New CPU Fan

Joh619 · 20 Dec 2011 at 14:07

Hey,

I bought a new processor (and a few other bits) earlier in the year, but the fan that came with the processor is really noisy and annoying! My processor is an AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3).

So I was thinking of replacing it. Am I right in thinking I just need any fan that says it is compatible with AM3 sockets? Does anyone have any suggestions of anything they're using that's quiet? I'm not overclocking anything so my case doesn't get that hot, and its on my desk near my head, so I'm more bothered about it being quiet (although obviously I don't want it to overheat either). And I need to replace the heat sink as well, which involves touching the processor? :S

Any help greatly appreciated

pgi947 · 20 Dec 2011 at 15:09

Whats your budget and what case are you in?

Joh619 · 20 Dec 2011 at 15:14

The case is an NZXT Lexa (bought about 6 years ago). Budget...I guess less than £100 really. Although ideally less than that

James J · 20 Dec 2011 at 15:19

Are you just replacing the fan or the entire heatsink and fan assembly? If its just the fan (making sure its not a custom fan design either!), I highly recommend akasa apache blacks as they are very good performers and very quiet.

If you need the entire heatsink and fan though it depends on what you are upgrading from. The gelid tranquilo is a nice cooler and its less than £30 whilst the silver arrow by thermaltake is considered the best air cooler but costs around £60

Joh619 · 20 Dec 2011 at 16:08

I was assuming I'd have to replace the whole thing. I assume just replacing the fan would be a lot easier, but can you get different fans for heatsinks?

redfist · 20 Dec 2011 at 19:09

I've just got a NH-C14 for my case & have the exact CPU as you.

I should install this in the next few days and I could post you my before/after temps if you'd like

Philtor · 21 Dec 2011 at 09:48

Joh619 said:
I was assuming I'd have to replace the whole thing. I assume just replacing the fan would be a lot easier, but can you get different fans for heatsinks?

Can you post a pic of your heatsink and fan for us? If it's just the stock heatsink your using then bin it and get a Gelid as mentioned above.

redfist · 23 Dec 2011 at 09:10

Just installed my NH-C14 and compared to the stock cooler its amazing!

my temps dropped from 40c @ idle to 25c & I have now overclocked to 4.1 stable with idle @ 33c and under load 53c

fiveub · 23 Dec 2011 at 09:41

The NH-C14 is one of the best coolers out there, nice choice!

Hyburnate · 23 Dec 2011 at 09:51

Thats a damn nice cooler! nice choice, but needs pics for the visual part of me.

Bring on the computer pron.

redfist · 23 Dec 2011 at 15:42

Sorry for hijacking the thread

5UB said:
The NH-C14 is one of the best coolers out there, nice choice!

Took me a while to hit the buy button but it was worth the wait! dam this thing is near silent (using the low noise adaptors)

Hyburnate said:
Thats a damn nice cooler! nice choice, but needs pics for the visual part of me. Bring on the computer pron.

Thanks, just charging up my camera.... should be able to upload some pics tomorrow.

Joh619 · 24 Dec 2011 at 18:58

philtorrens said:
Can you post a pic of your heatsink and fan for us? If it's just the stock heatsink your using then bin it and get a Gelid as mentioned above.

Yeah, it's just the stock heatsink I'm using. I'd post a picture, but I know I'd get jumped on for the state of the inside of my case