What i7 cooler should I use?

J

jtvd78

Limp Gawd
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Jul 27, 2009
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I want i7 CPU cooler recommendations. I have no coolers in mind at this time. I would like the cooler that you recommend me to look "nice" and not just a boring cooler with pipes and fins. For example a "Coolermaster v8 looks "nice". the Zalman CNPS10X Extreme anso looks "nice". Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 doesn't. It would also like some good comparison links between some good coolers.
 
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H50, can pick them up locally for $56 (if you have a Frys or Best Buy)

I don't care for the big air coolers (wasted space), or the amount of weight hanging on my motherboard (mainly while traveling with it)
 
Nickbaldwin86 said:
H50, can pick them up locally for $56 (if you have a Frys or Best Buy)

I don't care for the big air coolers (wasted space), or the amount of weight hanging on my motherboard (mainly while traveling with it)
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For now, I don't want watercoolers
 
I think the H50 is cool(no pun), its all enclosed so you dont have to do anything more then a regular heat sink
 
cyclone3d said:
Function over form is way more important for cooling a CPU.

Would you want something that looked "way cool" but couldn't cool a 8086? I highly doubt it.

that being said, here are the current BEST air coolers out there:

Noctua NH-D14 : http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=34&lng=en

Promilatech Megahalems : http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2009/01/26/prolimatech_megahalems_lga_775_1366_cooler
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I just want it to look good while still being able to cool decently.
 
Nickbaldwin86 said:
H50, can pick them up locally for $56 (if you have a Frys or Best Buy)

I don't care for the big air coolers (wasted space), or the amount of weight hanging on my motherboard (mainly while traveling with it)
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86 5.0L said:
I think the H50 is cool(no pun), its all enclosed so you dont have to do anything more then a regular heat sink
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I have looked into the H50 a little more and I found out that it is completely closed and I wouldn't have to fill it myself. Is there anything similar to the H50, or is it just one of a kind(the fact that it is completely closed.)
 
jtvd78 said:
I have looked into the H50 a little more and I found out that it is completely closed and I wouldn't have to fill it myself. Is there anything similar to the H50, or is it just one of a kind(the fact that it is completely closed.)
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Ya you was a little quick to judge :rolleyes:

There is another company that does a closed system... don't bother searching just get the H50 its the best closed water cooling system to date.

Otherwise hang a big heavy dorky heat piped cooler off your 1/8" silicon based motherboard and hope that you don't break something installing it or moving your computer around. (I know I'm just stubborn and if you are careful as you should be when installing anything even the H50 you shouldn't have a problem, just the way I feel, plus I do the whole LAN thing and don't want to have to worry about a cooler that big riding wrong in my case and hurting my mobo)
 
jtvd78 said:
I have looked into the H50 a little more and I found out that it is completely closed and I wouldn't have to fill it myself. Is there anything similar to the H50, or is it just one of a kind(the fact that it is completely closed.)
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This type' self enclosed circuit- the corsair seems to be the best on the market as of right now, less stress on the mobo, I haven't heard of a leak issue, virtually no maintance that I' am aware of, there are a couple of others but this is the most sold unit of them, I guess you could go arts and crafts on it and and put gold star stickers and glue on sparkle on it IDK WTF boring?! haha

It looks clean if the matters and is based on the same cooler used on HP Blackbirds
 
cooll.png
 
I said i don't want it to look boring
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So...you don't want a tower heatsink, but you still want a good cooler, and you don't want water. You're kind of out of luck. Apart from a few Zalmans, I wouldn't recommend any other kind of heatsink. And for Core i7, Zalmans are kind of out too.
 
Get a TRUE or Megahalems and put some glowy fans on it. Most glowy fans are designed to be case fans, but proper cooling doesn't seem to be your biggest concern.
 
If you don't think the TRUE or Megahalems are not good looking coolers.....There is something wrong with you. From what I am getting, with the whole "heat pipes and fins" thing, you want a good cooler....That does not look like a cooler, well, I am sorry, but you are out of luck, If this i7 is going to stay at stock clocks, sure, you have a few choices, but if you plan on doing anything with OCing, one of the few big tower coolers are going to be your only choices.
 
Just get a TRUE it's about the most awesome looking tower cooler you can find. It's also a very good cooler.
 
I'm going to go with the Corsair H50 or Xigmatek Dark Knight -- which is a tower heatsink, but looks extremely class -- it's all nickel-plated and the included 120mm fan is translucent-smoke colored with white LEDs... very nice, especially on a black PCB.
 
I own a Xig DK right now. It's a good value heatsink, but not a top performer. I thought that my mediocre overclocks were do to a mistake when seating, but I haven't gained anything from multiple reseats. I blame it on that stupid HDT tech. It seems great in theory, but thermal paste application is a nightmare. I bought a Megahalems yesterday, and I would be happy to sell you my Xig DK.
 
Well, there's also the issue of it only seating one fan... but I guess with some zipties it's not that tough to get a second one on there for push/pull? I wonder how that would affect its performance.

I also hear some people saying that they've gotten better results with the DK after applying thermal compound to the CPU rather than to the bottom of the heatsink itself... I'm not sure if that's a bad idea for any reason, but it might be something to keep in mind I guess.
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
I own a Xig DK right now. It's a good value heatsink, but not a top performer. I thought that my mediocre overclocks were do to a mistake when seating, but I haven't gained anything from multiple reseats. I blame it on that stupid HDT tech. It seems great in theory, but thermal paste application is a nightmare. I bought a Megahalems yesterday, and I would be happy to sell you my Xig DK.
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There is a way to apply the TIM effectively on HDT style heatsinks. It requires two small lines on the aluminum in between the heatpipes and a very little bit applied to the heatpipes themselves. That's supposedly the most effective method of application.
 
JaYp146 said:
There is a way to apply the TIM effectively on HDT style heatsinks. It requires two small lines on the aluminum in between the heatpipes and a very little bit applied to the heatpipes themselves. That's supposedly the most effective method of application.
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That is exactly what I did actually. I used a plastic toothpick to push the TM in between the the grooves of the heatpipes. The TM was almost flush with the surface of the heatsink. I then spread a thin layer on the CPU itself using the "baggy on finger" method. I tried applying the TM to the heatsink in two lines and allowing the pressure to spread, but my temps were ridiculously high. The earlier method brought my idle temps down 5 degrees.
 
Well, yeah... I was leaning towards the Dark Knight for style, but I ended up ordering the Mega Shadow (nickel plated Megahalems) along with two Xigmatek XLF-F1254's for it.
 
keshavcharya said:
the mega shadow is hot.
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I just ordered one yesterday... can't wait :)

My CM hyper 212+ did fairly good considering how much I payed for it, but ultimately I wanted better cooling. Seems to me if you want the best its either a TRUE or a meghalems.
 
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