GUIDE: Air-cooling for CPUs, GPUs, and just about everyone of you

maplekandalf said:
How do the si-128 and xp-90c (the two options I'm considering for my conroe) compare to the scythe ninja or tuniq tower?

I can't speak for the si-128, but the xp90 is completely eclipsed in both noise and temperature levels.
 
Little update. I got my SI-128, this thing is massive, but even for its size it is very light. I was pleasently surprised.

One thing to watch out for if you are using an ASUS A8R32-MVP, or mother board with a high north bridge heatsink, like I am. The S shaped retention brachet sticks out too far on the side. It pushes down on top of the north bridge heatsink. I moded my so that little extra bit is gone.

The SI-128 sticks out over the ram slots helping cool them. Also, it is up so high that I can remove or put in the ram with out ever taking out the SI-128.

This thing is sooo big that I had to remove my motherboard from my Lian-Li V1000 to put it in. It was impossible to latch that bottom side other wise. It's about a centimeter from the bottom of the case. Very tight tolerance!

When the Artic Silver 5 has time to cure I'll give an update on temps.
 
I'd like to see pics of that SI-128 in your case. I've got an XP-120 right now in the Li Li V1000B.

I just installed a Ultra-120 today. Talk about insanely huge!
 
maplekandalf said:
How do the si-128 and xp-90c (the two options I'm considering for my conroe) compare to the scythe ninja or tuniq tower?
the si-128 performs on par with the ninja
 
Here are a couple of pictures of my SI-128.

DSC02142.jpg


DSC02147.jpg


DSC02148.jpg


And this is a picture of the S retention clip that still sits a little on top of the north bridge heatsink.
DSC02146Paint.jpg
 
Can someone PLEASE help me? I'm having troubles with the P5B and the TT Big Typhoon overclocking my e6400.

The temps are normal, and the TT BT runs at ~1360 rpm (is this normal?) I tried to make my fan spin faster with a fan controller, and application fan controller, searched bios and couldn't find anything. Also there is no "SOUTHBRIDGE" chipset options for my P5B (vanilla). Is that normal?

I can't find anywhere in the bios anything about Q-fan/cpu fan/or any fan options whatsoever. I was under the impression these would be accessable in the bios.

When I boot up, the fan runs at full speed and gets loud (good, cuz I want to overclock), however once the motherboard sets it's configuration or something it spins a lot slower. I've tried disabling everything and looking under every option possible. I cannot find this option. I'm using the latest bios revision and I'm pretty sure it just doesn't have the option there.

What do I do?

My only idea is that perhaps I didn't rub off the thermal paste of the CPU. Was I supposed to make it shiney? I read somewhere not to do that. I put a very very small amount of thermal grease included with the Big Typhoon (should I have used arctic silver?) and then after applied with a plastic bag I spread it out very thin and picked up a good amount of excess leaving as little as possible. Should I retry this with rubbing alcohol and maticulously clean it? Or is this a problem with the fan not running at the correct speed?


EDIT: Success! I reinstalled the heatsink (it wasn't put on very well, I had my gf help me the first time :D ), however now It's running a cool 36c idle instead of 45c. Sweet!
 
Good to see you fixed your own problems :eek:

The Big Typhoon's fan does run at arond 1400rpm.
 
For chipset cooling you may want to add the ForceTake Chipforce (or Jing Ting Chipforce depending on retailer).

Here's an image of what it looks like, it's a heatpipe design that is fairly flexible in mounting configurations. You can slide the heatpipe in or out and with the four mounting bolts you can easily direct it in various directions. This for example would allow some extreme cooling for SLI rigs.

Where I found it: http://epowerhousepc.com/forcetake-chip-force-chipset-cooler-p-746.html

Here's a review: http://www.bigbruin.com/2006/jts0006_1

An here's an image of me placing it on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI board. With the two metal brackets you can also swival the heatsink in a number of directions. For example, I ended up twisting it 45 degress to have it slant the airflow towards my graphics cards for airflow through the Zalman VF-900cu I use on my PC setup. The image below shows it currently 90 degress from the graphics cards.

LMHKD-Firstmountidea.JPG


Here's the image of it with the Video card mounted and the heatsink showing the 45 degree adjustment.

VKFVN-Picture009.jpg
 
Resize your pics, PLEASE.

