Unsure about cpu heatsink fitting?

paulstung

paulstung

paulstung

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Afternoon all,hope you all had a good Christmas.
Iv'e been looking around for a new cpu cooler,I am not a major hard core gamer,so I don't justify water cooling.So I'm looking at a high end air cooler.The problem I have is my case is really narrow(Lian Li pc7fn)it is only 200mm so I think my only choice is a low profile.
I'm currently using a Prolimatech Samurai,but it isn't great,if I'm honest.So far I've pinned it down to the, Phanteks ph-tc14cs.If any one could point me toward a normal cooler,not noctua please.Preferably 3 fan.
I am also unsure of how to measure the clearance,for the height,This might sound a bit dim,but do you measure from the top of the cpu?
Thanks guys.
 
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Very nice cooler there.
Problem is, with both fans it comes to £70 before delivery costs...

What CPU/RAM are you using?

Btw, you won't need 3 fans :)
 
Yes, the clearance is from the top of the CPU. But if you measure from the motherboard just subtract 7-8mm and you will be very close. ;)

Siomething Else is right; our case supports up to 160mm tall coolers and there are many.
The Prolimatech is a good cooler but totals £70 with fans... and £70 will buy almost any cooler on the market.

And there are many for much less that will do a much better job of cooling than your present cooler.

I think tower coolers are better choice than downflow coolers because it is easier to keep heated cooler exhaust air from mixing with cool air going to cooler.

Without knowing what RAM & CPU you have it's a little hard to know what will fit. If your ram is less than 40mm tall I would suggest:

Alpenfohn K2 for £59.99 as the best and biggest that will fit and has PWM fans
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL

Noctua NH-D14 is same price and will also fit does not have PWM fans.

There are many very good cooler starting as cheap as £19.99 for Zaward Vapor 120.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=2330&subid=2356

If your CPU is not super high wattage and you are not doing excessive overclocking many of these smaller coolers will do a great job.

Let us know a little more info about what you have and what you want :)
 
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As others said there is no need for 3 fans. These big twin towers only change 1-2c from 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 fans.. or 1-3c total from 1 to 3 fans. An extra case fan or 2 will probably make more of a difference in your cooling.

Please let us know how your case cooling is set up now.
 
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Cheers guys.My specs are i5 3570 at stock,and 8g corsair vengeance,and a sapphire hd7850.Funnily enough I've just been looking at the K2,and the Prolimatech.
If the RAM height causes a problem,am I right in thinking if I'm careful,I can remove the heat spreader,and the cooler will help keep it cool.As in the fan will suck the air away?I've also heard good things about the Bequiet dark rock pro2.

My case set up at the moment is 1x140mm front intake,1x120mm rear exhaust,1x120mm pull on cpu,and a 120mm bottom intake.( I have just ordered a 120mm hole cutter to mod the top for an additional 2,120mm and a pair on the door panel maybe)
 
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Do think sometimes that I'm the only one recommending the sealed water cooling units and there is something wrong with them, which I'm not aware of ,but....

The ocuk H60 is

Inexpensive

Cools well and is Quiet ( Occasional bad pump apart)- using motherboard PWM control :)

Does not take up much space - Ram clearance is not usually an issue.

Assuming that you use your existing 120m fan to exhaust air through the radiator and out your case - no new fan required (if you were to consider that as a fan to push air through your radiator your existing one was not up to scratch can recommend an Apache)

Obviously you would need to double check that it would fit into your case etc but if it does for £40 I doubt you could find a better :)
 
what motherboard do you have? on small motherboards such as matx the large coolers can cause clearance issues with the gpu pcb or ram.

an all in one cooling unit maybe more appropriate and will at least match some high end air cooling if you get a unit that works properly
 
From what I've been reading the only AIO cooler,that is up to much,compared to higher end air coolers, is either the h100 or h100i?My mobo is the Asus P8z77-lx,there is 123mm clearance before the ram would cause an issue.
 
