New CPU cooler, best options?

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

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I've come to the rather obvious conclusion that my CPU fans are currently the loudest thing in my HAF 932 cased PC. I suspect the GTX570 fans aren't too far behind, but lets deal with one thing at a time!

I'm currently using a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ with 2 BladeMaster fans in push/pull to cool my i5 750 @ 3.8GHz.
It idles at around 35C with the fans on 62.5% speed (~1300rpm) and under Prime95 the temps quickly go up to 70-75C and the fans (eventually, damn MSI motherboard) go up to 100% (2000rpm).
Even 1300rpm makes them the loudest thing in the case. I don't think the BladeMasters are particularly bad fans, so I'm thinking maybe the 212+ is the area to improve. I don't even think the 212+ is a bad cooler, I just think it's probably at about its limit.

I don't want to go to water-cooling (although H50s, etc. would be ok), so what's my best option for cooling my CPU?
I'm not gonna put a price limit on it, but don't want to be spending an extra £20 for a 1C improvement.
Is the Noctua NH-D14 worth the extra £13 over the Thermalright Silver Arrow?
Or am I just as well to get a Megahalems or Venomous X?

The only really issue is that as it's going in the HAF 932 I don't want it to interfere with the 230mm side fan, so height is a restriction. anything much taller than the 212+ would probably cause issues.

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
The Silver Arrow is definitely the best price wise. It's as good as the Noctua, quieter and the PWM fans allow you to control them if you want to run them even quieter. What the Noctua offers is second to none customer service should something go wrong e.g. breaking a fan blade. My personal choice would be the Thermalright. Size shouldn't be a problem as the CM 212+ is 158.5mm tall whereas those coolers you mentioned are 160mm or less.

There are some results in my sig if you're interested.
 
I'm no expert so I won't leave any buying suggestions, but you may also want to make note of the RAM you're using. Almost all of the larger coolers have significant RAM clearance issues which you may not have run into with the Hyper212+
 
haha, I was going to post the same question earlier! same problem, same temps just I am on the i7.

I decided on either the noctua or silverlight, was going to go on the cheapest and what was in stock, either locally due to the bank holidays or from overclockers (as I need a 2nd SSD now I am so impressed witht the first!!)
 
The silver arrow can seemingly take 3 fans at once.
Has anyone tried this? does it make a noticeable difference?
Does it come with enough fan clips to attach 3 fans or do you have to buy more separately?

EDIT: Just spotted the entry in the Vortez review that shows a 3rd fan makes about 0.5C difference. Still interested as to whether they comes with all the clips though.
 
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They only come with 4 clips for 2 fans. I may have some spare ones if you need two more :). However, two fans are enough since the third fans ends up right next to the exhaust fan anyway. That can cause more harm than good in the form of turbulence and consequently noise.
 
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Helios1234 said:
They only come with 4 clips for 2 fans. I may have some spare ones if you need two more :). However, two fans are enough since the third fans ends up right next to the exhaust fan anyway. That can cause more harm than good in the form of turbulence and consequently noise.
Click to expand...

Good point, didn't think about that.
Very tempted by the silver arrow now, but I'm also looking at buying a new pump, reservoir and CPU block for my other PC and the prices are adding up!

What's the Silver Arrow like at lower fan speeds?
Are the fans it comes with any good or would I be better off getting a couple Vipers for it?
 
They're actually some of the best 140mm fans you can get! And they are near silent at low speed but still perform decently. It even works well passively as long as you have decent airflow. There were some reports of the fans ticking but that may have been a bad batch. I've had 4 personally and none have had any issues.
 
OK, quite tempted by the Silver Arrow now.
Still a bit worried about it fitting in the HAF 932 as the measurements seems quite tight (Silver Arrow is 163mm tall I believe (excluding fans)).
But now also worried that if I install it on an MSI P55-GD65 that the heatsink or fans will interfere with a graphics card in the first PCI-e slot. Does anyone know if this is a problem? If it doesn't actually interfere it looks like it'll be really close, does anyone know if there's any problem with it being that close to a graphics card? Will there be heat issues caused by the proximity?
 
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