CPU coolers (your opinions)

adam1v

adam1v

adam1v

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31 May 2006
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I was just wondering what peoples opinions were on the current CPU coolers?
Im about to get one within the next few days.
I personally don’t like the look of the big brick looking things so I was looking at the Asus Silent Knight AL, or something like the Zalman CNPS9700-NT

I currently have the Zalman mushroom on my 939 board and im quite pleased with it.

Any comments / opinions are welcomed
 
I have had an Akasa Evo 120 on my overclocked e6320 (3.2Ghz) for some time now.

Along with AS5 it has never gone above 33c idle and 52c full load with gaming, orthos video encoding etc....

So the 'big brick' option is never to be underestimated imo ;)
 
adam1v said:
I was just wondering what peoples opinions were on the current CPU coolers?
Im about to get one within the next few days.
I personally don’t like the look of the big brick looking things so I was looking at the Asus Silent Knight AL, or something like the Zalman CNPS9700-NT

I currently have the Zalman mushroom on my 939 board and im quite pleased with it.

Any comments / opinions are welcomed
Click to expand...

I had the Zalman 120mm flower cooler on my old X2 4400 and it was a great cooler, very quiet for the most part and cooled well. Only gripe with it was the difficulty to clean without unmounting it. I ended up using cotton buds to scrub in between the fins.

Currently I'm using the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on my E8200 and i'd deffinately recommend it.
 
The thing about the "big brick" coolers as you put it, is that you can fit your own fan. A 120mm Yate Loon/Sharkoon will be far better and far quieter than anything that comes permanently fitted, such as on a Zalman cooler.

If you value silence, then a decent option would be a Scythe Ninja / Infinity, Noctua NH-U12P, Thermalright Ultra 120 / IFX-14, or Tuniq Tower. Fit it with a decent 120mm fan and you've got yourself a very decent cooling setup.

On the other hand, you could be shallow and go for what looks "nice", like a Zalman.:p
 
Persolnaly, I would not consider a new cooler unless I needed more performance than my current one, or less noise.

If your zalman does its job and your happy with the noise levels, why change?
 
PCDave said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-027-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

this one in my view if you don't want a chunky cooler its very quiet and should cool ** chip nicely even allowing an good oc
Click to expand...

I think I will. I was just reading reviews and they are all good.

Dont get me wrong, im sure the tuniqs are superb, a lot of people are rating them, but for me, i like the look of the zalman, so long as they are good coolers, i think thats enough for me.
 
If you can't see the inside of the case (no window) go for a Tuniq. Unless you are showing the innards off to everyone and their cat then you may aswell get that.
 
p4radox said:
The thing about the "big brick" coolers as you put it, is that you can fit your own fan. A 120mm Yate Loon/Sharkoon will be far better and far quieter than anything that comes permanently fitted, such as on a Zalman cooler
Click to expand...
And of course you have the option of running *Passive* depending on what cpu you are using and how it is set-up.

truexp1.jpg


I think the Thermalright Ultra-120 Xtreme is pretty hard to beat especially if its installed into a well cooled case, running mine passive with an undervolted E6300 and yet to see it break 40°C full load.

The only downside to the big-brick-full-on-towers is they don't provide great airflow to the surrounding motherboard circuitry, pwms etc, in some example this may cause issues but generally in a well cooled case it will be fine.

http://www.thermalright.com/
 
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I would still say the the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 with a good 120mm fan is pretty much the King, but expensive...

Or just go for the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, bargain these days at around £15 ;)
 
My personal choice would either be the Scythe Ninja or the Big Typhoon. Great coolers that come supplied with decent fans and don't break the bank.

gt
 
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