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Need cooling fan recommendations

S

SpiritInfinity

n00b
Joined
Jun 22, 2010
Messages
13
Hi, I'm kinda new to this and I need some advice on which aftermarket cooler to get. I am currently running on i7-860 with GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Motherboard. I'm using the antec 900 as my case.

The CPU is running a little hot right now. Core temp is at around 45 degrees idle and 60-65 under load (with Arctic Silver 5). I want to get it to around 30 idle and 45 under load. My friends told me to invest in an aftermarket cooler and I'm wondering which one would be the best for under $50 dollars.

Thank you very much

Fangzhou
 
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I think you mean after market cooler - not just a fan. I use water cooling so take my recommendations with a grain of salt. I've heard good things about coolermaster hyper 212, xiggy dark knight and scythe mugen 2 rev b. once you get the aftermarket cooler you can look at temps to determine if you want to upgrade fans and use a push pull config
 
To pojut: I'm using the stock fans that came with the antec 900 case, I have them running on high. Not sure if this is what you meant, I'm kinda noob at this =P
To onepost: ahh you are right lol, yeah I'm looking for aftermarket cooler, my mistake haha
 
Well, as far as aftermarket coolers are concerned, the aformentioned Hyper 212 is pretty decent. I would recommend also looking into finding the specs on the stock fans that case comes with and determining if it would be a worthwhile investment to change them out (which, with most cases, it is.)

Someone else around here might be able to help you out there, I don't really know much about the 900.
 
Scythe Mugen 2 for around $45. Coolermaster 212+ can be had for as little as $20 somethimes. $430 regular price. this is the budget pick. Xigamatech 1283 is another good one in that range.

all are good performers and farley low noise. ihave boththe 212 and the Mugen 2 and recommend either.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely check them out.

One thing i'm concerned about is how well will these lower priced aftermarket coolers perform when I overclock my computer. Right now it's at the stock 2.8Ghz but I am thinking about overclocking to about 3.4-3.6Ghz soon. From the reviews I have read, these coolers will perform very well under the stock settings but I couldn't find much information on after overclocking.

If the performance significantly improves for more expensive coolers I can go a bit over my $50 dollar budge if needed.
 
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I dont know how well the collermaster would do under OC conditions. the mugen should do fine, the fan will just run on higher speeds. I dont OC so I cant say for sure. all my research has been geared towards low noise...but really, its the same principle...effecient cooling. for a heatsink to be quiet, it has to cool very effeciently, allowing for a slow moving fan. take the same heatsink and put a faster fan that pushes more air and you can cool a hotter CPU. most of these have fans capable of faster spin, they just dont need it.
 
IDversusEGO said:
I dont know how well the collermaster would do under OC conditions. the mugen should do fine, the fan will just run on higher speeds.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The TX2 is a solid heatsink, but I doubt it will hold up to the kind of overclock you are looking to do on the i7, OP. The Mugen is a good place to start, but if you are willing to spend a little extra money, I would go with the Cooler Master V8. It's expensive, but totally worth it. Just make sure it will fit in your case and on your mobo without hitting anything.
 
The Scythe Slipstream 120 mm case fans are very solid and can be had for $9 shipped on Newegg. The 1200 rpm model is the better one. The 1900 spins too fast I suppose cause it moves less air and is louder. The 500 rpm fan is quiet but doesn't move much air.
 
I can't imagine you need new case fans, the 900 has pretty good airflow with the stock tricool fans set to medium or high. 35-40 degrees under full stress test load you'd be needing some pretty decent cooling... does it need to be that cool? The i7 860 is safe to much higher temperatures than that.
 
What you're looking for is commonly called a HSF - HeatSink and Fan. For budget cooling that will let you overclock a bit, the aforementioned Hyper 212 Plus is a top pick with incredible value. If you decide to go with something higher end that will let you do some serious overclocking while sticking to air cooling (as opposed to water cooling), the Noctua NH-D14 is hard to beat overall.

If all else is equal, a larger fan will move more air per amount of noise it makes, and a larger heatsink (with an accompanying larger fan) will cool more effectively per amount of noise output. HSF products that include two fans (in a push/pull setup) can potentially cool better at a lower noise level than ones with a single fan, because they have the ability to maintain a higher CFM through a heatsink without resorting to spinning at a higher RPM to do it. A heatsink is an obstruction that impedes airflow considerably, and putting one fan on each end might be thought of as adding a little "torque" to push air through, potentially without adding much noise.
 
I am currently leaning towards the Hyper 212, the NH-D14 is a little outside of my price range. What about the Prolimatech's Megahalems and the Venom X I read some good reviews on those two as well.
 
The Venemous X would be my choice out of those two. Quite a powerful solution for the price.
 
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