HSF weight concerns

Mailman86 · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:39

I've been looking at trying to quieten down my computer for a long time now, but only over the last few weeks have I actually started looking at specific components I want to buy. After a bit of research I decided that I should replace the HSF on my CPU, the cooler on my graphics card and the case fans that currently occupy my case. After looking on various forums and websites I decided that I wanted the following:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler
Zalman VF900-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler
and 3 maybe 4 Akasa AK-182-L2B Ultra Quiet 80mm Fans (with 3-4 pin adaptors for each. These would then be connected to the speed controlled fan-only connectors on my power supply, which is an Antec Truepower 430W).

However the only real concern I have left is the recommended heatsink weight for AMD socket 939 processors which is 450g. The freezer 64 pro seems to be one of the lightest HSFs out there, but it is still over the recommended weight at 530g. This issue probably does not concern most of you as you probably don't move your pc around much, but I have to take my computer back and forth to university every few months.

So what I really want to know is should I really be concerned about the weight of heatsinks I use with my processor? Also are their any decent HSFs out there which fall under the 450g recommendation (the main idea of this little project is to quieten down my rig and I do not plan to do any overclocking at all in the immediate future).

pcfan · 22 Mar 2006 at 09:44

I wouldn't worry too much about the weight. Most of the weight is at the bottom of the Heatsinks and they are very stable. They are very secure too if you are moving the pc around. Just get the heatsink you fancy. I have the SI-120 and it is awesome!

act smiley · 22 Mar 2006 at 13:47

The Arctic one secures very solidly and isn't that heavy or tall compared to some of the crazy ones out there. As long you don't have it upside down I can't see carrying the PC about being any more of a problem than with a lighter heatsink.

Mailman86 · 22 Mar 2006 at 17:30

Thanks for the replies.

Although your replies do fill me with a bit more confidence, I think I've found a (slightly) better solution now, which from what I have read I think will be a bit safer.

After a bit more research I've found another cooler which is a bit lighter called the XP-90 from Thermalright (which I'm sure most people on here have heard of). It weighs 360g without a fan, which if combined with a lightish fan should be under the 450g recommendation. I know this is quite similar to the XP-120, but due to it being even bigger and a little bit heavier, I think the XP-90 would suit my needs better.

Now if there are no objections to my choice, all I need to do now is pick a fan to go with it (don't disappear yet! I have actually taken the effort and searched the forums already...)

I'm thinking maybe one of the 92mm Asaka Ambers, but I'm not sure if it will be powerful enough. From my searches of this forum I did see this combo being mentioned once or twice, but I haven't actually found any statistics. Has anyone used this combo and can supply me with some stats (like temps etc)? Or could anyone else suggest another 92mm fan to go with it? Bear in mind that I'm looking for a quiet rig. I doubt it will be totally silent what with the 80mm case fans, so if anyone else has got any decent suggestions throw them this way. Also I'd prefer it if I could buy it from OcUK as I don't really want to have to fork out extra p&p for one fan.

Thanks in advance.