Advice for quiet cooling

[Percussionfiend]

I need an inexpensive, extremely quiet, and compatible cooler to cool an AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 gHz in a micro atx case.

Ideas:
Noshua NH1
Corsair all in one water cooler


Thanks in advance.

 

[Tullphan]

How about this or this?

 

[yh125d]

Your links are mostly not working right now, but I'd recommend either a Xigmatek S1283, Sunbeam CCF, or a TRUE matched with a 500-1000RPM scythe fan

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Percussionfiend
I need an inexpensive, extremely quiet, and compatible cooler to cool an AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 gHz in a micro atx case.

Which micro ATX case? That might have an impact on what can fit.

 

[Percussionfiend]

Most likely a silverstone tj08 or the antec p180. I'm very open to suggestions. I want a micro atx because i might be moving this computer around a bit, but it's seeming more and more like a pain and the P180 is already pretty close to an atx mid tower.

 

[alyarb]

those xigmateks are rated up to 32 dba. far from silent. you've either got to get something nice like the TRUE+custom fan or do the noctua. The noctua is competitive at $57 compared to a TRUE+$15 fan.

 

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: Percussionfiend
Most likely a silverstone tj08 or the antec p180. I'm very open to suggestions. I want a micro atx because i might be moving this computer around a bit, but it's seeming more and more like a pain and the P180 is already pretty close to an atx mid tower.

The P180 is a mid-tower. LOL

 

[Percussionfiend]

mini p180. Thanks for your help!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Percussionfiend
Most likely a silverstone tj08 or the antec p180... the P180 is already pretty close to an atx mid tower.

Yeah... the Mini P180 is pretty huge so not much savings in size except over the normal P180.

The TJ08 is actually a really nice case. I've used the TJ08-B (black version) for a build, plus I've used the Athenatech version. It is definately big enough to fit pretty much any big tower heatpipe heatsink and with 120mm front/back fans and very unrestrictive grills, the thing can move a lot of air through there without being too noisy.

I don't know if any water cooling kits will work, but presumably some may. You'll want to study the pictures of the chassis and the radiator to see if it will fit because usually the radiator sticks out a bit above and below the fan spot.

For inexpensive yet quiet and decent, look for the cheapest AMD compatible cooler that uses a 120mm fan. I've often seen various brands on sale or with rebates for around $30, and some are regularly priced around $40.

 

[Percussionfiend]

I actually looked at the mini P180s size/weight and checked out some suitcase sizes and decided very quickly to stick with the silverstone. What's the point of a micro-atx if it's very close to the same size of an ATX? I liked the antec a lot better on paper minus the dimensions, but ultimately I went with the silverstone.

 

[faxon]

well if you plan on doing overclocking in a case like that, most good tower coolers tend to not fit, which ultimately is one of those things that corsair cooler was designed for. however if you plan on running the thing at stock 3.2GHz, any cooler which generates as much noise as a low speed nexus fan or a cheap yate loon alternative should suffice.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: faxon
well if you plan on doing overclocking in a case like that, most good tower coolers tend to not fit

The TJ08 is not very deep or tall, but is probably as wide as any tower ATX case. It can fit tall coolers w/o problem unless the motherboard puts the CPU at the very edge of the board (will hit PSU).

 

[Percussionfiend]

I went with the noctua. 12.8 dba (on low) is a lot quieter than most of the other stuff out there. my case is rated at around 20 dba. I'll let you know if it fits. If not I think I'll spring for the corsair water cooler thing. From what I saw, the 7 inches SHOULD be enough to put in the cooler plus extra clearance for the mobo, chip, mobo tray etc etc.

I can't see a reason to overclock at the moment. I plan on doing digital recording and hopefully some live sound editing and synthesis. I don't know if it's necessary to overclock for that, and if it is I'll cross that bridge when I get to it (and I think the noctua will suffice.)

Anything is better than the jet-engine-like computer I have now. Thanks for the help!