Antec P280 CPU Cooler suggestions?

TehBluebear · 29 Mar 2013 at 00:12

Hello all. Going to order an Antec P280 tomorrow, and considering that I'll have 170mm of room to play with, I'm looking for a replacement for my battered Scythe Ninja II. The CPU is a Q6600 which I'll be looking to finally overclock (it only took me 5 years to get round to it). Is it even advisable to do so now that it's so old? I'd like the cooler to be usable with socket 1155 as well, as I'll be looking to go 2750k in the near future.

Ideally I'm after a heatsink that does the job, but does it quietly. The Scythe Ninja II has been brilliant in terms of noise to be honest, but I'm not sure how much my current Antec P180 had a part to play in that.

I've looked at several 'short-lists', and a lot of them seem to suggest Noctuas and Alpenfohns, but I'm not sure how quiet they are, or even if they'd be overkill.

Max budget will be around £45.

EDIT: And a quick question; what is the ideal fan config for a P280?

olivier renault · 29 Mar 2013 at 05:30

I read somewhere, ideal fan config is 4 fans. one at the back, two at the top, one in the middle between the GPU and the HDD cage. But I'm getting good temps with the stock config anyway.

As for a cooler, I have a TS-140 that performs well, quiet even at load (not silent, but what cooler really is). Given the size of it, then the sky is the limit as far as cooler size go. If you want top performance, then a SilverArrow SB-E would be ideal. Of course you can go K2, NH-D14, but personally, I prefer a PWM system so I don't have to worry about noise versus temps.

However the Ninja is a good cooler, I don't know how you 'batter' a heatsink, but maybe replacing the fan would be enough.

TehBluebear · 29 Mar 2013 at 09:37

The heatsink is battered because it essentially got put into a parts bin for half a year while I was moving and from uni. Its not too bad though, just quite a few bent fins at the edges which I could probably bend back. May just end up getting a new PWM fan to be honest, I was looking at the Noctua F12 and the Akasa Apache Black, any others I should consider?

doyll · 29 Mar 2013 at 10:57

Ninja II is a good little cooler designed to cool quietly. Most any 6pipe cooler today will cool better. You may want something with more cooling ability if you are considering overclocking.

There are several very nice cooler in your price range and some cheaper too. Stretch another £10 and you can have one of the best; TC14PE or K2

from lowest price:
Alpenfohn Matterhorn £29.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-037-AL&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2337

B Grade NZXT Havik 140 £30.00
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-022-NX&groupid=595&catid=678

B Grade Phanteks TC12DX £34.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-011-PT&groupid=595&catid=678

Thermalright True Spirit 140 £39.95
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-095-TR&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2352

Stretch another £10
B-Grade Phanteks TC14PE £54.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-006-PT&groupid=595&catid=678

Alpenfohn K2 on special this week £54.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL

I don't know of anyone who has not been pleased with their TC14PE or K2

Edit:
Just noticed the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme is £53.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-099-TR&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2352
It is 15mm wider than TC14PE or K2 but with the 2500rpm TY-143 fans will cool better... and they will cool the same as normal SA SB-E at 1300rpm at same noise level too. But if you want more cooling you can spin them up to 2500rpm and it's as loud as a H100 cooler is but cools about 7c better.

TehBluebear · 29 Mar 2013 at 12:57

Do all these clear RAM ok? I assume they do, or at least will clear my current ram (DDR2 Corsair jobbies). For the eventual move over to DDR3, I'll probably end up getting Samsung Green units which are low-profile anyway. May go for the Silver Arrow cooler.

As for thermal paste, is AS5 still the best bang-for-buck option?

doyll · 29 Mar 2013 at 13:33

All depends on RAM height, and Samsung Green are very short.. 30mm IIRC. P280 is 170mm CPU clearance + 8mm CPU to mobo - 3mm RAM socket -30mm RAM = 143mm so 140mm fan will fit too.

My R2 is 165mm CPU clearance and I fit both TC14PE and SA SB-E Extreme in no problem, but fan is touching RAM.

Edit. It comes with a small tube of Chill Factor 3. I think it's good paste.

