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Current Best HSF for Athlon XP

D

da_buddha

n00b
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
3
I've been out of the loop for 6 months or a year or so and have missed what the latest modding/cooling/hardware crazes are. At the time I built my current tower, I put a SLK-800 on my Athlon XP and a Vantec Tornado fan on that in order to cool what would be a overclocked CPU. It all went well and everything has gone good. Last year I upgraded my CPU to a Barton 2800+, still an Athlon XP tho, and put the same heatsink on it. I have "acquired" a x800 and want to revamp this system (since I've been using my laptop, it's not been in use) and make it as good as new again and even better. One of the areas of focus is taking off the extremely loud Vantec Tornado fan that has been a trustworthy worker forever and looking for a new HSF combo that is as cool (if not cooler) than the SLK-800 combo and much quieter.

So based on that, I'm wondering what the latest best, quietest, and coolest solutions are for an Athlon XP Barton 2800+ on an ASUS A7N8X dlx mobo. Price is not an issue, I'm just looking for what the current bests are since I've been out of the loop for so long. Any help is appreciated!! Thanks! :)
 
Thermalright SI-97 + Orange Nexus 120mm fan @ 7v = quietest, great performance cooling solution. Put the fan at 12v and you probably have the best cooling perfomance available at a slightly higher amount of noise.
 
SP-97 or SI-97 with a Panaflo of your choice, although my TT Volcano 12 does the job nicely and cheaply even though it's TT.
 
Argh... After hearing some thoughts, I'm stuck between:
- Thermalright SI-97 (top choice at the moment)
- Thermalright XP-120
- Thermaltake SonicTower
- Thermaltake BigTyphoon
er I thought there was on more Thermalright but I guess not...

What would you guys suggest? Mind you the CPU is overclocked just a bit still and I want some great cooling but still at a generally quiet sound... or at least a lot quieter than my Tornado! ;)
 
SI-97 with a low-speed 92mm Panaflo.

The XP-120 is not compatible with AthlonXP CPUs. The Thermaltakes are too heavy and will be louder than they're rated at.
 
Ya I guess I'm getting an SI-97... Just need a fan and it's all good.. :D I see a Panaflo ultra quiet 92mm that has 42.7CFM and 27db and a Panaflo medium speed that is 48CFM and 30db and lastly I see some Thermaltake 92mm Silent Cat Fan that apparently says 52.24CFM and 21db... which one is better? I think I'd trust Panaflo's quality but that Thermaltake fan sounds sweet...
 
da_buddha said:
Ya I guess I'm getting an SI-97... Just need a fan and it's all good.. :D I see a Panaflo ultra quiet 92mm that has 42.7CFM and 27db and a Panaflo medium speed that is 48CFM and 30db and lastly I see some Thermaltake 92mm Silent Cat Fan that apparently says 52.24CFM and 21db... which one is better? I think I'd trust Panaflo's quality but that Thermaltake fan sounds sweet...
Click to expand...

the db ratings are often misleading, especially Thermaltakes (and this is from most ppl I talk to). Apparently most thermaltake devices are rated at 21db. And most people that get them would not agree that they are 21 db. What you can do to fudge these db numbers is move the measuring device further away from the fan, in order to get a lower rating.

That said, I would get a Panaflo. I've been running a Panaflo M1A (medium) at 7 volts, and it's siltent. At 9 volts, it's barely audible, but at 12 volts, it's not the quietest thing. I picked up the Panaflo Medium and volt mod it.

I'd say go for the Panaflo :)
 
Nexus is a great brand, and you CAN fit a 120mm fan on top of the SI-97 (i know, there's one on mine right now)
 
Yeah it is a big honker huh? There was a shipping delay so I get it on Friday now. I will mess with it over the weekend and report back. :D

B2TW: as far as the overhand for the 120 on the SI-97...it isn't wasted. It helps cool ram and NB also, along with the mosfets.
 
The Thermaltake fans I have used in the past have all been disppointing as far as loudness. By the time you get the fan fast enough to do what you want it is almost as loud as a Tornado. Stick with a good Panaflow and enjoy the rewards.
 
Tiny said:
Yeah it is a big honker huh? There was a shipping delay so I get it on Friday now. I will mess with it over the weekend and report back. :D

B2TW: as far as the overhand for the 120 on the SI-97...it isn't wasted. It helps cool ram and NB also, along with the mosfets.
Click to expand...


Well, good news and bad news.

It got here, that is good news. It doesn't fit on my mobo (chaintech 7NIL1), that is bad news. The heatpipes hit into some caps near my CPU and I would have to bend them to much to get it to fit. :(

I didn't care for the packaging either, the soft plastic allowed some of the fins on top and bottom to become bent, but it was easy to bend them back and you can't even tell that they were bent in the fist place.

I will post some pics up sometime this week, just so people can see how big it is and where I ran into some trouble.
 
some crappy camera phone pics...sorry. :eek:

SI-97 with ghetto Nexus fan mod. (back to using this since the Thermaltake Tower didn't fit.)


Thermaltake Sonic Tower. (hits into the caps, so much so that I would have to remove the cap in order to install the Sonic tower, and had to cut NB cooler some)


and one this one(hard to see I know) to mount it on my mobo the way I needed it too (how it is in the pic) it couldn't be done, cause of the mounting holes. :(
 
I didn't use zip ties on my 120mm Nexus to SI-97 "mod". The fan clamps that come with the SI-97 will work just as well, just more spread out than with a 92mm fan. But if that way works for ya then, ehh who cares.
 
I lost the fan mounts. :( And didn't want to pay a buck for some more. :p
 
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