Decent air cooler?

[kalvindeane]

Hello.

Looking for something that will allow me to overclock my 920. I had a H50 but it leaked last year and I didn't bother
replacing it, stuck with the stock Intel cooler instead.

My H50 left the CPU at around 75-80 under stress, so looking for something a bit better than that.

My RAM is pretty low profile, so low heat-sinks shouldn't be a problem. Will be going in a Corsair 600T. Willing
to pay around £70, though less is better.



I may also need some advise when it comes to overclocking it, it's been a while!

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Ollie1132]

Noctua NH-18 Alpenfohn k2 or phanteks ph14-ce

 

[shadow_boxer]

Got a Thermalright Silver Arrow on my 920 and it happily runs at 4.2GHz 24/7 with max temps of around 75ºC. Just a shame the price has gone up as it was only around £50 a few months ago but others to consider are the Noctua NH-D14, Phanteks PH-TC14PE and Alpenfohn K2. Performance of all are very similar and all cost around £65-70.

What RAM are you using as the cleareance on the Silver Arrow I've found to be very small (almost touches my low profile RAM).

 

[doyll]

Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Phanteks PH-TC14PE
They are rated top of heap and have almost identical cooling

My i7 920 @ 3.55GHz with Phanteks ambient 22c
idle 680rpm @ 37-35-39-34c; load 1200rpm @ 59-58-60-56c
idle 1300rpm @ 58-57-58-55c; load 1300rpm @ 58-57-58-55c

Think it's time to OC some more

 

[Ollie1132]

Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, Phanteks PH-TC14PE
They are rated top of heap and have almost identical cooling

My i7 920 @ 3.55GHz with Phanteks ambient 22c
idle 680rpm @ 37-35-39-34c; load 1200rpm @ 59-58-60-56c
idle 1300rpm @ 58-57-58-55c; load 1300rpm @ 58-57-58-55c

Think it's time to OC some more

forgot the alpenfohn K2. also Silver arrows are hard to get now.

 

[kalvindeane]

What RAM are you using as the cleareance on the Silver Arrow I've found to be very small (almost touches my low profile RAM).

I'm using this RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-109-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

Cheers for the replies guys, think I'll order the Phantek as it looks best in my eye. Will probably be asking for OC help once it arrives.

 

[Helios1234]

Good choice, but you can't go wrong with any of the above mentioned coolers. Results in sig.

 

[Ollie1132]

I'm using this RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-109-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

Cheers for the replies guys, think I'll order the Phantek as it looks best in my eye. Will probably be asking for OC help once it arrives.

Check you're case clearance the phanteks requires 170mm the alpenfohn k2 requires 160mm I can't remember the clearance for the Noctua.

 

[kalvindeane]

Quite like the article, Helios1234.

I'm going to buy the Corsair 600T White along with the cooler, I've seen a couple of pics with the cooler in and the side panel on, should be fine.

 

[cowello]

noctua have a ram compatibility thing on their site:

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_ram_gen&products_id=34&lng=en

 

[Helios1234]

Quite like the article, Helios1234.

I'm going to buy the Corsair 600T White along with the cooler, I've seen a couple of pics with the cooler in and the side panel on, should be fine.

Glad you liked it .

 

[kalvindeane]

Bit of an update:

I changed the case to a CM Storm Trooper - love it!

The Phanteks cooler has arrived - it's massive! I've mounted it horizontally.
Should I mount it vertically, will it make any difference to temperatures?

I ordered an extra set of memory now too, so I have 6 sticks of 2GB each. Not
sure if this will limit my overclock, I think it may.



Will try to get some time for overclocking it tomorrow, may need some help in
order to reach 4Ghz and hopefully above.

Cheers for input so far guys.

 

[Ollie1132]

Bit of an update:

I changed the case to a CM Storm Trooper - love it!

The Phanteks cooler has arrived - it's massive! I've mounted it horizontally.
Should I mount it vertically, will it make any difference to temperatures?

I ordered an extra set of memory now too, so I have 6 sticks of 2GB each. Not
sure if this will limit my overclock, I think it may.



Will try to get some time for overclocking it tomorrow, may need some help in
order to reach 4Ghz and hopefully above.

Cheers for input so far guys.

I doubt mounting it vertically would make much difference since the cases airflow goes from front to back so to speak

 

[kalvindeane]

The only air being brought in by the fans is through the side, at the hard drive
docks. There are no fans in the front at the minute, just the two exhausts at
the top and back.

 

[Ollie1132]

Still not too bad (except your probably on negative pressure unless your side fans are quite decent) how come your not using the HDD cage mounted ones?

 

[kalvindeane]

The hard drive bays were mounted so that the fans were by the left side panel,
and the hard drives were facing the right side panel of the case, never changed
it. Might change them around now so that the fans are at the front of the
case bringing air in. Though this will add to the number of ugly cables in the main
chamber.

 

[bobo696]

How about the H100 ? Very efficient

 

[kalvindeane]

Already bought the cooler now. I did have a H50 before which had a fault and leaked over my graphics card,
which is partly why I asked for air cooling. That, and the H100 is more expensive plus the stock fans are
apparently not the greatest.

Edit: I've overclocked the CPU to 4Ghz using the same settings as I did with my H50, booted up fine with
no problems. Put Prime95 to torture test about 5 mins ago, so far the highest temps across the cores
are 67, 71, 72 and 75 Celsius.

I don't think I applied the thermal paste properly, and the cooling around the case needs sorting. I think
that with a few changes made, I may be able to lower the temps by a fair margin, and perhaps go past
the 4Ghz mark. It feels good to have an overclock again!