Best CPU Air Cooling?

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What's the best air cooling for a CPU? I don't have the money/resposibility for a water cooling system, so I'm looking into air, currently I have a Big Typhoon, the reason I want to get rid of it is because it's sides are too huge and keep getting in my rams way and cables, plus the lapping on it is completely terrible, and I don't really think I'll do any better manually lapping it. I don't care one bit about noise, I just want it to cool the best
 
Noctua NH-U12
Sunbeam Tuniq Tower
Thermalright Ultra-120
Scythe Infinity

Just pick one.
 
I have a Big Typhoon, the reason I want to get rid of it is because it's sides are too huge and keep getting in my rams way and cables,

The ones that Kuyt listed are all great but I believe they all pretty much the same size as what you have or bigger.

Zalman 9500 would be a little smaller
Arctic Cooling also makes one that is smaller that cools pretty well.

But more or less if you go smaller you will prolly loose some cooling, of course if your not doing major overclocking then it isn;t really matter much.
 
At this moment the best should be the Tuniq Tower with thermal paste Masscool Shin-Etsu X23 Thermal Interface Material.

I don't know yet about that Cooler Master GeminII thing, but that's even larger. Read one review and it did just ~2°C better then some others. But this review didn't compare it against the Tunic Tower.

Here is a good link for cooling the cpu.
 
Just to subscribe: Always forget that but have it fixed now in my profile. So hopely this is the last useless post like this I have to do.
 
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme beats the Tuniq in this review:

http://anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2943
Yep, it does. They added an extra heatpipe. And those heatpipes transport the heat to the radiator where it makes contact with air. So more heatpipes and a larger contact area makes better cooling. But see also that it's just a difference with one or two degrees. Put it in another system and it can go the other way around.

I just saw a post of a someone who tried to install the geminII from Cooler Master. Yep, his motherboard (same as me, the Asus Striker Extreme) bended resulting the heatpipes almost came loose from there chips.

I guess we are at the end of air-cooling. Either those things must have more heatpipes or more surface (I think first will be more effective) to handle more heat. But then the weight of the thing becomes to high.

I'm just thinking out loud. What if you just made a large two sided heatpipe. At the contact place with the cpu you let the air go the smaller heatpipes which accelerate the air in them. At both ends you place a smal fan with good air flow. This way the heat isn't transported on his own force, but it's picked up by the accelerated cool air coming in and go's straight out. On the other side, you throw the hot air directly in the open air. So no need for radiator. Because now the heat has to work itself through those heatpipes up to the radiator. And the radiator is then cooled by fresh air. We bring fresh air directly to the cpu and the hot one we throw away. For now the radiator cools the hot air instead of actually taking it away. Radiators I believe are build in the first place for water cooling. You can't throw the hot water in the open. Also a good point is that you might use a tubing to transport the air just upon the cpu block. The only problem will be fast air transport. I have no clue if a normal fan will do the trick. You'll need some pressure at the cpu block to push the air through the smaller pipes.

So anyone who's handy and has a cpu to destroy in the closet might give this a chance. If it works you're rich! If it doesn't, well, sorry for the cpu then :) Oh, you probably will need to destroy already an air cooler also to cut off the heatpipes to attact the tubing for the air.
 
I use the cooler in my sig and have been very happy with it as well. I wanted a cooler that was relatively small, quiet, and I didn't want to have to take out my motherboard to install it.
 
Dang, non of these are in stock at newegg, and I don't feel like going around the net looking for shady stores that sell them.. By the way, those 120 plus SI charts look amazing, but where do you mount the fan? I'm thinking on the large side, if so, can you mount two fans on it, one from each side?
 
zalman 9500


keeps my amd x2 4200 overclocked to 2.4ghz on full load at 40 degrees. i had it stress testing for 2 days straight and not once did it hit 41. it keeps it around 29 idle
 
zalman 9500


keeps my amd x2 4200 overclocked to 2.4ghz on full load at 40 degrees. i had it stress testing for 2 days straight and not once did it hit 41. it keeps it around 29 idle

Well, I have my quad core stress tested for 10 seconds and it hits +80°C (Core-Temp) with the Zalman on stock settings.
So I hope I'll see soon some reviews off coolers where they use a quad-core. Then those things have to work. When you have a dual core, I guess all latest better cpu coolers are good enough. Dual core Extreme = 75W TDP. Quad core Extreme = 130W TDP. A little more no?
 
