New CPU heatsink for 2180/2200

Arakarth

Arakarth

Arakarth

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Joined
15 Nov 2006
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47
As the title really fellas, hoping to get either a 2180 or 2200 and obviously I'll be wanting to overclock it. I've had 2 Zalman heatsinks and coolers in the past and both have been very nice. Are Zalman still up there at the top in terms of performance and quietness? What would you guys recommend for optimum coolness and not too much noise? It would need to fit in either an Asus P5K (not sure what specific one yet) or in one of the Gigabyte DS3/DS4 or DQ6.
Thanks, Joe.
 
This may well be the most asked question on the forums Arakarth, thank god you didn't call your thread "What's the best Heatsink?" that would have killed me :D

My Vote goes to the Thermalright Ultra-120 or Ultra-120 Xtreme, I've used the regular Ultra 120 for several months with good results, however it seems quite a lot of people have recieved TRU/E heatinks with either concaved or convex bases which isn't ideal, however this is easily fixed with some DIY lapping.

Some people may really dislike the idea of lapping a heatsink but to be honest its something I would do with *any* heatsink because the base is never as smooth as I would like it.

I would say spend a little extra on a nice cooler, something like the TRU or Tuniq Tower would set you up quite nicely for overclocking or a quiet computer (or both) consider the cost as an investment, a good CPU cooler can last for years even if you swap out CPU's

Lastly before I get stamped as being a die-hard Thermalright fanboy I think the *main* reason I like the TRUE series is because its so easy to install (and re-install), I just don't have the patience anymore to be faffing around with a heatsink, attaching the TRUE is as easy as attaching a water-cooling CPU block (I gather) just plop it on and tighten four screws. .

Good luck :)
 
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The Thermaltake is a great cooler, especially the Extreme version, but that is a LOT of money for a heatsink!

If you can't afford it, go down the route of the Scythe Ninja/Infinity, which is also an excellent cooler but comes with a fan as well and starts off cheaper, and if you don't want to spend that much the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro will do you.

Those E2*** chips overclock like nuts so the more you spend on a HSF the higher you can go ;)
 
prosser13 said:
The Thermaltake is a great cooler, especially the Extreme version, but that is a LOT of money for a heatsink!
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The regular TRU looks like a good deal to me, used this cooler for months and its very nice, very user friendly. Then as Cob pointed out to me the other day the Tuniq is selling for a very reasonable price now also. . .



These two coolers should be right at the top of any budding air cooled overclockers list, really can't understand why anyone would consider the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro when for an extra few nuggets you could get one of the coolers above?

I've not used the Tuniq myself so I don't know for sure how its performs and how easy it is to install etc but the TRU is sweet as a nut. I have been reading a lot of posts this week (Will Hub etc) where people are saying they are almost scared or cant be hassled to change coolers or swap out CPUs because its too much hassle, I understand that so thats why I am pimpins the TRU's so much, they really are easy to install (and re-install).
 
Never realised that the Ultra-120A was actually the full version of the Ultra 120 - my apologies, at that price I thought it was a cut down version!

However, not everyone has unlimited budgets, especially those building with E2***s, and the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is still a very decent dual core cooler which is less than half the price of either of those coolers :)

If it's a choice between the TRU or the TT120, go TRU - my TT120 was a real pain to install, but that might have just been the board :(
 
prosser13 said:
Never realised that the Ultra-120A was actually the full version of the Ultra 120 - my apologies, at that price I thought it was a cut down version!
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No thats cool, as far as I am aware the only difference between the original Ultra-120 and the new Ultra-120a is they don't supply the socket 939 adapter, this can be bought seperately for an extra few ££ if needed. To a socket LGA775 user there is no difference.

prosser13 said:
However, not everyone has unlimited budgets, especially those building with E2***s
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This is true and to those people I can only suggest sticking with the stock cooler and start saving.

prosser13 said:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is still a very decent dual core cooler which is less than half the price of either of those coolers :)
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Well its not quite half price is it :)



Add £8.23 and get the Thermalright Ultra-120 (still need a 120mm fan)

Add £9.40 and get the Tuniq Tower
 
Big.Wayne said:
This is true and to those people I can only suggest sticking with the stock cooler and start saving.
Click to expand...

