HSF recommendation for 550BE

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dorkbert

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
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I've just assembled a system using 550BE (with Gigabyte 790X board) housed in a Lian Li PC-V1000 case and cooled with an old XP-90. After unlocking to quad (stock voltage) a brief (< 5 min) run of Prime 95 drove the CPU temperature to 60'c + when ambient temperature was but 25'c. It would seem that I am in need of better cooling solution. What HSF would you recommend?
 
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For mid-range price, the Sunbeam Core Contact has been getting rave reviews. Any tower that has a 120mm fan and at least 3 heatpipes will be enough.
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dorkbert said:
I've just assembled a system using 550BE (with Gigabyte 790X board) housed in a Lian Li PC-V1000 case and cooled with an old XP-90.
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I couldn't fit an XP-90 on my 790X because the backplate wasn't compatible. Did you jury rig it somehow?
 
Jeffredo said:
I've had good results with a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 on an X4 955 (in an Antec 300 case). Idles around 33C and has never topped 45C in gaming in the month I've had the setup (a very hot month at that).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003
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This. My X3 710 @ 3250 never goes above about 42C, idling at closer to 30C. I also have the Vendetta 2 in my arsenal; for whatever reason, temps were a tiny bit higher (2-4C) across the board compared to my 1283. Still, though, the V2 is more than capable of cooling any modern AMD CPU without worry.
 
Jeffredo said:
I've had good results with a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 on an X4 955 (in an Antec 300 case). Idles around 33C and has never topped 45C in gaming in the month I've had the setup (a very hot month at that).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003
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I have to agree with Jeff, the Xig S1283 is awesome for the money.

With a S-Flex replacing the stock fan I am averaging 20C idle and 35-40C load as of now, although I haven't quite pushed it yet.

That is in a CM690 case.
 
Cr4ckm0nk3y said:
I have to agree with Jeff, the Xig S1283 is awesome for the money.

With a S-Flex replacing the stock fan I am averaging 20C idle and 35-40C load as of now, although I haven't quite pushed it yet.

That is in a CM690 case.
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You mean C rise or C? I wonder where are you living:)
 
lt_shiro said:
Coolermaster new hyper 212 is my pick at $30 from newegg.com
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I'm running this paired with 2 S-Flex 1600rpm 120mm fans in push-pull. I'm getting load temps around 50-55C unlocked as a X4 B50. As an X2 550, I've never broken 45C. The include fan is very good, but at 2000rpm's it's a little too loud for me. At 1600rpm's the Cooler Master fan doesn't provide as much airflow as I wanted.
 
Update: Thank you all for your words of wisdom. In the end I decided to go with Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer. It has received rave reviews and appears to edge out other coolers in the same price range (NewEgg is selling it for $40 shipped free, before $15 rebate.)
 
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Xigmatek will only mount horizontally on AMD boards.

So don't buy any tall memory sticks and make sure your airflow is optimal for the xigmatek like the Antec 300 cases which has the fan on top.
 
DTN107 said:
Xigmatek will only mount horizontally on AMD boards.

So don't buy any tall memory sticks and make sure your airflow is optimal for the xigmatek like the Antec 300 cases which has the fan on top.
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actually you can buy a $3 mount that allows it to mount vertically. But tall ram a definite no no.
 
^
+1 I would like to know too. I would love to finally use my xigmatek thats been sitting in the closet for ages.
 
I'm also in the market for a new hsf and am looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64. I'd like to know if it makes a big difference from this type fan to a ball bearing fan- I'm trying to get as quiet a fan as possible.
 
The Freezer 64 can get up to high RPMs if you use the PWM functionality with your BIOS. The design is getting a bit dated versus 120mm fans and direct contact heatpipe heatsinks. If silence is your thing get one of the larger new model coolers and switch the fan to something well reviewed (dB is only half the story).
 
I'm thinking of the Sunbeam CCF, the Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ, or the Xigamatek Red Scorpion for my 550 BE. I'm concerned about pushpin installation though which is the Xiggy and the CCF. Heard its tricky, needs pressure and I don't want to put too much pressure on mobo and break it . The Titan is screw in backplate. What's your opinion of these, and the pushpin v screw in?
 
Any opinions on the scythe mugen 2 compared to these others? That's just been recommended to me as well. But it's bigger, heavier, and doesn't have fan control I don't think.
Weight might not be great for the motherboard?
 
Decided. I'm buying the sunbeam CCF. It's also got the standard AM2 clip for retaining to the bracket and means I don't have to unscrew anything if I want to get to the cpu. It's got extremely good reviews too and is in the frostytech top 10. Good enough for me.
 
CCF is best bang for buck. Have my x2 550 unlocked and OCed to 3750Mhz with load temps of 51C
 
Cecil said:
CCF is best bang for buck. Have my x2 550 unlocked and OCed to 3750Mhz with load temps of 51C
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That's excellent, nice temperature. Tried unlocking mine. Epic fa.. :D

Apparently there are batch or stepping codes that people have listed on one site for the 550 BE and they know exactly which codes are unlockable. Would I have to look at the cpu to find that out? There's nothing on the box. Not that I hold out much hope anymore, I've tried pretty much all the known solutions with hybrid enabled, including ACC auto and per core, + and - % on the core values and core voltage increases. I think my only other option is overclocking, though I'm not desperate to do that since this new build of mine runs fast as it is. I'm not desperate to unlock either, it's just that it would be nice to know if it could unlock simply because I have the right motherboard to do it.