TehBluebear · 29 Mar 2013 at 13:40

doyll said:
All depends on RAM height, and Samsung Green are very short.. 30mm IIRC. P280 is 170mm CPU clearance + 8mm CPU to mobo - 3mm RAM socket -30mm RAM = 143mm so 140mm fan will fit too.

My R2 is 165mm CPU clearance and I fit both TC14PE and SA SB-E Extreme in no problem, but fan is touching RAM.

Edit. It comes with a small tube of Chill Factor 3. I think it's good paste.

The 120mm fan on my Ninja 2 is actually touching the top of the RAM... Welp, it's all ordered now, will have to see how it fits.

doyll · 29 Mar 2013 at 13:49

TehBluebear said:
The 120mm fan on my Ninja 2 is actually touching the top of the RAM... Welp, it's all ordered now, will have to see how it fits.

I always set my fans as low as I can. Helps keep mobo cool.. and my NB needs as much cooling as it an get. It's the hottest thing in my case @ 47-55c. Have i7 980 under SA SB-E Extreme running 22-27c @ 690rpm and hits 42-47c @ 1025rpm rendering graphics. If I run 2 rendering sessions at same time it will hit 47-52c @ 1050rpm.

Please let us know how it all works when you get it built!

TehBluebear · 29 Mar 2013 at 15:15

doyll said:
I always set my fans as low as I can. Helps keep mobo cool.. and my NB needs as much cooling as it an get. It's the hottest thing in my case @ 47-55c. Have i7 980 under SA SB-E Extreme running 22-27c @ 690rpm and hits 42-47c @ 1025rpm rendering graphics. If I run 2 rendering sessions at same time it will hit 47-52c @ 1050rpm.

Please let us know how it all works when you get it built!

Will do! I'm only transferring my system into a new case really, a full upgrade from Q6600 to 3570k won't be until May time, got to save up some dosh for a whole new motherboard and RAM too

olivier renault · 29 Mar 2013 at 17:10

Thermal paste, Thermalright ChillFactor III, MX-4, Noctua NT-H1... Just a few degrees between them. Those compounds are what gets shipped with Noctuas and Thermalright products, and they perform very well. AS5 is OK, can't remember if it's conductive or not.

Noctua NF-P12 NF-F12 regarded as one of the best. Also the Corsair SP-120 (quiet or performance), Apache Black, and of course the Thermalright products which are very good.

These guys seem to also like the BeQuiet fans (sorry, it's in French).

But you can always save for Haswell, or at least wait for it to come out. Then you will have more options (Cheap SandyBridge second hand, awesome chips).

C64 · 30 Mar 2013 at 21:24

Find £10 more from somewhere and buy the Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom or Thermalright Silver Arrow SB E Extreme

It will be well worth it in the end it will get you near top end overclocks through many upgrades for years to come.

Not many coolers will run a Q6600 at 3.6ghz 24/7 comfortably but the dual tower coolers like the k2 noctua d14 silver arrow etc will even if it takes 1.45 + volts to get 3.6ghz stable.

Fan config for 280 is front intakes everything else exhausts imo there are much better cases out there than the p280 for £100 though get a cheaper case and get the best cpu coolers.

Silverstone raven rv03
Fractal R4

Both cheaper and better cases both would leave enough for £55 budget for cooler.

The £65 the p280 was being sold for was about the right price for it really it's just npt a £100 case, and I cant recommend the silverstone rv03 enough it's the most overlooked air cooling case out there.

olivier renault · 31 Mar 2013 at 12:24

C64 said:
Find £10 more from somewhere and buy the Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom or Thermalright Silver Arrow SB E Extreme

It will be well worth it in the end it will get you near top end overclocks through many upgrades for years to come.

Not many coolers will run a Q6600 at 3.6ghz 24/7 comfortably but the dual tower coolers like the k2 noctua d14 silver arrow etc will even if it takes 1.45 + volts to get 3.6ghz stable.

Fan config for 280 is front intakes everything else exhausts imo there are much better cases out there than the p280 for £100 though get a cheaper case and get the best cpu coolers.

