Best air cooling solution for Q6600

MGDMN

2[H]4U
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I want to get the best air cooling system I can get for a Q6600 cpu. What would you guys consider the best?
 
Well, I dont mind buying an air cooling solution that isnt passive as long as the performance is excellent.
 
The TRUE (Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme), as mentioned above, seems to be the king for air cooling quads at the moment. I'm happy with mine.
 
If you don't want to spend that much the ZeroTherm Nirvana NV120 is nice, and many people have been raving about the Xigmatech RIFLE.
 
if your case has good cooling like mine you can get away with the artic cooling freezer 7 pro with some artic silver 5 or ceramique.

I'm at 3.6Ghz on air with this cheap heatsink at 1.4 volts on my Q6600...It's too hot, but it works stabily overnight on Prime 95 testing 100% on all four cores.

Hits' 74*C at tops. Idles at 1.4 volts at about *42-45* C

If you don't mind spending extra go with the heatsinks recommended above --- I just chimed into let you know you don't "have" to spend big money on the heatsink to get a good O/C but you will have to have a case that can get rid of the heat.
 
stay away from the ac freezer 7 pro. your q6600 may not do as well as his, and running at 70+ c is a bad idea for extended periods of time.
 
In order of Preference/Performance:

Noctua NH-U12P
TRUE
Ultima90
 
Does the TRUE need to be lapped?
How does it cool so well eventhough there is NO fan?

most likely it does need lapped.. not all need lapped, but from what I've seen and personal experience it will need lapped to achieve maximum performance, BUT if you're not OCing then 'out-of-the-box' will be fine

and you need to add a fan to it
 
So this thing costs $60 plus u need to lap it yourself, as well as buy a seperate fan? Thats quite ridiculous.
 
Get the Noctua if you can find it.... comes with everything, and the performance is very good right out of the box

Heatsink Factory and NCIX carry them
 
That Noctua NH-U12P looks like a great performer. I will most likely go with that cooler. Is heatsinkfactory.com a reputable company?
 
Get the Noctua if you can find it.... comes with everything, and the performance is very good right out of the box

Heatsink Factory and NCIX carry them

Are you the same Dracos that wrote a review on Amazon.com for the Noctua cooler?
 
That Noctua NH-U12P looks like a great performer. I will most likely go with that cooler. Is heatsinkfactory.com a reputable company?

yeah HS Factory is good.. Overclockers.com does a bit with them, they usually have deals too
 
Also check out the Cooler Master Hyper 212. I got due to the size over the TRUE but have been extremely satisfied with the performance. Anandtech also has a nice review of it. It is only a couple degrees off of the TRUE for about half the money if you count the fan.
 
I went with the TRUE + lapping kit + a 120mm scythe from svc.com


a sore wrist and a dozen or more sheets of different grits of paper and I'm sittin happy @ 25-26 idle 37-39 load with a OC to 3Ghz....can probly get better...but after that install process...im happy.

in retrospect i would get whatever one is the easiest to install.
 
In All seriousness, my Q6600 OC'ed to 3.2 idles at 38 degrees and goes up to about 50 degrees full load. WITH the AC Freezer 7 Pro.
 
In All seriousness, my Q6600 OC'ed to 3.2 idles at 38 degrees and goes up to about 50 degrees full load. WITH the AC Freezer 7 Pro.

You got lucky with a really nice chip. 3.2 also isn't a massive OC - I'll bet it's a lot hotter nearer 3.6Ghz.
 
In All seriousness, my Q6600 OC'ed to 3.2 idles at 38 degrees and goes up to about 50 degrees full load. WITH the AC Freezer 7 Pro.

Is that using coretemp or the motherboards program? Everyone should be using coretemp if they are gonna compare temps.

To the OP.. the TRUE or Zerotherm Nirvana. The TRUE lets you choose your own fan and most recommend the Scythe S-flex 1,600 rpm fan. When its ran at low voltage its just as quiet as the 1,200 rpm version but with some extra CFM in reserve if needed.
 
I personally went with the Tuniq because I found a good deal on it. I wasgoing to ge the true but when I saw the price + having the buy the fan is ludicrious. Using core temp I get about a high 30 C idle .. full load is max 62 full load @ 3 ghz w/ stock voltage. I have been thinking of lappin the TT atleasti'm not going to do the Q also i have fair airflow in my case.
 
Well everybody, I appreciate all the comments. I decided to go with the Noctua NH-U12P.
 
That is using CoreTemp :). I switched from Fanspeed because it was off. But CoreTemp is right on. And @3.2 (ATM) I am 37IDLE around 49-50Full load..
 
Well everybody, I appreciate all the comments. I decided to go with the Noctua NH-U12P.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2199

Anandtech gave it great reveiws basically saying it was almost as good as the TRUE with a single fan but record breaking temps with push/pull config. Plus it comes with the Extra Cilps for an extra fan to be added if wanted. I ordered my self one to check it out but then read the Frostytech review so now I wonder. Frostytech rates the heatsink at 40db which doesn't seem right at all. I have one of these fans and its VERY quiet even at full speeds.
 
Ya, I read that anandtech review and I liked what I read so that pretty much was the seller for me. Even if it is a little louder as long as it cools well I wont be disappointed.
 
I already know that fan isnt loud at all.. no way in hell its 40db. Hopefully Anandtech's review is more accurate.
 
I guess I'm alittle late to post this, but if anyone else is looking at a TRUE, heres my temps in prime.

Prime9532308.jpg


And at idle.

IdleTemps36.jpg
 
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