Well, I have my quad core stress tested for 10 seconds and it hits +80°C (Core-Temp) with the Zalman on stock settings.
So I hope I'll see soon some reviews off coolers where they use a quad-core. Then those things have to work. When you have a dual core, I guess all latest better cpu coolers are good enough. Dual core Extreme = 75W TDP. Quad core Extreme = 130W TDP. A little more no?

well, i dont think hes trying to cool the sun like you are...
 
Well, I have my quad core stress tested for 10 seconds and it hits +80°C (Core-Temp) with the Zalman on stock settings.
So I hope I'll see soon some reviews off coolers where they use a quad-core. Then those things have to work. When you have a dual core, I guess all latest better cpu coolers are good enough. Dual core Extreme = 75W TDP. Quad core Extreme = 130W TDP. A little more no?

Did you have it mounted correctly? A 150W heat load test showed only a 29.6C rise over ambient:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2026&page=4

Also a 939 X2 4200+ OC'd to 2.4GHz is in the range of 120W TDP max. Stock it's 110W or 89W. Some current AMD dual cores go to 125W, and even older Prescott era dual core Xeons were rated for 165W.
 
Did you have it mounted correctly? A 150W heat load test showed only a 29.6C rise over ambient:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2026&page=4

Also a 939 X2 4200+ OC'd to 2.4GHz is in the range of 120W TDP max. Stock it's 110W or 89W. Some current AMD dual cores go to 125W, and even older Prescott era dual core Xeons were rated for 165W.

Strange article. They compare against ambient temperature. So if I should follow this, at maximum load it should get only 60°C then. With me it's 65°C at max rev with the Zalman. Which is the same as in the test probably, considering it's build in a case where it get's 30°C within (running SLI). And that is without overclock. Without overclock it's stay's just within range because max temp given on the Intel site is 65°C Tcase. So I don't think there is something wrong with my setup.

Already I tried an extra fan on the case to cool things better. I installed it in several positions and the best result I got was when it was in the front above the fan for the drivebay. This made things some degrees cooler or should I say less warm ;) This worked probably the best with the air-flow through the Zalman. When installing the extra fan at the side. Either above the mobo blowing in, or above the SLI cards sucking out, the results were worse than without the extra fan. Already I ordered 2 new Papst fan's to replace the original cooler-master fans and I have that new extra one. Papst fans are more quite with the same air-flow. I want my system to be quite. It's for home, not a server room. So I'm not gonna install my case full with fans.

So I stick with it. The air-cooling thing just can't deal with the quad-core. Tcase max = 65°C and there lay's the problem. I'm at this with full load and full revs with the Zalman without overclock. Core-Temp says the max Tjunction is 100°C. If this is true I feel a little better because at full load I'm reading +80°C so I have 20°C spare. But I have my doubts about the Tjunction given by Core-Temp.

I'm saving money to buy a cooler from Coolit. I hope at the time I have it, they have something even better then the Freezone. Guess that is for me at least, the best option. Considering I want low noise, and everything build in the case. Of course, untill then I'm always listening for better options. I'm also learning going the way. It's my first DIY by the way. I'm a n00b :D

PS: I'm trying to find a place where I can buy the Masscool Shin-Etsu X23 paste, which should be very good. So when the Zalman wasn't installed properly, I will find out. Hopely this will help me. Only find a place in Belgium or the Netherlands where to buy it.
 
Well, I have my quad core stress tested for 10 seconds and it hits +80°C (Core-Temp) with the Zalman on stock settings.
So I hope I'll see soon some reviews off coolers where they use a quad-core. Then those things have to work. When you have a dual core, I guess all latest better cpu coolers are good enough. Dual core Extreme = 75W TDP. Quad core Extreme = 130W TDP. A little more no?