I haven't added it because of it's limited availability... you can't exactly find it everywhere.
 
I have a request to make. I would like to know what is the best method of cooling my video card

It's ALWAYS running extremely hot. The stock fan on it seems to be working fine, but I would like to invest in a higher quality fan to unsure its performance.

Thanks for any and all help.
 
Yes, actually I did. The reason I posted was because I would like to know which is the best one. There are a few good ones up there, but none of them sound like the best. Each of them have their own advantage. If someone were to simply say, "X is the one that will help you out the most." That would make my decision making process a lot easier.

Thanks guys!
 
I posted in the VGA cooling section about air cooling your video cards. I have been thru them all.. I really found nothing that could lower my SLi setup on my 2 - eVGA 7800GTX cards. What's more, I had them overclocked like crazy (470/1200 stock) and I run them at 510/1390). Now my temps are pretty darn low with a little help from Antec and some good old fashioned ingenuity. Here is what I did..

Purchased 3 80mm Antec LED fans.
Purchased 1 small sheet of Aluminum from Home Depot.
Purchased 1 prepackaged set of small screws and bolts.

Total cost with fans include was in the ball park of $38 dollars.

Measure the size of aluminum needed to fit your case, leaving enough surface area to mount the fans. Place the fans on the aluminum trace where you need to cut the aluminum to allow air flow and mark where the holes are, on the fans.

Next, take the fans off and begin cutting (I used a metal blade on my jigsaw. Some people use dremel tools but I didn't own one back then). Once you are finished cutting the aluminum, drill the holes to mount the fans. The end result should look like this:

ComputerBling081.jpg



My temps used to be 90c+ under load. Extremely way too hot. The best I could EVER get the temps down was 69c with aftermarket coolers on my video cards. My temps now, never exceed 55c under very heavy load (6+ hours of gaming on FEAR overclocked, with all of the eye candy on!)

Hope this helps you like it helped me. And best of all.. I made something work with little money invested and cooled my cards better than any cooling solution out there that is offered for SLi setups (minus water or vapochilling).
 
XpLiCiTReaLiTyxX said:
Yes, actually I did. The reason I posted was because I would like to know which is the best one. There are a few good ones up there, but none of them sound like the best. Each of them have their own advantage. If someone were to simply say, "X is the one that will help you out the most." That would make my decision making process a lot easier.

Thanks guys!

I've been very satisfied with my VF900, just like I was with the VF700 before it. Low temps and no noise..
 
quadnad said:
I've been very satisfied with my VF900, just like I was with the VF700 before it. Low temps and no noise..

I have been hearing a lot of good things about the VF900, but the question now is, "Is this going to fit my All in Wonder X800 AGP?"
 
XpLiCiTReaLiTyxX said:
I have been hearing a lot of good things about the VF900, but the question now is, "Is this going to fit my All in Wonder X800 AGP?"

After doing a little bit of googling I found that it's supposedly compatible with the entire X800 series. In fact, one of the people on the newegg link to your card said that he had installed a VF900 on it.
 
quadnad said:
After doing a little bit of googling I found that it's supposedly compatible with the entire X800 series. In fact, one of the people on the newegg link to your card said that he had installed a VF900 on it.

If that is the case, did this person need to do any type of modifications to make it fit, or no.

I remember a friend saying that some Zalman coolers need special types of adapters for their products. I'm unsure if this is true or not.
 
XpLiCiTReaLiTyxX said:
I remember a friend saying that some Zalman coolers need special types of adapters for their products. I'm unsure if this is true or not.

All I can speak for is their VGA coolers, the VF700 and VF900, and no they don't need any special modification. If you'd like to be sure, why not email zalman?
 
I think you should add the Thermalright HR-05 and HR-05 SLI to your list of northbridge coolers.
 
If anyone has tried them, the Noctua fans are really nice and quite. They don't move as much air as some other fans, but they are very quiet. They have also been picking up some great reviews. While their line-up had been previously centered solely on 120mm fans, they recently added a line of 80mm fans. These fans can be somewhat expensive, and extremely hard to find (CPU coolers only in US, and case fans available from NCIX in Canada), but worth it. I doubt the 80mm fans are available anywhere in the US yet, but good luck if you're in the mood.
 
