Best Heatsink/Fan for 1.6a?

[Downgrade]

Getting ready to order a 1.6a Northwood, TH7II-RAID, (2) 256mb Samsung 16 device Rimm's (would like to see 533fsb out of this setup), and was wondering if the retail Heatsink/Fan is enough cooling or should I order a different Heatsink/Fan (if so what Heatsink/Fan)? Also, I'm assuming some Artic Silver is mandatory?

 

[Drakkhen]

Well, alot of people have seen great overclocks with the standard HS/F combo. I have gotten my 1.6A up to 2.4 with retail HS/F combo.

Good luck!

 

[chickendinner]

the avc sunflower is a fine hs/fan and it looks cool. tho lots of people use stock. and artic silver I,II,III are a lot better than stock.

 

[Rkonster]

Yeah, a lot of people have been doing alright with the stock fans, as mentioned above. The thing about the AVC sunflower is that it is louder than the stock fan. You might want to take that into consideration.

 

[lastig21]

The avc fan is still a quiet fan, at least to me. I don't think the sound difference is enough of an issue to warrant that as the deciding factor.

 

[LarryJoe]

Downgrade - glad to see you pulled the trigger on the TH7II. I agree with lastig21, the AVC fan is barely noticable, especially if you have other case fans.

I would just use the stock fan, but remove the thermal tape and put AS3 on it.

 

[jasonja]

I'm running my machine with the motherboard sitting on the desk and Sunflower is 3 to 4 times louder than the stock fan was... the stock fan was silent... my Sunflower fan whines like nuts. Perhaps in a case it won't be as noticeable, but right now it's very loud.

 

[Zap]

Yes the Sunflower fan is louder, but as others have said, it isn't that noticeable once inside a case with other fans going.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Another vote for the Sunflower.

I Can't notice mine...

 

[KenAF]

If you want a quiet/silent system, avoid the Sunflower. If you've already got all sorts of other fans in your case, and they aren't Panaflos running at 7volts...then you probably won't notice (depending on your sensitivity to higher pitched noise).

 

[bocamojo]

I've read some reviews on some socket 478 heatsinks, and I would say if you're looking for performance, the sunflower is probably your best bet. Also, the Thermaltake Volcano is a very good HSF. It runs a few degrees hotter than the sunflower, a few degrees cooler than the stock Intel HSF, and it's nearly as quiet as the Intel HSF (much quieter than the sunflower). I picked up the PAL8942, because I wanted to be able to play around with the fans, and I like the size of the heatsink, with a very good size copper core. I ordered it with a 32cfm / 28dba ADDA fan, but since it fits a standard 80mm fan, I can just slap a Panaflo on there if the I want to reduce the noise level. I'm running my 1.6A @ 2.13 and my temps are 34C idle and 45C full load (prime95).

Edit - Forgot to mention my CPU vCore is @ 1.55. The system was running @ around 40C full load (prime95) @ 1.5v, but wasn't fully stable (prime95 would error out after about 30 minutes to an hour), so I gave the P4 a little more juice, and that solved the problem. This change did result in a 5C increase in temps at full load though. Also, I'm using Arctic Silver III...

 

[Downgrade]

Thanks all, new parts will be here today-1.6a,TH7II-RAID,(2)256mb Samsung 16 device & ASIII. I think I'll try the stock HS/F, then if needed go with the Sunflower(might as well get max cooling).BTW to complete the system-(2)40gb WD in RAID 0, 60gb WD, 7500 AIW, 24x10x40 Sony, 56x IO Magic, 19'' G-400 Sony.

 

[LarryJoe]

Sounds like a nice system. I tried RAID 0 on mine with 2 brand-spankin new 30GB Maxtors. Three weeks after I finished the system, I rebooted normally after an install or something and BOTH drives were totally trashed. I mean RMA trashed, unformattable etc. It could have been heat as I had the drives packaged in and touching each other, who knows. I decided to bag the RAID 0 and installed a new 40GB screamer as a single IDE drive. So, word of advice keep those drives separated with good airflow. RAID 0 generates some serious heat.