My problem with H80/H100 and H80i/H100i is how many problems I've seen reported on forums. H100 has/had all kinds of pump problems. New H100i has fan rattle or whine problems, and I know of at least one member here who had his pump quit.

Mate of mine won H80 last summer and it had pump noise out of box. Had to post it back for RMA and replacement was DOA!!. H100 buyers had similar problems with RMA replacements not working properly too. And now H100i buyers having more problems from the very first day buyers got them.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18457606&page=2

Almost never see any problems with air coolers.. occasional fan or problem getting them mounted.

Air is just so much simpler. Only thing to go wrong is fan. H2O has pump, hoses, fans extra firmware/software for fan/pump control..

Kraken X40 and X60 are now out.. if you have room for the bigger coolers using 140mm fans Only review I know of shows Kraken out performing Corsair.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6530/...iquidcoolers-from-corsair-and-nzxt-compared/5

Only time will tell us if they have less problems than Corsair. Be hard to have more than Corsair. ;)
 
I would agree that if you get a sealed unit with a noisy pump - useless is the phrase that comes to mind.

I've had 3 - the first being an Alc eco which was excellent
the second was an Eco H60 - bl.... awful. RMA
the third was a Corsair H60 - nice and quiet.

Air cooling is simpler/safer but they take up so much space , lead to problems with overheating of other areas and limit ram choice, so:-

Am , as said , a convert :D (PROVIDED you do not end up with the proverbial bag of nails type:eek:)
 
I can appreciate CLC but am happy with air.

As for size well the area in cubic cm of both are about the same. Difference its radiator & fans are mounted against case so gives the appearance of more room.

As for problems with overheating other areas; that depends on if CLC is exhaust or intake. :D With air coolers with good case airflow it's not an issue.

These big performance GPU's pulling air in their sides and blowing it out in all directions are the real problem when it comes to heat removal.

Limited ram choice... well yes, lower profile ram is needed. Most ram if it doesn't have decorative bits sticking up twice as tall as actual ram is. I say bits because ram doesn't need the huge decorative additions on top of them.
 
doyll said:
Kraken X40 and X60 are now out.. if you have room for the bigger coolers using 140mm fans Only review I know of shows Kraken out performing Corsair.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6530/...iquidcoolers-from-corsair-and-nzxt-compared/5

Only time will tell us if they have less problems than Corsair. Be hard to have more than Corsair. ;)
Click to expand...

I wish the Kraken had 120mm fans instead. My case only does 120mm. I was just about to buy and dove head first without looking and was gutted when I looked and saw 140mm fans:(

So far my H80i is working prefect, but I am worried about all the reports of pump failings. Thanks god I have a fan cooler as a back up.
 
I do understand your worry about pump problems. 5-7 years is probably life expectancy of most cooling pumps, even the expensive ones.
I find it interesting how everyone raves about how great the H100i is when H80i tests as good and sometimes better.
 
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doyll said:
I do understand your worry about pump problems. 5-7 years is probably life expectancy of most cooling pumps, even the expensive ones.
I find it interesting how everyone raves about how great the H100i is when H80i tests as good and sometimes better.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've heard the same. That's why I bought the H80i over the H100i. I didn't see any performance jump on the H00i. and yes I'm very worried about the pump problem. You would think Corsair would have tested this product more? I might think twice next time on Corsair Coolers in the future.
 
I used to work in video and pinball game industry. Was a big distributor so we were always one of the first to get new games.. and there were always many problems to work out. We planned on at least 2 weeks in shop before we could put them into arcades. Obviously pinballs were worse because of all the mechanical interface. Design/manufacturers always rushed to market without proper testing... sometimes it seemed no testing.... H100i/H80i first release definitely lacked proper testing before release.

I tend to be outspoken at times.. and have said much about Corsair's lack of quality and quality control. I have 2 of their TX v2 PSU's with "ultra-quiet fan" that anyone who has one know is audible at idle 2 meters away. Original TX were quieter... and now they've release a new TX v2 that fan doesn't run until load is applied. I may RMA them now, but before all they did was send out another with same fan noise so why bother.

Sorry for hijack paulstung :o
 
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