By "used naked D14 heatsinks (as well as TC14PE" do you mean without fans and mount, or just without fans?
Buy a naked D14 heatsink and buy three P14s or Vortexes or TY14x's. Still cheaper than a D15 and probably better, nope?
Used D14 with missing parts is probably better than PH-TC14PE because Noctua support is better so easier to find and get needed mount upgrades.
Last time I asked, Noctua told me they would be happy to send a bunch of fan clips free of charge, even for 14 cm as opposed to the default 12. That would certainly be better than lazy ghetto strapping. I can ghetto-strap two fans just fine with
elastic silicone straps for use with meat in the oven (this is what I'm currently using), but for the middle one of a trio this would obviously not work, or at lest not without some adaptation.
Ran red PH-TC14PE on i7 920 @ 4.3Ghz below 80c, @ 3.9Ghz it never broke 70. Had TY-143 fans on it, but only time they broke 1100-1200rpm was playing 'shock & awe' on visitors by running high load with fans off until CPU reached about 80c, turn them back on and they would hit full 2500rpm for maybe a minute, then start tapering back down to 1100-1200rpm in less than 3 minutes from fan startup. Had TY-143 case fans too so when cooler fans ramped up case airflow matched their demands.
Nice. My idea was to be lazy and repetitive and standardize to the point of buying two P14 PWM PST value packs from Arctic and mounting them 3 for PSU, 1 for rear exhaust (daisy-chained with CPU fans), 2 for top exhaust, 2 for front intake, 1 for bottom intake, perhaps even a vertically mounted one inside the case near GPU fans.
I've played around testing 1x, 2x fans on single towers and 1x, 2x, 3x on twin towers and in a few cases 2x did better than 1 noise to temp. But none were better or enough better to be worth expense of 3rd fan.
Hmm… But Ed Hume is reliable, isn't he? It was his test where Fuma 1 ended up like 1.5 dBA louder than room ambient while keeping good temps, by adding a third fan.
I did find was compete system (system in case) that adding / removing fans on cooler often changed case airflow sometimes changing CPU temp 2-3c. Cooler was cooling the same but air temp entering cooler changed with same degree of change in CPU temps.
Well, for 2C I probably wouldn't want to go on a fan spree, as I suspect a dozen motors even on low rpm could take a heavy toll on the acoustics. Which is why I still consider the alternative idea of just three large case fans and perhaps just one fan on the CPU. I suppose for my office work natural convention would be enough to run the whole rig fanless with Le Grand Macho RT, though it's not like I'm going to the begrudge the 300–400 rpm I reliably can't hear (I can sometimes hear 500-ish, depending on the fan, and the noisier ones sometimes at 300).
Enthoo Pro is good case with a couple of good fans included.
Thanks! Mine came with a good 140cm rear exhaust — don't know which model, and the manual doesn't seem to provide this information. In any case, that's a good fan, inaudible at 800 rpm or so. I remember running it at 900 with all my love of silence. The included 20cm front intake, however, was loud from the beginning and quickly started clicking. That's when I bought my 2x140 Silent Wings 3 hispeeds. However, they were audible at 560 and nasty from 600 up. The sound stopped being coarse at much higher rpms but at that point the brush was too loud for me. As CPU fans, they are much better. I actually have a dual-tower heatsink I could strap them on (and perhaps buy a third), but that's a crappy Gelid Phantom, which would require ghetto mount (more ghetto for the middle one).
Just to give you a fuller picture, I've removed all bays and everything else between the case front and mobo. It's modular like this. Could probably even turn it into a half-decent bare frame.
Don't remember if Ed Humes testing was based on actual air temp entering cooler / fan or temp of air in room. All in all he did a good job of testing in his reviews, but has quit doing them.
We used to often exchange info. Good guy to know for sure.
Yeah, figured out he was highly esteemed in the community.
With TRUE Spirit 140 Power fifty quid price it's hard to beat. Problem is short supply tends to push price up some. LeGrand Macho RT is as good as anything out there.
German Amazon has a couple at EUR 57 with free delivery, which is roughly GBP 52. Also a Polish site called
Morele.net currently has 6 pcs priced PLN 274 each, which is roughly GBP 55, but shipment is not inclued.
LGMRT is GBP 67 shipped.
I'd be ready to pay 15 extra for some more quiet — if needed. Just not sure due to the TSP's mixed results, sometimes overwhelmingly good and sometimes slightly disappointing. I'd definitely be getting the TSP if it reliably, consistently delivered the results the specs suggest, unless, of course, the Macho was quieter.
There's also the option to buy a used Macho Rev. B for like twenty pounds as a temporary measure pending 2021 releases and cheaper than the original interim solution being the D14 heatsink (to use with my Silent Wings 3 or to buy Arctic P14).
I haven't tested / used Arctic P14 but hear they are decent, especially considering their low price.
Last time I checked, they started catching up with the top end of the middle end, but 5-packs are still a huge bargain, for a little over 30 pounds shipped. I might as well just buy them already. But what's holding me back is the possibility I might still go AIO or replace the case with a smaller one or an open frame, hence making most of a bunch of 140mm fans unnecessary.
Big part of cooling is good case airflow. The closer to room temp the air entering coolers is the lower temps will be .. and the lower fan speeds need to be thus being quieter too. Key is monitoring air temp entering coolers and setting up case and cooler fans to cycle together. Maybe not always at same speeds, but when cooler fan/s speed up case fans have to as well to keep uniform airflow from intake to cooler, thru cooler and out of case
Yeah. These days I use 250 rpm on the CPU fans and 0 on case fans for office work and 500 CPU / 250 case fans (230 front intake, 230 top and 140 rear exhaust) based almost on natural convection alone, but in more demanding games this obviously won't be good enough. Actually still have to check. It's been a while since I last played a modern title.
I don't really have much of a way of testing the temps (or is there an , but the unfortunate fact is that my front intakes sit a little more than a foot away from a central heater, which I do use in late autumn and winter months, while the wall behind is colder. Cold even. So I might be one of those few guys for whom reverse flow works better. My idea is, anyway, to overpay on the heatsink and fan quality — if there's something verifiably and reliably better than the Arctics — to compensate for the poor flow as far as I can and just accept what I can't change. This case and this spot can do an inaudible config and has done it before, as long I don't overdo the TDP (a 65W CPU with TRUE and Accelero S3 w/120mm fan on GPU was inaudible no matter the heaviest load). Next time I might also buy a more powerful CPU than I'd normally need.
Link below is to basic guide I wrote years ago of how airflow works and how to optimize it in typical tower case. You might find it of interest.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770
Thanks, looks like I'll have to get a sensor and do this properly, sigh.
Always been doing that too.