While I wait to setup my watercooling I've got my E6300 at 3ghz and I'm only hitting 60C under load - not bad for a cheap cooler ;)

Big.Wayne said:
Well its not quite half price is it :)

Add £8.23 and get the Thermalright Ultra-120 (still need a 120mm fan)

Add £9.40 and get the Tuniq Tower
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All depends where you buy it from ;)
 
prosser13 said:
Nope, Freezer 7 Pro ;)
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Ah I see, is that with the fan at full 92mm whack making a racket? Post some screenies up.

ultra120vsfreezer7pro013ws.jpg


The difference between the two is night and day, if only you had used a TRU would may be more amicable towards my suggestion :)
 
I wish I could say its making a racket, but I can't!

It must just be a good design or something...

The fan doesn't even spin at idle and I'm still getting temperatures of 40C, and even with the only other things in the case being:

2 x 120mm fans (silent and undervolted on a fan controller)
Zalman VF900 (on lowest setting)
140mm fan on my PSU

I still can't hear it under Orthos!
 
prosser13 said:
It must just be a good design or something...

The fan doesn't even spin at idle and I'm still getting temperatures of 40C, and even with the only other things in the case being
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E6300 Stock - Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (Quiet)
e6300articfreezer7promiee0.jpg

Idle/Load

E6300 Stock - Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (LOUD!)
e6300articfreezer7promazj9.jpg

Idle/Load

prosser13, can you run TAT for me pls, load both cores and take a screenie.
 
prosser13 said:
Running now - it's already installed :)

How long do you want it run for?
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I've just realised I'm not at 3ghz at the moment sorry (been testing out this RAM and knocked down the FSB and multi to take it over 1000mhz)

Not sure what the ambients are (can't find my thermometer) but I'm sitting here in a t-shirt and there's a fire on in the next but one room as well as the heating so it's definitely not cold!

Gigabyte EasyTune is reporting system temperatures as 30C, it's not got the best airflow currently :(

Speeds and idle temperatures:

idle.jpg


Overclocked temperatures:

temps.jpg


EDIT: Oh, and there was no noise change from going from AC7 fan OFF -> full load :)
 
prosser13 said:
I've got my E6300 at 3ghz and I'm only hitting 60C under load - not bad for a cheap cooler ;)
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prosser13 said:
prosser13km2.jpg
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Yeah not bad temps, but not great either (wonder what the stock cooler would read that those settings?), thanks for taking the time to test, ambient temps that allow you to wear a T-Shirt is normal enough for me! :)

I would be suprised if either the TRU or the Tuniq broke past 50°C at those settings?

And if the fan on your ACF7Pro was at full rpms (which from those temps I am guessing it was) I am having difficulty believing it wasn't noisy?, maybe they updated the fan since I used one?
 
Noise test...

I'll shut down, unplug most fans (including the graphics card one) so it's just the AC7 and the PSU fan, boot it back up and tell you how much difference I can hear then ;)

If I don't come back you know why! :p

(Don't worry about the graphics card, it'll hold 70C without the fan under ATiTool ;) ) It's the chipset I'm worried about!)
 
Noise test...completed :)

There was no (I mean none, I switched all other sounds off!) change in sound from idle to loud, even though the fan went from not moving to being full speed. And my PSU fan is rated for 16dB I believe :)

Oh, and some temp screenies - I put it back to stock because I was worried about chipset temperatures:

pc2.jpg


And under 2 minutes or so of load:

pc.jpg


Some more information - in that 2.4ghz the CPU was running with 1.375V in the BIOS! :O

I wish I could do a 3ghz test for you but I'm a bit busy trying to spray this case so I don't want to put the time into it :(
 
So general concensus would be to go for the tuniq tower 120 or the TRU (TRU = thermalright ultra120?) out of the thermalrights, which one provides the better cooling? The ultra 120a or the extreme? I've actually already ordered the artic cooling freezer 7 pro but there's still time to change the order :P
Thanks for all the responses!
Also sorry for the delay in relying, I posted an 'all in one' spec thread in the general hardware forum and forgot about this one :p
 
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