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best HSF under 50 bucks?

Actually I have seen reviews that stated the xp90copper as well as the xp120 are as good.....

Just my 2 cookies worth!!
:cookie::cookie:
 
maybe for single core, also at the expense of higher cfm fans

for dual core, the typhoon will accept the higher heatload much better

the big typhoon is QUIET
 
Swiftech MCX6400-V. You can find it around $50 (usually a buck or two less). You will need to supply a fan (80 or 90/92mm).

Tests show the 6400-V is superior to the XP-90. And I can vouch for that.

Before someone asks, Here is one such review.
 
Pabster, that line of heatsinks got rave reviews several years ago. They are very good
but they allways reminded me of spent mandrels from pop-rivets 🙂

If fed dirty air I would imagine that the crud that would build up at the base of the pronges
would not be easy to clean w/o removing the heatsink. At least with fins the crud is near the top. Prolly why they are so inexpensive now.

Just my two cents, not a running gun fight 😛


GY
 
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Pabster, that line of heatsinks got rave reviews several years ago. They are very good
but they allways reminded me of spent mandrels from pop-rivets 🙂

If fed dirty air I would imagine that the crud that would build up at the base of the pronges
would not be easy to clean w/o removing the heatsink. At least with fins the crud is near the top. Prolly why they are so inexpensive now.

Just my two cents, not a running gun fight 😛


GY
Click to expand...

Understood, and duly noted 😀

That said, I've used Swiftech's since way back when (anyone remember the MCX370?) and I've never once had a dust issue.
 
Originally posted by: SonicIce
XP90+fan? some zalman one?
Click to expand...
I always HATE to see anyone use the term "best" for much of anything worth discussing, not arguing, about. For HSF's, the term "highest efficiency" is a better term to use. But tonight, I have been looking at an HSF that can only be described as a "best I've seen" deal because of its looks. I put a Gigabyte Neon HSF in a new system I'm putting together, and it may not be the coolest in terms of temperatures, but it really has cool looks!

It is only in the past year or so that "windows" (SIDE-panel window openings) started appearing on low-price boxes (or at least what I consider being within my budget), and in the case of my Kingwin 424, on a mid-price box I got for a low sale price. I haven't been to any Lanparties. I don't know anyone personally who has. But I decided to have some eye-candy fun anyway, and now the dark corner where the CPU and HSF sit inside the Kingwin has a sad look, like *it* needs some light also!

I went Googling for another of these pretties, and no one much seemed to have them in stock. That's too bad. The one place I did find the Socket A version still available was eCost (if there was a picture, I'll tuck a URL in here in a moment). It's rather large, and I had to shave 1/8" off the top edge of the shroud to clear the psu in the cramped Broadway Computers box this one is being built in (another one of those with a blow hole that isn't usable unless you accept the low quality psu that is included, because a regular psu and the blowhole are in conflict).

OK, hang on (you'll never know you had to wait, but so what!) Well, as I halfway recalled, eCost didn't have a photo with their listing! (There was a listing at Excaliber, at a much more reasonable $22.50, for the K8 version, link now added.) It's a VERY bright blue "neon" color translucent 90 mm fan with a round shroud, not the usual square box frame. It seems to be cooling pretty well so far, but I have an XP-M under it, still running at stock settings (I just got started with it), and those run very cool anyway.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Gigabyte_GH-...or/GH-ED821-LC/partinfo-id-554104.html

P.S. I got twitchy and swapped the fan part of the Neon 7 heat sink onto the bottom of the Tt Volcano Extreme 12 in the Kingwin Box on the 400 fsb XP 3000 in there. Looks real good!


😀
 
Originally posted by: Pabster
Swiftech MCX6400-V. You can find it around $50 (usually a buck or two less). You will need to supply a fan (80 or 90/92mm).

Tests show the 6400-V is superior to the XP-90. And I can vouch for that.

Before someone asks, Here is one such review.
Click to expand...

It is a good cooler I have one. Used it on my 3500+ oc'd, BUT to get good performance from it, your fan (80mm or 92mm w/ adaptor) must be a high rpm'r=LOUD. You can get equal performance from the XP120 (what I now have) and almost no noise. The Cu base on that Swifty is almost 1/2" thick lol. I think its too thick as Cu can't release heat as fast as Al. It is massive and the weight shows it. I just wish TR would finish their HS bases like Swift does. Op, the xp90 and good fan is a tough aircooler to beat.
 
