A Cool Suggestion

[kona]

A question for those in the know ?



System:

ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Intel P4 2.6C
Apacer (Infineon) DDR400 memory (2 x 256)
ATI 9200 Radeon
Antec True480 PS ( Soon to be Antec TrueControl 550 )
2 Maxtor 80G SATA Drives (RAID 0)
1 Maxtor 60G Ultra ATA
Sony CRX300E CD-RW/DVD
Cooler Master aluminum ATX tower w/ 3 case fans ( Soon to be four )
Klipsch 2.1 speakers (mighty fine!)


O/C Specs:


FSB: 275 Mhz
CPU: 3.59 Ghz
Timings: 2.5 , 3, 3, 7, 4 ( 5/4 divider)
Vcore: 1.575
Vdimm: 2.75
Idle Temp: 27C
Load Temp: 45C (Under Prime95)




What is considered to be the finest P4 heatsink/fan combo on the market today? I realize this is a rather tough one to answer in light of the vast number of kits out there ( and with plenty of opinions) I?m building a 2nd system using an ASUS P4C800E Deluxe Mobo, an Intel 3.2EE CPU (possibly the 3.4EE ) and Corsair TWINX PC3700 DDR memory. This rig is going to be slightly O/C?ed. Even at stock/default system settings, this CPU can run a bit on the toasty side. Bump up the FSB a bit and it can easily become an egg-frying appliance.

I?m NOT interested in pissing away the bucks I?ll be forking over to get a hold this little screamer. I?d like to hang onto it for awhile. This being the case, heat is a primary concern. I have NO experience w/aftermarket cooling as I?ve never found it necessary to install on previous systems , until now. Noise takes a distant seat to efficiency/effectivness in the preferences category, at least for me . Yeah, I love silence but I?d be much more comfortable knowing my CPU?s happy, or at least comfortable. A liquid solution is out the equation ? at least for now.

 

[Wanescotting]

hehe.....if you can deal with noise(i can......vantec tornado on my heatsink) get a thermal right sp-94 and slap a 92mm vantec tornado on it.

 

[Dman877]

Delta makes a 110 cfm 92mm .

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

if you want quiet fan the zalman 7000 cu is really good

 

[Barak]

I Got a Zalman (CNPS7000A-ALCU) Aluminum and Copper Heat Sink for P4 478, AMD 462, and AMD 754 it works really quite and the temp of cpu is down from before by 7 - 9 degrees.

Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU

 

[kona]

Thanks for the suggestions ...

I'm going to go with the following:

Heatsink: SWIFTEC MCX478-V
Fan: Vantec 92mm Tornado
Fan Control: Vantec NXP-201 (Four Channel)


I ordered the 'Tornado' with the hopes that the excessive noise can be mediated via Vantec's fan controller. From some of the reading I've done, with the use of a controller, fan speeds (and in this case, the Tornado's RPM) can be reduced to a tolerable level when not running high FSB speeds (i.e., in a less overclocked state).

Maybe it'll prove to be a mistake ... going the 'Tornado' route that is, as I've read many comments comparing the sound it makes to that of a hair dryer (not good!) That's why I'll be adding a fan controller but who knows, that might not even help all that much.

Bottom line? The fan's 'only' $10.00 and if the noise is more than I can stand, Fry's Electronic is only a 20 minute drive away and they've got a few fans to choose from.

One question I've now got & this is ins regard to the Vantec fan controller:

I visited Vantec's web site and viewed an install sheet for the controller. It appears as though fan connectors (in this case, the Tornado's (3) pin RPM detection cable), fastens to one of the controller's four ports. The problem? I'd like to be able to monitor RPM speed via my system's BIOS or through the ASUS mobo monitor utility in Windows. Is there a ' throughput ' or similar rigging that could be used which would allow me to connect the speed detection/monitor cable to the CPU Fan Monitor header on my motherboard (as well as the fan control unit)?

 

[0roo0roo]

i think you should take that drive to frys i slow down even normal fans to achieve quiet, unless theres a single case fan or some weird situation where total case airflow is really poor, low rpm is easily possible

i monitor speeds on one of my speed controlled fans by attaching the yellow wire to the m/b header. i just used a crimp connector to connect the yellow wire i cut to an old fan connector/wire i had lying around that i cut off another fan. you can buy the connectors and pins separately too.

better to achieve your airflow with multiple lower rpm fans then fewer higher rpm fans. most noticalbe noise is from the air turbulance and high pitched whine from the high fan speed. low pitch hum is much less annoying.

