Quiet modest priced cooling (AM3+)

Baddass · 13 Feb 2017 at 09:44

Hi

i'm looking for a new heatsink/fan combination to cool the following AM3+ CPU:

AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz

not put under much stress so looking for quiet as opposed to maximum efficiency. Would like to keep the price modest without going too expensive please

mattyfez · 13 Feb 2017 at 10:58

You could also look at under volting /underclocking the cpu if not doing anything stressful.

agw_01 · 17 Feb 2017 at 00:20

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo seems to be a highly regarded cooler. I had a TX3 cooling my FX8350 which did pretty well, so I'd expect the 212 on your CPU to be absolutely fine.

If the machine won't be used for anything too intensive and case airflow is good, you may even be able to run it fanless... depending on how quiet it needs to be.

doyll · 18 Feb 2017 at 14:24

212 used to be a great value cooler, but it's days are long gone. Coolers like Raijintek Eroboss and Themis; be quiet! Pure Rock, Cryorig C7, and many others are as good or better for similar money or less.

Baddass · 20 Feb 2017 at 09:33

thanks for the advice guys

Habakkuk · 22 Feb 2017 at 14:05

I have a Zalman CNPS14X which is huge with the fan speed turned right down, but have trouble finding a case to fit it.

doyll · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:03

Habakkuk said:
I have a Zalman CNPS14X which is huge with the fan speed turned right down, but have trouble finding a case to fit it.

What kind of cases are you looking at? CNPS14X is just under 160mm tall, and that is not a tall cooler. There are all kinds of cases with 160mm or more CPU clearance. The smallest of my tower cases is 160mm. The only case I have that is less than 160mm is my HTPC which is only 100mm tall.

A good low cost cooler is the Matterhorn Pure
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfoehn-matterhorn-pure-edition-cpu-cooler-hs-037-al.html

JasonM · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:31

I run many Arctic i30's, one on a development computer, others on home servers. I under-volt also to get temps/noise down.

There rated to cool upto 130w, there pretty quite with PWM fan unless running at full speed.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/arctic-freezer-i30-cpu-cooler-review/8/

Quote from above - "The Arctic Freezer i30 is a good CPU cooler with reasonable cooling performance and an almost inaudible fan."

Habakkuk · 22 Feb 2017 at 17:47

doyll said:
What kind of cases are you looking at? CNPS14X is just under 160mm tall, and that is not a tall cooler. There are all kinds of cases with 160mm or more CPU clearance. The smallest of my tower cases is 160mm. The only case I have that is less than 160mm is my HTPC which is only 100mm tall.

A good low cost cooler is the Matterhorn Pure
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfoehn-matterhorn-pure-edition-cpu-cooler-hs-037-al.html

it's more I don't want to put it in a tower case, as that's a heavy lump of metal to leave hanging off the motherboard :/

Atari · 22 Feb 2017 at 17:57

JasonM said:
I run many Arctic i30's, one on a development computer, others on home servers. I under-volt also to get temps/noise down.

There rated to cool upto 130w, there pretty quite with PWM fan unless running at full speed.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/arctic-freezer-i30-cpu-cooler-review/8/

Quote from above - "The Arctic Freezer i30 is a good CPU cooler with reasonable cooling performance and an almost inaudible fan."

I use one of these on my i5-2500k oc'd up to 4.6GHz, can't fault it all, it's super quiet even under load.

The support at Arctic Cooling is awesome too, I emailed them last week about the fan being noisy and despite it being 4 years old, they shipped me out a new fan and shroud FOC and it arrived on Monday.

JasonM · 22 Feb 2017 at 19:03

Atari, thats good to know on their support!

There very reliable also, I have them in servers running 24/7, one of the servers dates back to 2012 build.

I do use CO (Continuous Operation) fans however, however never had an issue with the standard fans.

Atari · 22 Feb 2017 at 19:08

JasonM said:
Atari, thats good to know on their support!

There very reliable also, I have them in servers running 24/7, one of the servers dates back to 2012 build.

I do use CO (Continuous Operation) fans however, however never had an issue with the standard fans.

Yeah to be honest the fan still worked fine, it just had a really quiet rattle to it which I guess was the bearings going bad. Normally wouldn't notice it but because the fan was so quiet, it was annoying

Don't think the HSF will fit in my new case though which is annoying.

doyll · 22 Feb 2017 at 19:15

Habakkuk said:
it's more I don't want to put it in a tower case, as that's a heavy lump of metal to leave hanging off the motherboard :/

If you don't want a big cooler for aesthetic reasons fine, just don't try rationalizing it like you did above.

After all, you have a big heavy 'lump' on your shoulders only supported by your neck. You have a greater chance of breaking your neck because of that 'lump' then even the biggest/heaviest production air cooler breaking or damaging your motherboard.

The i30 (now i32) is not a bad cooler, but it's not as good as Matterhorn Pure.

JasonM · 22 Feb 2017 at 21:28

doyll, I did not know there was an i32, thanks for heads up.

Atari, I think Arctic cooling products are really under-rated, I always get a sense of quality and good pricing. In the past I've even had Arctic 80mm PWM fans and even those performed well.