Best CPU cooler for AM3

[james 1]

Hi, I recently built a new computer and want to upgrade my stock cooler on my phenom II 720. I want to achieve an overclock of about 3.5 – 3.8 on it. Any suggestions

Thanks james

 

[ShawnD1]

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2476&page=4

Frostytech is the place to go for any info about cooling.

 

[Arkaign]

Any of those top coolers would be great. I have a V8 and it's fantastic. Have a PhII 805 now at 3.6ghz at the lowest fan setting. Had a 212 before it that was great as well.

 

[alyarb]

the high end heatsinks are pretty cool, but if you aren't really "into" heatsinks, something like the coolermaster hyper 212 would be more than enough. it's only $30 with free shipping and provides more than enough performance to silently run a quad at 4 ghz.

even the coolermaster hyper TX3, $15 with free shipping, would be up for the job. a 92mm heat tower with 4 or more pipes is really all you need and there's no reason to make a song and dance of it unless you've got a 130W CPU and are going for 4+ ghz. getting a $15 heatsink for a 3.8 GHz tricore has appeal to it, and the $40-60 you save over a noctua/TRUE/V8 or something is another 2GB of RAM or a video upgrade.

 

[james 1]

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2476&page=4

Frostytech is the place to go for any info about cooling.

Thax dude, I was looking at a H50 but after reading that the zalam does not look like a half bad bet, the only thing that puts me of the zalman is that it makes a lot more noise than the other coolers and a customer from ebuyer said

“only draw back on am3 is the fan cant face rear exhaust fan it points downn towards graphics card”
can anyone confirm this?

 

[aigomorla]

This thread belongs in my section.

Please keep this section limited to CPU's and OVERCLOCKING.

NOT COOLING.

AT's Cases and Cooling Section
http://forums.anandtech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Do people hate me?
Why do you guys give mark so much work?

 

[james 1]

This thread belongs in my section.

Please keep this section limited to CPU's and OVERCLOCKING.

NOT COOLING.

AT's Cases and Cooling Section
http://forums.anandtech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Do people hate me?
Why do you guys give mark so much work?

lol, soz for the mix up dude.

 

[shaolin95]

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2476&page=4

Frostytech is the place to go for any info about cooling.

Please Frostytech is the LAST place you want to go if you want real useful info.

Top 3 ones:

Noctua NH-D14
Megahalems
VenomousX

 

[james 1]

Does the Prolimatech Megahalems over there in the U.S do AM3?, because the only one i can find over here in the U.K only does AM2

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I'm running a V8 and it's very quiet and very effective. I don't overclock but my machine barely goes over idle temps at full load with the cooler on minimum setting. Plus it looks awesome

 

[james 1]

I'm running a V8 and it's very quiet and very effective. I don't overclock but my machine barely goes over idle temps at full load with the cooler on minimum setting. Plus it looks awesome

well thats the funny thing i looked at the v8, but all of the shops say that they only got AM2+ support in the spec and its funny cause i got what looks like the same mobo as you is that a Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

well thats the funny thing i looked at the v8, but all of the shops say that they only got AM2+ support in the spec and its funny cause i got what looks like the same mobo as you is that a Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G?

Similar mobo, mine is an M4A79XTD Evo. It fits just fine on AM3, I had to ask about that on this forum too because you're right, it only says AM2+. Very annoying.

 

[james 1]

Similar mobo, mine is an M4A79XTD Evo. It fits just fine on AM3, I had to ask about that on this forum too because you're right, it only says AM2+. Very annoying.

Hmm if that is true I may well take another look at the V8 there’s a local shop and the dude that works there might give me a good deal.

How easy was it too fit?

 

[Alienwho]

My X3 720 @ 3.4Ghz idle with a Sunbeam CCF.
http://drop.io/jmmhxhj
On load it hovers at around 39C.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Fitting the V8 requires you to remove the motherboard (unless your case has a hole in the motherboard tray) so fitting is a bit of a drama, but no big deal if you have some experience in building PCs. Other than having to remove the mobo the install is easy and well documented.

 

[james 1]

Ok I have made a list of the coolers which I think will do the job for me and I given reasons for and against for each of them.

Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme- its ranked 3rd in the rankings by frostytech and it hardly makes any noise compared to other coolers plus it’s really cheap.

Coolermaster V8- I reckon it looks the best out the lot and it performs very well in keeping the cpu cool but it does make a bit of noise (on high).

Corsair Hydro H50- well this was the cooler I had in mind before I posted this tread, the reason I still might want to get this is that it is ultra quiet and its corsair a quality name, but it is the most expensive and the case temp would go up because the radiator would be blowing hot air back into the case.

Zalman CNPS10X Extreme- this is one the long shot I only put this in because it beats the Tuniq by 0.3 and it would look good with my blue fans.

Can you guys give me your opinion on which you think is the best one?

 

[Alienwho]

Seriously dude there is no such thing as the best one. Buy the cheapest/coolest looking/most convenient one for you and call it good. They're all good coolers and will all perform as well as your chip can handle.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Can't go wrong with any of them. Regarding the noise on the V8, it's very quiet at low but gets rather noisy on high.