 

[kona]

I decided to use a Vantec 92mm Tornado on a Swiftech heatsink.

Funny thing? I read a few reviews and opinions of this particular fan and more than once, it was described as sounding like a 'hairdryer'. I said to myself, "Self ..., these are most likely exaggerations and if true, nothing that can't be remedied with the help of a fan controller".

Truth be told? Holy ****! They weren't kidding. At specified applied voltage, the fan was spinning at about 4500+ RPM and to say that I couldn't hear myself think would be a definite understatement! With the aid of the controller, I can bring the speed down to a bearable 2400 RPM which helpls tremendously but there's an annoying low pitch hum or whine (bearings possibly?).

Anyway, after all's said and done, I'm opting for a Panasonic 92mm Panaflow fan which according to specs, will produce a little less than half the CFM of air volume I'm now receiving from the Tornado at (around) half the noise level. Plus, I hopefully wont hear that annoying bearing noise that's coming from the Vantec. I've got to hand it to the Tornado however, at least in terms of cooling. When used with a quality heatsink, it does perform!

I (finally) received the components for my second system last week which includes an Intel 3.2G P4c mounted on an ASUS P4P800 Deluxe motherboard with 1G of Corsair 3700 TwinX Series RAM and an ATI 9800 Pro graphics board. Impressions so far? Not a bad system. The only question is, was it worth it? Being I'm able to clock my older system's 2.6G P4c @ 3.59 (more like 3.47G with complete stability), why spend the extra $'s for the 3.2, the overhead being far less than that of the 2.6G P4?

Yeah, with the exception memory bandwidth, the 3.2's outperforming the 2.6 when both are overclocked ... but not by a whole bunch. As for the poorer memory bandwidth numbers I'm seeing with the O/C'ed 3.2 goes, it looks as though bandwidth is directly related to the FSB (not CPU) speed and being I can't run the Corsair 3700 memory modules much above 233 FSB (even with 5:4 or 3:2 dividers), I'm limited. With the 2.6G P4C using (2), 512K APACER PC3200 modules, I'm able to run a 5:4 divider and juice the FSB up to a stable 267Mhz. Those modules apparently love the higher FSB speed, even though the net memory speed using the divider is only 213 (or 426 DDR). Makes me wonder ... why at DDR 426, can these modules outperform my Corsair PC3700 sticks clocked at 466 Mhz DDR? It must come down to the FSB speed and in my case, the 2.6 is at 267 Mhz and the 3.2's at 232.

Right now, I've got the 3.2G P4c clocked @ 3.71 (stable) with a 1.6 Vcore, 2.75 Vdimm, with 1:1 memory at 232 Mhz FSB. I've run Memtest86+, Sandra 2004 and Prime95 (not all at once!) for several hours without any problems. The system temperatures are 32C idle and 48C under load (and those temps are with the Tornado running at minimum speed). I'm definitely impressed wth the Swiftech heatsink. I didn't perform any direct comparisons with the Intel fan/heatsink combo that came with the processor, but I can probably safely presume that the Swiftech (and Tornado) are outperforming what I'd receive with the stock setup.

So, perhaps the cliché "leave well enough alone" is where I should end this current endeavor.

One finally observation and back to the main point of this post ...

The Tornado does exactly what it's intended to do and that's move a bunch of air! With a good pair of head phones and some kick-ass tunes droning out racket, it's an ideal cooling solution as far as CPU heatsink fans go. If ear protection is not an option however, it can be a nightmare (except when used in combination with a fan controller).


Thanks for the feedback!



Dave

 

[smahoney]

I know you said water cooling was out of the question for now but....

Heatsink, fan and fan controller ~$90 >50DBa
Corsair Hydocool ~$205 <50DBa zipzoomfly

Complete system, easy to install, quiet, much better cooling, no leaks, heat sink has mirror finish so you don't need to lap it and the tubing is pre-connected to the heat sink. simple instruction and is powered by your system (molex). I run this with an Antec TrueBlue 480 so I don't think you need to go with the 550 which would give you the extra cash to get this.