How did you find installing your CCF, easy?
 
Roman5 said:
That's excellent, nice temperature. Tried unlocking mine. Epic fa.. :D

Apparently there are batch or stepping codes that people have listed on one site for the 550 BE and they know exactly which codes are unlockable. Would I have to look at the cpu to find that out? There's nothing on the box. Not that I hold out much hope anymore, I've tried pretty much all the known solutions with hybrid enabled, including ACC auto and per core, + and - % on the core values and core voltage increases. I think my only other option is overclocking, though I'm not desperate to do that since this new build of mine runs fast as it is. I'm not desperate to unlock either, it's just that it would be nice to know if it could unlock simply because I have the right motherboard to do it.

How did you find installing your CCF, easy?
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In my opinion, with the right board, about 9/10 (at least) should unlock. They are all quads, just if two cores cant run 3.1 with stock voltage they dissable it. If they increased the voltage, they would have to pay for a better HSF, which wouldnt be worth it to them. So if you have a board that physically can unlock (any Gigabyte with SB710/SB750 should) and dont mind adding some voltage, it should unlock fine.

For mine, I just changed to hybrid, left the %s at auto (-2%) bumbed voltage by .05v (1.4v total) and it was stable, and continued to be stable past 3700Mhz. Once my ram gets here Ill be going for more. You can find my threads at clubnboc.com/forum or EOCF.com about it.

With the CCF there should be no reason for you not to OC since you dont have to worry about temps, and its easy. Just change multi to 18, add .1v to be 1.45ish total, and unlock and it should be stable (if its a good board, I didnt read the whole thread so not sure what you have).

I run 18x207 stable with stock volts accross the board, and no changes but the little bit of vcore. Im trying to get my HT up a little more to run 1100Mhz ram too.


This is my third CCF. I will continue to use them till the Tuniq Tower Extreme drops in price. The installation is easy enough, but in a cramped enviroment can be kind of hard to put on. Make sure you use a moderate amount of force, but not too much or you can bend the board.
 
Cheers. I just placed my order for the CCF, should get it in a couple of days. I had changed my mind and was about to buy the thermalright 120 ultra extreme, but it doesn't have a fan controller, or the TIM, AND I would have to buy a fan, so the CCF fulfills all those requirements in one go and it's cheaper and competitive enough on the cooling.
That AMD clip that goes over the heatpipes of the CCF, do I need to push it on hard so

About unlocking. I had increased the voltage by two increments from 'normal' , ie, from 1.34v. Do I need to change the multiplier too or is that just for overclocking and not unlocking? Perhaps I needed more cpu voltage? A few people say that if it doesn't unlock first time with just ACC auto and hybrid but no voltage increase, it probably is never going to unlock. Yes, I'll check out your threads cecil.
 
After reading this, I bought CCF too.
I was getting 50'c idle and around 65'c load with stock cooling(3.8gig)
Now I'm running 3.92 25'c Idle 32'c load.
surprise how much temperature dropped from stock cooling.
I'm running 1.45 volts(it spikes to 1.5 in cpu-z) going to try with less voltage.
Really want to hit that 4gig mark.

paid only $25 shipped for used
Overall great cooling for money and quiet(120mm)
but
hard to install(have to take board out), I had to move my memories to next slot over because fan was touching it.(I could've put fan on other side but why blow opposite way when case fan is blowing out)
 
No way you are getting those temps. Mine with 1.4 in a case with TONS of airflow and sits by my AC loads 49C. Use HWmonitor and look at TMPIN1.
 
Im using overdrive and also my mobo bios to check temp.
I'm trying to get it to 4gig so raised up to 1.5 and now its 30'c idle about 40' load but still cant get it to stable. I guess im stuck with 3.8gig
oh well
 
AOD and BIOS both falsly read temps. Use HWmonitor.

And 3.8 is the general max OC on these chips with air ooling. Its because of a 56C wall. If you are hitting 56C, it wont OC any more. Mine runs 207x18 with 1.4v 49C load (52C now because I had to raise the fan on the CCF to clear the large heatspreaders on my ram).
 
Do all of the previously mentioned hsf's require the motherboard be removed? I'd prefer a nice hsf that didn't require me to do that.
 
You can do it if you have room but my antec 300 didnt have room and could not fit finger

Looks like temperature is right.
I'm blowing in 2x120mm fan
120mm side fan blowing in
120mm cpu fan blowing toward back
120mm case fan blowing out from back
150mm case fan blowing out from top
 
Another question- should I measure the clearance from my processor to the nearest obstruction or from the bracket that's already installed? Are the measurements of the heatsinks/fans from the actual base(contact point) to the very top of the fan?
 
For air/water cooling, regardless of temperature not all chips scale with voltage beyond 1.5v or so. It's only when you get really cold that you can gain a large amount beyond the ~3.9ghz limits.
 
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