Nofan CR-80EH tested - Pics Inside

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Quartz-1

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I've just fitted the Nofan CR-80EH to my rig and thought you'd all like to know my initial thoughts.

I have many pictures. Unfortunately some numpty :D forgot to use flash until half way through so they need checking and may need retaking.

The fitting is bit of a fiddle. The clearance over some capacitors is quite small. The bottom of the heatsink is good enough to use as a mirror. Idle temp was 23 degrees C, temperature in Prime 95 maxxed at 75 degrees C. That's +52 degrees. It's possible I used too much thermal compound (Arctic Silver 5). I need to check

I broke a USB port (bent pin) and my Geforce 660 Ti (fan rattle) :(.

My initial thoughts are that if you're not overclocking and have a case with good ventilation, you no longer need a CPU fan or case fans, but the cooler itself could use some improvement.
 
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Due to the issues with my 660 Ti, I've updated the IGP video driver and the PC now idles at 27. It rises to 40 when playing videos from Youtube.
 
There's definitely something amiss: it's now idling at 33 degrees C. Ambient temperature is 22 degrees.
 
I've just redone the thermal compound, Arctic Silver 5. I thought I might have put too much on; instead it appears that there wasn't sufficient fluid in the compound, so it was pretty much a powder. Fortunately, the Nofan came with a pot of thermal compound and I applied that. My PC is now doing a backup to WSE 2012 and running at 33 C.

I also found that one of the fixing nuts had come slightly loose. I'm getting the feeling that quality has been compromised to bring down the price.
 
Right. Time for some pictures!

I'll start with a size comparison - CR-95 on the left, CR-80 on the right:



Here's the CR-80 head on:



And here's the base's smoothness:

 
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Here's the base with the fittings attached:



Here's a close-up of the fitted CR-80. See how close it is to those capacitors!



Here it is fully fitted showing that the prime GPU slot is free:



And a non-flash close-up:

 
Current idle temperature is 40 C but it's running Prime95 at 82 C without throttling from 3.5 GHz
 
I have removed the CR-80 and restored my CR-95C. I am going to get another tube of a decent thermal compound (recommendations, please!) and give it another go then. Temperatures with my CR-95C with the Nofan thermal compound aren't as good as when I first installed it either.

But my thoughts at the moment are that the mounting mechanism is particularly poor - notice the issue with the capacitors and the bare screws poking through the motherboard - and subject to thermal issues: on unmounting, I found that two of the plates wobbled. This indicates issues with thermal expansion and contraction - neither the screws nor the plates appear to be copper. Further, the cooling tubes on the CR-95 are much finer than those on the CR-80, and there are many more of them. The CR-95 is a premium product and it shows; the CR-80 is not, and it shows too.

BTW the temperatures shown by Easytune are significantly different from those shown by Coretemp, often by 10 or more degrees either way.
 
I've been on the phone to QuietPC, from whom I bought it. I was ready to purchase a tube of Arctic Silver 5, but they're sending me one free! Excellent service.
 
While it would defeat the purpose of the cooler, I wonder what mounting a 180mm fan on the top would do for temps.
 
I think you mean underneath, and I don't doubt it would help considerably, but I think the main problem is the interface between the processor and the cooler. Firstly, the design of the thing is not good, and secondly, I'm having TIM problems.
 
Quartz-1 said:
I think you mean underneath, and I don't doubt it would help considerably, but I think the main problem is the interface between the processor and the cooler. Firstly, the design of the thing is not good, and secondly, I'm having TIM problems.
Click to expand...

Nope, on top so it sucked air from the outside through the fins and out the top towards the side of the case. Since there wouldn't be a need of static pressure you could get a quiet fan that moves a lot of air.
 
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