Hmm I think I'd try to remount it sounds like that might be the problem.
 
I'm saving money to buy a cooler from Coolit. I hope at the time I have it, they have something even better then the Freezone. Guess that is for me at least, the best option. Considering I want low noise, and everything build in the case.

Forget about CoolIT, it's marginal at best for quad core, see this thread:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1141982

Keep in mind a Swiftech MCW6500-T with a 226W direct die/IHS water cooled cooled pelt is barely adequate for overclocked quad core, so how can 56W worth of air cooled TECs be any better (or similar)?
 
I like this one..... look how fat them heatpipes are....

untitlethd2pf7.jpg
 
No mention of the Enermax Chakra? I just got mine and love the thing! Its got a 250mm fan on the side .... I mean... COME ON! 250mm!! :D
 
What's the best air cooling for a CPU? I don't have the money/resposibility for a water cooling system, so I'm looking into air, currently I have a Big Typhoon, the reason I want to get rid of it is because it's sides are too huge and keep getting in my rams way and cables, plus the lapping on it is completely terrible, and I don't really think I'll do any better manually lapping it. I don't care one bit about noise, I just want it to cool the best

You can afford WC.

If you insist on Air Cooling I have yet to find a better solution the good old XP-90 or 120 with a good fan. I have put those against some fine products such as the big Zalman and a few others and always come back to the XP simply because it works with no muss or fuss. Now, that being said on a whim I purchased one of these to play with, at the time they were like 27.00 after rebate at the egg and SVC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103006

Seems the rebate is still on.

Yes, it does only the CPU. But it is damn near unbeatable for that purpose. To give you an idea, my C2D 6600 at 3.4 runs Folding At Home 24/7 and with a various selection of air coolers my temps were in the high 60’s c. Dropped them to less then 50c with this cheaper then air solution. After playing with it for a few weeks I now have all 6 of my folding boxes using this unit and all flawlessly.

Do not go by the Newegg reviews, use Google and be surprised. First, the build quality is impeccable, first rate all the way.

Surprise #2, there is nothing else to buy, adaptors for every CPU comes with the unit. All hoses, clamps, leak proof disconnects and coolent are in the kit, the ability to take it all apart to remount the front panel away from the pump box, again all parts supplied.

I have mine all outside the case, you will lose about 3 to 4 deg if you mount it in your case.

All temp safety settings can be done from the front panel, which is easy to read.

Ya, be ready for the flames from the hardcore guys and gals but everyone I have recommended this system to is a happy camper. Face it; you can’t even buy the water block for the price of this whole unit.

Fan speed 2 is quiet and all you need. The whole thing weighs 15 pounds so it’s not built with junk.

Needless to say, all my machines are now WC and cooler then ever.

Take the chance and enjoy.
 
You can afford WC.

If you insist on Air Cooling I have yet to find a better solution the good old XP-90 or 120 with a good fan. I have put those against some fine products such as the big Zalman and a few others and always come back to the XP simply because it works with no muss or fuss. Now, that being said on a whim I purchased one of these to play with, at the time they were like 27.00 after rebate at the egg and SVC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103006

Seems the rebate is still on.

As good as 26 dollars sounds, I don't know a thing about water cooling, but I'm not going to pay 30 dollars for a radiator, and then spend a month looking for proper tube sizes, look all over hardware stores for tools, cut it up, and risk my only set up which I get to upgrade once every 4-5 years getting soaked. So while I could afford a 30 dollar radiator, the rest is a problem.

Edit: Whoops, see? I don't know anything; I was thinking you had to buy cables and whatnot for everything, like the mobo bridges, your graphics card and whatnot... but wow, this set has everything for CPU cooling... psh, just need to hope it becomes available soon!
 
Well, I've just got myself the Tuniq Tower 120
Below the results. I hope things are now normal with my temps:

While running OCCT



While running Prime: Notice the difference.. :eek:



And last while another post:

 
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