Looking for a efficient non tower cooler

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royce321

Gawd
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Jan 17, 2010
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i'm not a fan of tower coolers, sure they're cheap like the hyper 212 but the size just makes me go ugh

so i am looking for a decent cooler available to fit a 1155 socket

i would like to overclock so efficiency is a must :)

low profile coolers look nice but i'm not sure about their performance

also i'm not looking for a prefilled watercooling solution, just air cooling for now

any thoughts?
 
royce321 said:
i'm not a fan of tower coolers, sure they're cheap like the hyper 212 but the size just makes me go ugh

so i am looking for a decent cooler available to fit a 1155 socket

i would like to overclock so efficiency is a must :)

low profile coolers look nice but i'm not sure about their performance

also i'm not looking for a prefilled watercooling solution, just air cooling for now

any thoughts?
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I guess use the stock cooler?
If you dont like tower, lower profile, or AIO units, that really doesnt leave alot to be honest.

The 212 is small compared to the dh14 and such.
 
I guess you could look at the Noctua C14 but including the two fans it'd be close to a tower in hight.
 
Hagrid said:
I guess use the stock cooler?
If you dont like tower, lower profile, or AIO units, that really doesnt leave alot to be honest.

The 212 is small compared to the dh14 and such.
Click to expand...

The red part.

If you want an air cooler...you're going to end up with a tower air HSF of some sort. That really is all there is apart from the stock HSF.
 
Hagrid said:
I guess use the stock cooler?
If you dont like tower, lower profile, or AIO units, that really doesnt leave alot to be honest.

The 212 is small compared to the dh14 and such.
Click to expand...

yea im not planning on using the stock cooler for a 3570k

i'm considering lower profile coolers....i'm already using a thermaltake slim x3 for my 775 box and it still works great with decent temps
 
Darth Bobo said:
I guess you could look at the Noctua C14 but including the two fans it'd be close to a tower in hight.
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lol that reminds me of my thermaltake big thyphoon

40346_small.jpg


wonder if it would work with a 1155 since it has all those holes on the bracket...then again the hardware is a bear to secure down
 
Noctua NH-C14 - This is probably the best of none clasic tower style cooler, but its kinda like a tower sideways.
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 - the predecesor of the above, fairly decent.
 
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I like the tower coolers because they suck air in from the case, and blows the hot air out
back where your rear fan is.
I mostly use the 212's in my systems because they work great and are easy to install.
 
Hagrid said:
I like the tower coolers because they suck air in from the case, and blows the hot air out
back where your rear fan is.
I mostly use the 212's in my systems because they work great and are easy to install.
Click to expand...

yea thats true....i just don't like the look of them lol

as for the 212 i saw a video of it having some clearing issues with tall ram sticks
 
royce321 said:
yea thats true....i just don't like the look of them lol

as for the 212 i saw a video of it having some clearing issues with tall ram sticks
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I dont use the fancy tall sticks.

i have 8 sticks of the low pro samsung, and the kids comps have the regular height ram.

I dont look inside my computer unless there is a problem or upgrading.
 
i just bought a Patriot Division 4 Viper Extreme kit so i'm gonna have to deal with tall sticks for now

would the noctua fit?
 
royce321 said:
i just bought a Patriot Division 4 Viper Extreme kit so i'm gonna have to deal with tall sticks for now

would the noctua fit?
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Not sure why you went with tall memory when you wanted not so tall heatsink, but let see.....


Going by Noctua memory page,

Caution:
Depending on the orientation of the cooler, the NH-L12 extends over the RAM slots of the mainboard. The cooler offers sufficient clearance for all standard size memory modules, but you won’t be able to use memory modules higher than 43mm. Corsair Dominator DDR3 modules can be used if the top heatspreader is removed as shown here.
Click to expand...

From Vortex Patriot Viper Extreme Division 4 16GB DDR3 Review

The height of the module is a little over 40mm which is quite good considering most memory modules with exterior cooling surpass this measurement.
Click to expand...

So i guess it depends what they mean for a little over... since you have 3mmm over 40... but might be very close. You can also try different orientations, if the heatpipes dont interefere with the placement of the motherboard memory... then you might be fine, but hard to say for sure.

Also check noctua for compatibilty with your motherboard.
 
I had the fan of my 212+ hit my Corsair Vengeance RAM - I replaced the fan with a 25mm thick Scythe to clear the slots (I use 4 sticks so just moving the RAM was not an option).
 
IMHO with your check list, you are driving right on the road to AIO liquid cooling. Even though you said you don't want one.
 
Abula said:
Not sure why you went with tall memory when you wanted not so tall heatsink,
Click to expand...

my deserve to keep my build costs down is making me make adjustments to my original plan of something small n simple

hopefully frys sells that noctua or zalman as i'm not a fan of waiting for the time of shipping once the cpu arrives
 
WaTaGuMp said:
IMHO with your check list, you are driving right on the road to AIO liquid cooling. Even though you said you don't want one.
Click to expand...

if i had a bigger case that'd be an easy fix.....the last time i used a 120 rad on there it barely squeezed shut

pictured is the case thats currently holding my itx c2d build...kinda looks like a shuttle case :)

side.jpg

back.jpg
 
That case looks like a perfect candidate for the H60/80 coolers - the case fan is in a great location to install the radiator and it would take less space than a tall air cooler (quite apart from it being mounted straight on the back of the computer instead of in the middle and block the optical drive). You can get space back by cheating - mount the fan on the *OUTSIDE* of the case in a pull configuration. It's not as efficient as push and I would recommend you break out tin snips and cut away the fan grill of the case but it would work - I've seen it done that way on a Shuttle-style case.
 
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another 120 rad system would be an option but i'm just concerned about pump vibrations and noise
 
Nothing can beat Noctua C12P-SE14
And Noctua C14 (height could be an issue here)
 
i wish frys sold the noctuas so i can check it out before purchasing

any idea if best buy sells them in store?
 
I love that you're using a pico PSU and external graphics PCIe power brick... lol...
 
Arcygenical said:
I love that you're using a pico PSU and external graphics PCIe power brick... lol...
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lol the brick kinda defeats the point of everything being pico....its a nice psu at least :)

although i'm tempted to gut the front and put some mesh in its place...i dunno

cpu arrived today but i'm still waiting for the ram to show up in the mail

fortunately i have plenty of space for a atx psu, for a good laugh i'm gonna see if it'll post on the z68 board via the pico :D

as for the cooler i'll prolly have to check out frys in fremont as the one in concord reorganized their shelves again ugh

on the bright side i have the stock hsf to see how much room i've got to play with

saw a zalman for $49 after rebate, but it already expired sadly
 
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i ended up getting a coolermaster gemni s524 and it looks pretty good, although i find the fan a bit lacking

i should start a build thread as its just sitting on some foam for now
 
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