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Fan And Heatsink Replacement Question

S

svgtom

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Messages
66
Sorry if the answer to this question is kind of obvious but I just want to make sure I'm on the right track. I'm thinking of replacing my CPU heatsink and fan. When selecting one, do I just need to make sure the specs indicate it's compatible with my socket and processor? Are there any other compatibility issues I need to be aware of? Of course I know size is also a consideration.

That said, I have an LGA775 socket and an Intel Core 2 Quad 8300 processor. Any recommendations on what to get? Thanks in advance.
 
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You are correct, also - if you are going for a larger cooler make sure it fits in your case. Some cases side panel fans and/or the panel itself can't accommodate a tall cooler.

As for recommendations - Are you getting one just for cooler temps or to overclock the hell out of it?
 
It's just for cooler temps. I have a Dell 540 mini tower so the cooler can't be too big. I've also been doing some research and have seen some that require you to remove the motherboard to install them, which I prefer not to do.
 
I've done some research and I'm looking at getting the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. It's one of the few coolers I've found where someone indicated they were able to successfully replace the stock Dell 540 with. I'd prefer the CM Hyper 212 but apparently it's too big. Any thoughts on the AC?
 
Had one for a couple years, awesome cooler for what you have CPU-wise. Keep in mind to orient it correctly so its blowing air out of the case along with your exhaust fan. No matter how good your aftermarket cooler is, if the air isn't moving out of your case adequately it wont help much. Its all about the airflow dawg! :cool:
 
I think it had better to let your current setup go and upgrade to 1155 socket.
 
When I was on LGA775 I used a xigmatek S1283. Which does a great job and is in the lower price range as far as heatsinks go. If you have a slimmer case the smaller hdt-SD964 version works well too, I put one on my fathers computer and overclocked it and it doesn't lose much ground to its bigger brother.
 
chronicfx said:
When I was on LGA775 I used a xigmatek S1283. Which does a great job and is in the lower price range as far as heatsinks go. If you have a slimmer case the smaller hdt-SD964 version works well too....
Click to expand...

Since I couldn't find an SD964 I'm guessing you meant SD963, aka Loki. Although I was looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, I think it may be a tad too big for me. I'm now considering the Cooler Master Hyper TX3. Is this a better choice than the Loki or are they about the same?
 
One more thing. It looks like my existing heat sink is screwed into the motherboard so I assume it has a backplate. Does this mean that

a) I'll need to remove the backplate if my replacement HS is a push pin model
b) I may be able to use push pins without removing the backplate
c) I can actually screw in the replacement instead of using the included push pins
d) if my replacement HS requires a backplate I can just use the existing one
e) I won't know any of this until I actually remove my old HS

The answer is probably "e" but I'm not too keen on having to play guessing games and not knowing exactly what I'm getting in to prior to installation.
 
svgtom said:
One more thing. It looks like my existing heat sink is screwed into the motherboard so I assume it has a backplate. Does this mean that

a) I'll need to remove the backplate if my replacement HS is a push pin model
b) I may be able to use push pins without removing the backplate
c) I can actually screw in the replacement instead of using the included push pins
d) if my replacement HS requires a backplate I can just use the existing one
e) I won't know any of this until I actually remove my old HS

The answer is probably "e" but I'm not too keen on having to play guessing games and not knowing exactly what I'm getting in to prior to installation.
Click to expand...

If it does indeed have a back plate then yes, you can use the one in place to screw in the new HS. If not, you will need a HS that can use pushpins, or take out the mobo and put in a back plate. There are many good low profile HS's however suggestions will be few unless you post clearance from mobo to side of case, without this we can not really recommend anything. Also, does the case have a 120mm fan or a 92mm? As AIO water cooling might be an option also if HS height is limited.
 
The total width of my case is 7" so clearance is probably about 6 1/2" and it has a 92mm fan.

Sorry to a little off topic but I'm just getting way confused with the amount of info I've been finding. The main reason to replace my heat sink was to lower my temps. As I mentioned, I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 processor. When idle, my core temps are in the low to mid 40's (e.g. 45, 43, 45 45) but when under a heavy load they hit the upper 70's and occasionally the low 80's (e.g. 81, 71, 75, 75).

I've read that ideally temps should be below 70C or even 60C when running at max load but I've also read that specifically with my processor, as long as temps don't approach 100C it should be okay. Are my temps really an issue?
 
If it was me I would not be happy with those temps, but I don't believe that low 80's once in a while will hurt anything. If it was me I would just suck it up and take out the mobo and replace the cooler, especially if you aren't sure what's on there now. That said, it's just a Dell, so don't worry about it. Do you have any case fans laying around that you could try installing, see if that helps airflow? Take off the side panel and check you CPU temps under load then - maybe the case is holding you back.
 
People like to have 60's and 70's,but anything under tjmax is pretty much in spec, and once you hit tjmax the cpu will thermal throttle and if temps keep getting higher it will shut down the computer. Is cooler better? Sure, is it needed? No.
 
Just to provide an update, I finally decided on the Thermaltake CL-P0326.

http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-C...8&qid=1348394124&sr=1-18&keywords=thermaltake

I would have preferred a cooler where the fan pushes the air towards the rear exhaust fan but I wasn't comfortable that my other choices would fit. The Thermaltake is pretty close to the one I replaced except that that the fan is bigger and the heatsink is square instead of round. And fortunately, I was able to use the existing backplate which saved me the trouble of removing the MB which made installation a breeze.

The Thermaltake came with thermal paste already applied but I opted to remove it and use Arctic Silver 5 instead. I tinted the bottom of the heatsink and spread a thin line of paste across the center of the CPU as recommended by the AS website.

As for it's performance, the fan is whisper quiet and the good news is that my temps have been lowered dramatically. When idle, I'm in the mid to upper 30's. Under a heavy load where I used to be in the high 70's, I'm now in the low 50's.

On a side note, when I run Speedfan, it shows a Temp 1, Temp 2, and Temp 3. The Temp 3 is always hot and runs about 60C when idle. I've read though that most likely this is just a false reading and that Speedfan is trying to interpret a sensor that doesn't exist. It's safe to ignore this, correct?
 
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Sorry to say but you could have gotten a far better HS for the price of that thing, thermaltake makes crap coolers that are over priced for the performance, you could have picked up another cooler like that one for cheaper or got a better HS.

Also, use coretemp, that is all you care about with CPU load, get core temp and post what you are getting, if you are using speedfan and have no idea what those 1/2/3 are linked to its usless, also, being that you have a quad core there should be 4 temps for the CPU, not 3. I have never used speedfan but I do not believe it even shows coretemps, just CPU socket temp etc, so you might have been looking at the wrong temp this whole time.
 
Well, Speedfan does show core temps. I even reported what they were in post 13 of this thread. The 1, 2, and 3 Temps are in addition to the core temps. As for Thermaltake making crap coolers, the reviews I have read of their stuff have been mostly positive, with some of their water coolers drawing criticism. The one I bought is doing it's job so right now I'm happy.
 
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