AM3 Cooler

[W.Feather]

I am trying to find a new cooler for my Phenom II X2 550, on the Crosshair III with the OCZ Reaper DDR3 ram...


Anyone know of a cooler that will fit my motherboard, the problem with most of them is that the Reaper ram is taller b/c of the heat sync on them....

looking for one in the $30-$40 price range that gives decent over clocking overhead, in the next year or so I am planning on getting a water cooling set up

 

[sirmonkey1985]

do you plan to leave it as an x2 or are you going to try to unlock it to a 955? if you plan to leave it as an x2 550.. then that leaves you with a lot of options since the 550 doesnt create all that much heat..

how many sticks of ram are you using? because if you are only using 2 then you could keep them in the 2 farthest slots and be able to use any heatsink like the xig s1283 even though it would be overkill for a x2 550 its still a nice cooler and would last you through a few upgrades at least..

 

[Ricedaddy]

I have a Scythe Kama Angle with the same OCZ Reaper ram as you. The heatsink can orient several different ways and it makes it pretty easy to find a way that will fit. It's a big bastard though.

I think i paid about $30-ish for mine. It's a great performer for the price and is quiet too. I have the Coolermaster 590 and was able to put the heatsink in a position where I have essentially three fans doing a push-pull setup.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185082

 

[W.Feather]

I plan on using this heat sync for a year or so.......in that time i am planning on upgrading to the best quad core out there at them time i buy a new one, so it wont stay as a dual(tried unlocking, the Croshair III is not good at unlocking them tho from all things ive seen).....


ill take a look at that


I plan on adding another 2 stick of the same ram before i move to water cooling


dont know if it makes a difference but I am looking at painting the heatsync white(or if it is white that is a plus) for a major case mod that I intend to do....is this at all possible?

 

[Ricedaddy]

dont know if it makes a difference but I am looking at painting the heatsync white(or if it is white that is a plus) for a major case mod that I intend to do....is this at all possible?

It's possible, but you can't use normal paint. it would crack and flake very quickly. colored heatsinks are usually plated with nickel.

 

[foomanchoo]

I just got that same processor and used my xp-120 from my old 939 system.It was tight with my regular sized memory but it fit.There would have been plenty of room in the other memory slots though.My processor wouldn't unlock but have it running at 3.6 so far with temps at 46 Celsius at full load.
Its a htpc so the cooler is more wide than tall.

 

[W.Feather]

the problem that I have is that the mem sticks are right beside the CPU, so i need a taller cooler, not a wide one.....i have to give the sycth one a better look, i dont know how I didnt see it !!


any suggestions on another cooler ?or what to do to paint one(the scyth one in particulat atm)

 

[flogge]

Paint is most likely gong to degrade performance. However if you get a tower type cooler you could maybe paint the top sides of the fins and then you still leave the bottom sides of each fin for unobstructed heat transfer.

another option is anodizing an aluminum surface. You won't get very even coverage unless you disassemble the cooler and get each fin anodized loose. Any electrical plating process does not work well inside closed in areas or holes due to current density.

 

[W.Feather]

it doesnt have to be perfectly done......the side window is more of holes in the side of the case, so it wont be easy to see....and it is only temperary, and if it cant be done, o well its just a side thought.....


so is the 90 deg angel cooler probably my best bet ?