still think the Zalman 9500 is the best looking design, though. Zalman makes a model of the 9500 with a blue LED fan.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    is there anyway u can alter the fans that are given?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    The Scythe Ninja is good enough that it will work well without a fan at all, given good case airflow, but you can mount just about any 120mm fan on it that you wish. The Typhoon will also take any 120mm X 39mm fan you wish. You would need longer fan mounting screws for a fan thicker than 39mm. The beauty of both of these heatsinks is that you can use very low RPM (quiet) fans and they work great. I've experimented quite a bit with my Typhoons. Higher RPM fans really didn't make much if any difference.
  • mmaturenmmaturen Caracas, Venezuela.
    edited June 2006
    Performance always.....

    I have just installed a Big typhoon on my x24200 and its been amazing! I also had an gigabyte 3dcoolerpro on my ol amd 643200 (s754) I I must say It also rocks! I will clean an lap that gigabyte and see how it fares against the typhoon...( my bets on BT...)



    Miguel
  • sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
    edited June 2006
    Ill be running either a 3800 x 2 under it or a 4400 x 2 under it, and its DEFINATLY bieng o/c'd this is my first ever build and O/C so im takin it slow and doin it right.
  • mmaturenmmaturen Caracas, Venezuela.
    edited June 2006
    I will begin OC tonite so Ill let you know How it went tomorrow....
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2006
    I always have performance first in my buying decisions on heatsinks myself. The Big Typhoon, the Ninja and the Thermalright XP90-C (with a Delta 92mm 3 blade fan) are some of the best performing heatsinks out on the market and available nowdays. The Tuniq Tower 120 is also a great choice, but is unavailable right now. Also, Thermalright has an Ultra 120 they just introduced that is getting good remarks on from what I've read too. The Thermalright SI-120 is also an excellent choice for cooling if you use a 120mm fan in the 80-220 cfm range, but doesn't perform as well as a Ninja with a low cfm fan. The Zalman 9500 is a good hsf, but isn't quite in the same league as the BT, XP90-C or Ninja, but it is beautiful in design and workmanship. There is also a website that sells replacement fans for Zalman heatsinks, but I don't have it bookmarked on my laptop here at work, in case you would accidently break a blade off on your Zalman heatsink's fan.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    You should have a wide range of CPUs that will allow overclocking to it's air cooled limits with your system. You don't have to get the top level of performance unless you want to. The CPUs you selected are not in the high heat output range of the Intel Prescott and Smithfield processors, the latter of which I have. For me, the Typhoon class of CPU coolers is mandatory for my overclocking. You should have much more freedom of heatsink selection than I did.
  • sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
    edited June 2006
    so has ANYONE been intimate with the Thermaltake beetle? kinda got my heart set on it for looks (has some groovy lighting effects and is UV reactive to match the case) and from what ive read, the performance is pretty good as well. suppose Im just lookin for a little reassurance Im not gonna short change the first rig I build :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I don't recall anyone here using the Beetle. It would look great behind a plexiglass panel! Consider though, that with a 90mm fan, it will make noticeably more noise than a cooler with a low RPM 120mm fan. Just do an Internet search for reviews. I have no idea how it performs. I really doubt though, that it can keep pace with a TT Typhoon, Scythe Ninja, or Thermalright SI-120. But then, you don't need top of the line for AMD as you do with some of the Intel CPUs under overclocking.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2006
    I also don't know of anyone that's using the Beetle either, so I can't rate it's performance and I can't even find a review from a website I trust for performance tests either. Personally, I also find the design to be a little cheesy, but that's just me as I value function first. Looking around at various vendors websites, I also see that the Beetle is kind of hard to find and on the sites that do sell it, they sell for around $45-$50. For that much money you can get a Ninja or Big Typhoon, which are known to perform well here.

    If you decide to go with the Beetle, be sure to post up how well it works for you. :)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I'd recommend going with a proven performer, rather than spend money on an unknown quantity. Looks don't rate too highly on my "reasons to buy this cooler" list.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    The stock HSF because I'm a poor man and the chips I get always suck the proverbial "balls" anyway and don't overclock to anything worthwhile.
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