Silverstone raven rv03
Fractal R4

Both cheaper and better cases both would leave enough for £55 budget for cooler.

The £65 the p280 was being sold for was about the right price for it really it's just npt a £100 case, and I cant recommend the silverstone rv03 enough it's the most overlooked air cooling case out there.

Yup, I'll second pretty much everything.

TehBluebear · 2 Apr 2013 at 23:59

Sorry to disappoint you, but I got the P280

It's a lovely looking case, so I'm happy.

Anyway, since some of you wanted a progress report, everything arrived today. Tea was dutifully gobbled down, dishes washed, then fired straight upstairs and set about dismantling my P180 with glee. Eventually got the P280 up onto the desk, gazed at its slab sided magnificence, caressed its all black interior, then set about putting my stack of hardware into it (ooh er!).

As impressed as I was with the Silver Arrow SB E Extreme's motherboard mounting system and overall quality (thise fans look gorgeous too), my fingers and sanity aren't so pleased with the fiddly wire brackets hold the fans on. Why are these even still used!? As it stands now, I stopped work on the case at 11:20, with the realisation of two, rather crucial things, and one minor thing that will be an absolute pig to do.

First, lets start with the fact that I was routing power leads about the case, when I realised that I still had the 4pin CPU power cable to plug into the board. And where should that be, but buried underneath the very beautiful looking Thermalright cooler. On top of that, I'll need to buy an extension for that plug anway, as the slightly taller case means it no longer reaches. To add insult to injury, while I was stunned by these revelations, I couldn't help but notice that one end of the aforementioned banes of my existence, the wire brackets, had popped off, waving its appendage up in the air, taunting me. And where else should it be but ij that same awful place that the CPU plug is in, the least accessible part of the whole case.

Oh well. May end up taking the whole lot out again and removing the top fans anyway and relocate them to the front. Or should I leave one, and remove the rear panel fan and one top fan and move them to the front? The two fans of the Thermalright cooler will be blowing straight into the same vented area that the rear panel fan current occupies anyway, so do I really need three fans in that same 'path'?

doyll · 3 Apr 2013 at 00:39

Sorry you are having so many problems. I think when it's all done you will be happy with it. I hope so anyway,

Yes, you really need the back fan. The grill restricts 28-71% of the airflow a fan mounted on it can push through. Blow air from10cm away and that 70% swirls around mixing with case air you want to keep cool.. The same air that is going into your CPU and GPU coolers.. and every degree warmer the air going in is means your CPU and GPU are a degree warmer too.
Fan grill resistance
http://www.silverstonetek.com/techtalk_cont.php?tid=wh_chessis&area=en

The top back fan is not as important but still good to have.

Top front I would move to the front... and if you have another fan put it in front too.

Yes, some of the Thermalright fan clips are a real bear. If you do take the mobo out that you mount everything you can outside of case.. and practice mounting/clipping whatever you have to do in the case with it out first. Being abletose what you are doing while figuring out the tricks of getting things mounted makes it much easier when you are doing it by feel.

I plug the 2x 4pin CPU plugs and other hard to reach plugs before mounting mobo. Set mobo in with cooler mounted, but set it down and forward of final mounting position. This gives you a couple inches more room to reach in and plug/hook things up. Than move mobo into position and install the screws. A long shank magnetic tip screwdriver make it a easier to get some of the mobo mounting screws in place.

Don't let it stress you. Stop and take a break. Post up if you are having problems. There's usually someone here who can help... Worst case is we laugh at you before we tell you what to do.

olivier renault · 3 Apr 2013 at 13:44

the clips completely suck on my True Spirit 140. My fan is held on three points, couldn't secure it completely. I suggest you mount the cooler on the motherboard outside the case and drop the lot in one go. Might be a problem with motherboard stand-offs though, make sure they are reachable!

And yes, the case is huge, the 8 / 4 pin power is stretched. I had to squeeze the cable behind the motherboard as it woudn't reach through the back.

You can plug it from the front for the moment, then buy an extension, and re-wire through the back. That should involve minimal work.

What I found more annoying was the short length of the front panel connectors. And for these, you can't use extensions.