For AMD 939,940, and AM2s you can get AMD's best kept secret. The new 4 heat pipe stock cooler works great and can be had (for free if you get the right CPU) cheap ($20 incl shipping) on E-Bay. Check out the cooler and how to mod the fan for max performance here. http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1962. I have one on my X2 3800 OC to 2.7ghz (1.45v) and it folds on both cores 24x7 without the mod and the core temp is 48deg C.
 
I like the idea of the low noise of the Vantec. Mine seems to be very noisy and aggrevating when working. It feels like after I get off I have been buzzed all day long.
Where is the best place to purchase this?
 
I like the idea of the low noise of the Vantec. Mine seems to be very noisy and aggrevating when working. It feels like after I get off I have been buzzed all day long.
Where is the best place to purchase this?
 
Where do you guys go to buy fans and HSFs? Newegg adds $5 shipping to each item. Is there another reputable source that's cheaper?

Thanks.
 
Jaunty Angle said:
Where do you guys go to buy fans and HSFs? Newegg adds $5 shipping to each item. Is there another reputable source that's cheaper?

Thanks.
I'm about to get a decent sized order from http://www.sidewindercomputers.com. XP-90, 2 panaflos, and a 120mm scythe fan. Going to grab a coolermaster centurion 5 from NewEgg and replace the stock fans for a real quiet case.

I don't know how they are yet, but they have good prices.
 
Oline61 said:
I'm about to get a decent sized order from http://www.sidewindercomputers.com. XP-90, 2 panaflos, and a 120mm scythe fan. Going to grab a coolermaster centurion 5 from NewEgg and replace the stock fans for a real quiet case.

I don't know how they are yet, but they have good prices.
Scratch that, I've changed my mind. I'm going to buy from Jab-Tech. I'm going with an SI-120, 2 120mm Yate Loons, and a Scythe S-Flex F model. I'm grabbing an Antec SLK3000-B at NewEgg to put it all in. I like the Antec over the Coolermaster because the exhaust grille is less restrictive, it has a front 120 v. 80, and it has a removeable hard drive tray. After I mount the fans with rubber grommets and open up the bottom of the bezel a little bit the loudest thing in the case should be my PSU. This is still not final though.
 
Anyone know of a low profile, passive chipset heatsink for sale anywhere? Something along the lines of what Gigabyte used on their Nforce 4 motherboards. Has to be low profile, as there is a PCI card that hangs over the chipset, and I'd rather go passive as this is an HTPC. TIA
 
I just got the XP-90 with a panaflo 92mm fan in a Lian-Li PC-60 plus case, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with it. using orthos on a nonoverclocked E6600 the temps max out at 57c. Thats well... horrible.

I'm going to be getting a big typhoon.
 
I just got the XP-90 with a panaflo 92mm fan in a Lian-Li PC-60 plus case, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with it. using orthos on a nonoverclocked E6600 the temps max out at 57c. Thats well... horrible.

I'm going to be getting a big typhoon.

The XP 90 is pretty poor to begin with. Even the four pipe AMD stock heatsink performs just as well as the XP90. Something like the Tuniq Tower, Scythe Ninja, Scythe Infinity, or TT Typhoon would fit the bill much better.
 
Anyone know of a low profile, passive chipset heatsink for sale anywhere? Something along the lines of what Gigabyte used on their Nforce 4 motherboards. Has to be low profile, as there is a PCI card that hangs over the chipset, and I'd rather go passive as this is an HTPC. TIA

The only chipset heatsinks that I would classify as low profile are active. I'm using the Vantec Iceberg, and it's very quiet (I run at 7V, it sufficiently cools my nForce4 chip). Unless you're going completely fanless in your HTPC, you probably won't hear it over your other fans.
 
The XP 90 is pretty poor to begin with. Even the four pipe AMD stock heatsink performs just as well as the XP90. Something like the Tuniq Tower, Scythe Ninja, Scythe Infinity, or TT Typhoon would fit the bill much better.

:( then why is it a recommended heatsink? I wasted my money.
 
:( then why is it a recommended heatsink? I wasted my money.

I don't think you wasted your money necessarily, but there are better options available for ~$20. If you're looking to do serious overclocking, you shouldn't consider anything like that. Minimum for serious overclocking on air should be a Ninja.
 
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