Silent CPU cooler for HTPC

tsinc80697 · 2 Jun 2007 at 23:06

Hey i had a quick look through the forums posts and couldnt find what I was looking for.

Just bought an
Antec Overture II

It is 5.25" high, so inside im approximating for 4" / 10cm high.

Its for a Socket 775 system.

I need the cooler to be fanless, so just the heatsink, but I also need my bck pocket intact after buying one.
I've seen a Noctua heatsink but it comes with a fan, is this needed to keep the CPU cool enough? It would either be an old 775 CPU or a conroe unclocked.

Thanks!

simonnance · 3 Jun 2007 at 00:10

you'l be lucky to get a decent passive in 10cm (or even 15cm!), even 90mm fan towers won't fit that, so you are back to the non-tower HSFs, like the Thermalright XP-series, but i dont think those are passive, and they are pretty wide, so might cause conflict with other parts of the case/motherboard/cards.

p4radox · 3 Jun 2007 at 00:11

You'll need a low-profile style cooler for that case, so tower heatsinks such as the Noctua on OcUK are out of the question.

Zalman CNPS7000
Zalman CNPS7700
Zalman CNPS8000
Thermalright XP-120
Thermalright SI-128
Silverstone Nitrogen NT06

If you do get a heatsink with a fan, the fan can be turned down so it's practically silent.

gt_junkie · 3 Jun 2007 at 00:23

I have an SI-128 and can confirm it's both effective and very quiet. Would possibly cool an undervolted conroe passively. I have mine sat on a 3.4ghz P4 at present with a sharkoon silent eagle (1000rpm version). Cools it more than adequately at only a whisper.

In fact, once i've upgraded to quad i'll be putting it under an ultra 120 extreme so the SI-128 will be going on the MM. I would recommend the bolt through kit for it though as the 775 pushpins don't fill me with confidence!

gt

tsinc80697 · 3 Jun 2007 at 01:15

Thanks for the replies.

Just needed something taht would be a heatsink only or a stupidly quiet fan ontop as I have a copper lite on my socket A at the moment, thats meant to be quiet but I can hear it whine at night constantly!

gt how long until you get that quad?

Read a review or two on silentpc, the Thermalright XP120 sounds good along with a globe 120mm fan but I can only seem to find them in USA, anywhere hear sell them or are there any stonkingly silent 120mm fanas?

gt_junkie · 3 Jun 2007 at 01:58

tsinc80697 said:
Thanks for the replies.

Just needed something taht would be a heatsink only or a stupidly quiet fan ontop as I have a copper lite on my socket A at the moment, thats meant to be quiet but I can hear it whine at night constantly!

gt how long until you get that quad?

Read a review or two on silentpc, the Thermalright XP120 sounds good along with a globe 120mm fan but I can only seem to find them in USA, anywhere hear sell them or are there any stonkingly silent 120mm fanas?

Hi tsinc,

Prob another 3 weeks at most.

Intel's cuts are slated for 22nd or so but sometimes some sellers lower prices early so could be a couple of weeks if we're lucky.

What's the exact measurements of the space you've got and i'll try and measure what area the 128's taking up.

gt

tsinc80697 · 3 Jun 2007 at 14:01

definitely couldnt fit something that is 12cm deep.
Height is around 10cm, width can be 12cm but depth is only about 6cm due to drive cage :/

squiffy · 3 Jun 2007 at 14:07

Buy a new case. Cubes are always going to be cramped. Even NSK2400 limits your choice for tower coolers. TJ08 fits Ninja, just and even then HD bays are blocked.

p4radox · 3 Jun 2007 at 14:36

tsinc80697 said:
Thanks for the replies.

Just needed something taht would be a heatsink only or a stupidly quiet fan ontop as I have a copper lite on my socket A at the moment, thats meant to be quiet but I can hear it whine at night constantly!

gt how long until you get that quad?

Read a review or two on silentpc, the Thermalright XP120 sounds good along with a globe 120mm fan but I can only seem to find them in USA, anywhere hear sell them or are there any stonkingly silent 120mm fanas?

Nowadays there are loads of really good 120mm fans.

Yate Loon/Nexus
Scythe
Noctua

tsinc80697 · 3 Jun 2007 at 15:32

squiffy said:
Buy a new case. Cubes are always going to be cramped. Even NSK2400 limits your choice for tower coolers. TJ08 fits Ninja, just and even then HD bays are blocked.

Are there any HTPC cases that can handle a good cooler without blocking something?

tsinc80697 · 3 Jun 2007 at 17:10

Zalman CNPS8000 Ultra Quiet Low Profile

Any one have experience of how quiet this is? Think it will fit in if i take out the HDD bracket.
Putting the HDD in 5.25" silent enclosures anyway

squiffy · 3 Jun 2007 at 17:10

tsinc80697 said:
Are there any HTPC cases that can handle a good cooler without blocking something?

It's not a "HTPC" case, but it's black, understated MATX micro tower. A Scythe Ninja fits, but you'll need to fit the Ninja with the motherboard in the case. Then fit PSU. It's a tight fit, but possible. You'll have to fit 3.5" drives in the 5.25" area, with the Ninja fitted it's too close to the 3.5" cage. I guess you could play around with 90' sata connectors.

It has enough space to fit the 12cm fan vertically, near the HD cage.

I'll take a updated photo sometime. Both HD (2.5" and 3.5" are in 5.25" bays, don't have optical drive fitted)

Jleo · 4 Jun 2007 at 00:45

squiffy said:
It's not a "HTPC" case, but it's black, understated MATX micro tower. A Scythe Ninja fits, but you'll need to fit the Ninja with the motherboard in the case. Then fit PSU. It's a tight fit, but possible. You'll have to fit 3.5" drives in the 5.25" area, with the Ninja fitted it's too close to the 3.5" cage. I guess you could play around with 90' sata connectors.

It has enough space to fit the 12cm fan vertically, near the HD cage.

I'll take a updated photo sometime. Both HD (2.5" and 3.5" are in 5.25" bays, don't have optical drive fitted)

LOL

I was going to suggest for fun would a Scythe Ninja be out of the question.

gtir666 · 4 Jun 2007 at 01:14

I just use a stock cooler on mine (ok is am2 not 775) with a spare zalman fanmate 2 set as low as will go and you cant hear it over the case fans (ive an antec fusion) which are virtually inaudible themselves.

TC1 · 26 Jun 2007 at 13:54

tsinc80697 said:
Zalman CNPS8000 Ultra Quiet Low Profile

Any one have experience of how quiet this is? Think it will fit in if i take out the HDD bracket.
Putting the HDD in 5.25" silent enclosures anyway

Heard it is still noticeable in sound compared to a Silverstone SST-NT06 V2