I'm returning the sunbeam CCF

[Merlin5]

Hey chaps, the sunbeam doesn't clear my first ram stick and I can see it will be rather awkward to clip it down. I've decided I want the thermalright 120 extreme, AS5 (if you think so, or OCZ freeze or MX-3?) and a fan. I've rang OCuk and discussed it. They're cool (scuse the pun ) with it and they're going to send me a returns form. I don't mind paying the extra for a better HDT, plus fan, plus TIM. I hadn't removed the sticky backing to the HDT base, all I did was attach the fan and hold the whole thing over the socket position until I saw it was touching the ram, so it's all repackaged up beautifully as good as it arrived. What I need to know is, will the 120 extreme fit my CM 690? I know that the base clears my ram as this pic clearly shows, it's the same model mobo as mine

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2491/120onmymobo.jpg

My concern is whether it will clear the side cover of the case? When I held the sunbeam CCF high enough to clear the ram, it didn't look like it would clear the side cover, but then, maybe the ultra 120 has the higher base and heatpipe clearance but perhaps a shorter heatsink than the CCF? Sorry to be a pain, but would love confirmation if it will fit then I can go ahead and buy it. Many thanks.

Btw, I asked him, nice chap called steven, about a fan for the 120 and he recommended a sharkoon, can't remember which one,.. er.. sharkoon typhoon sound right?

 

[Merlin5]

Hi Merlin,

I'm not sure of the dimensions of your Coolermaster case but for reference the TRUE fits in an Antec P182/300 case . . .

The Sharkoon range of fans are called Silent Eagle btw

Cheers big wayne. Looking good then!


Antec 300
458mm(H) x 465mm(D) x 205mm(W)


CM 690 Dominator
482mm(H) x 524.5mm(D) x 213mm(W)

 

[Merlin5]

So, which TIM do I eliminate?
Is this 76.4cfm and 25mm thick fan going to give me maximum cooling? I only ask because I read that 35mm is better for static pressure, and I was also wondering if cfm needed to be over 90?

 

[Merlin5]

AS5 = 200 hour curing time untill you see best resulst.
Mx2 = No curing at all

So all depends on what u want, both are good, just one takes that little bit longer to reach peak performance.

About the fans, these 2 would be a lot better to use, and a lot quieter then the sharkoon one.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-056-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-004-NC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4

Probably best getting tha apache as its just as good, but cheaper.

38mm fans are probably the best way to go, but are noisey especially the top of the range delta fans.

If you are really interested in 38mm fans, Yate loon do a 1300rpm one thats around 23db, and just under 50 cfm. But sadly can't link to it lol.

Thanks. Isn't 1300 RPM and 57 CFM a bit on the low side though? I mean I don't really know, but I'm just assuming high RPM+ CFM= more airflow = better cooling. Or not?

 

[Merlin5]

Bifday2k is right about the sharkoon se 2000's theyre great fans but theyre pretty loud at full speed. Two of the apaches on a TRUE will be nice (youll need 2 sets of fan clips which im not sure the rev c comes with) also id reccomend this adapter.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-031-AK&groupid=701&catid=48&subcat=153

This will allow control of both fans via pwm from the cpu fan header.

Ah, ok, now I see that 2 fans with lower cfm would be better than one fan with high cfm and rpm. This would be the famous push pull thing I've read about, would it?

 

[Merlin5]

Hmm, decisions.*scratches chin* Don't really want to spend £20 on 2 fans right now, I might still plump for the one silent eagle or apache, but I'll have a good think on it. I could always pick up a cheap pci fan controller at some point if it's too loud.

 

[Merlin5]

You're right guys, thanks for the advice. I must say, I nearly went for a red or blue LED fan, like the xigmatek, and even saw an AC ryan blackfire 4 somewhere which looked pretty nice. I might even still buy one at some point. However, you're right about picking one I like the look of, and personally, didn't really like the look of the apache, so I bought the sharkoon which has that nice white fan and golf ball indents. Ordered this morning and this little bundle arrives tomorrow. Yippee!

 

[Merlin5]

If your bothered by noise id suggest a cheap fan controller for the sharkoon, itll cool great but itll be loud.

Yeah, I wanna get a pci slot fan controller just like the one that came with the
CCF. I did enquire about one when I spoke to steve of OC this morning but they don't do pci slot ones.

 

[Merlin5]

I used one of theese to control 5 silent eagle 2000's.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-021-AK

Coupled with a few y splitters it was a nice cheap option, certainly helped with noise.

That looks pretty neat actually. Might be worth me investing in that or similar to control both the sharkoon and the akasa neo gpu cooler if I ever get around to to installing it, lol.

What do you reckon my temps should drop to with the 120 ultra and sharkoon, based on an orthos test I'm currently running with stock cooler? It's maxed out now at 58c cpu and 40 core. That's with side cover and side fan off, forgot to replace it. But it was about the same with the cover on.

 

[Merlin5]

I havent ever ran an athlon system but with 2 sharks and a TRUE i knocked about 11c of my q6600, though that cpu and the cooler were both lapped as well. Youll definitely get a good decrease though.

If I don't get a 10c drop on core and a 10c drop on cpu, I'll feel cheated, lol. Or is that expecting too much?

 

[Merlin5]

That is one of the great mysteries, but the TRUE will be a vast improvement over the stock cooler.

Oh yeah, it will definitely be better. Ok, well based on what I've read, a push pull, ie, 2 fans like you've got, gives approx 2c drop in temp. Then you've lapped it which might give another 1 to 2c drop. So, in theory, I might be looking at about a max of 7c drop compared to your 11c drop. But we'll have to just see