Originally posted by: Pabster
Swiftech MCX6400-V. You can find it around $50 (usually a buck or two less). You will need to supply a fan (80 or 90/92mm).

Tests show the 6400-V is superior to the XP-90. And I can vouch for that.

Before someone asks, Here is one such review.

not burst your bubble pabster but you need to read that review...Niether one is Superior to the other....
Check the graphs for yourself!
You will see you mistated the actual results which at best are a mixed bag!!

But yes the Swiftech is a good cooler!!

Just trying to add a semblance of order to an otherwise skewered interpretation of the reults!! 🙂
 
Actually, no matter how you interpret the results, the Swiftech and the XP-90 are within 1 or 2C of each other.

But I prefer the Swiftech for 2 reasons: First, the mounting system. By far the easiest one ever. And very secure. Secondly, the polished base. Never have I seen a heatsink that looks as nice as a Swiftech right out of the box.
 
XP90 or XP90C, but if it can fit, this one is better:

Improved basic XP-120 design

I have one sitting here. Two or more reviews substantiate each other on how this unit affects the "idle-to-load" spread on temperatures. I actually anticipate a fairly precise estimate of reduced load temperature versus my XP-120, once the thermal paste sets.

Of course -- with the wingspan, you may want better access to your mobo -- so "XP-90."

The Zalman coolers do an adequate job, and were among the best-rated before these ThermalRight models. But they weigh too much; they take up too much space; and for every model Zalman cooler, there is a ThermalRight cooler which produces lower load temperatures.

I'd go with the Panaflo fan, too.

I tire of selling ThermalRight to the masses, but I expect a lot, and I got a lot.

We waited long for test data on the ThermalTake Big Typhoon, but it is now time to put it to rest, also. For cooling, ThermalRight leaves it in the dust.

Kiwi does have a valid point: if it does a better than adequate job and looks great, nobody could fault you for choosing it.

Me -- I just want minimum load temperatures. If I can get them by running a fan below 2,000 rpm and less than 35 decibels, great. But there are a lot of ways to stifle noise.

Anyone seen reviews using fans with at least 70 CFM throughput on the Scythe Ninja, or what thermal resistance occurred under those conditions? The Ninja seems to perform as well as the Zalman 9500 or ThermalRight SI-120 with the fan turned down below 40 CFM. Also, Asetek also makes a line of heatpipe coolers, but I see very little in the way of hard bench-test results. I should probably look again.

So . . . . anyone seen reviews on those suckers that say something about their minimum thermal resistance specs?
 
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
If fed dirty air I would imagine that the crud that would build up at the base of the pronges
would not be easy to clean w/o removing the heatsink. At least with fins the crud is near the top. Prolly why they are so inexpensive now.
Click to expand...

Not completely true. A friend of mine had an overclocked Athlon 1.0GHz (remember those AXIA cores?) running nicely at 1.4GHz with a Swiftech heatsink and some high RPM 80x38mm fan. After a long time he asked me my opinion as to why his system now had to be underclocked and is barely stable. We all know where this is going, right? The heatsink was clogged. Now, there was dust bunnies all throughout the pins all the way down to the base so those must have gotten there first, but what caused the final indignity was the top of the pins right underneath the fan... was completely coated with a layer of dirt. Think of laying a cloth over the heatsink pins - I basically took off the fan and peeled off the top layer.

I currently have an Alpha heatsink with a similar design, but designed with a shroud so that the fan pulls air UP through the heatsink, not pushing air down into it. Dirt collects on the pins at the bottom edge of the shroud.
 
It's hard to beat the performance of the Zalman 7000Cu @ $30. The most advanced air-cooled CPU will lower the temp by another 5C. That's only relevant if you have that perfect overclocking CPU.

Bottomline, you don't need a fancy CPU cooler if you're not going to overclock the system by more than 40%.
 
I recently picked up the Scythe Katana to replace the Intel stock cooler of a Pentium D 830 in an Antec P180. The fan of the Intel stock cooler of a Penium D was constantly running at 4000 RPM. With the Intel Stock cooler, EasyTune reports the idle temperature of 48 degrees Celsius. With the Katana cooler, EasyTune reports the idle temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. I was happy with the significant reduction in noise pollution and the performance of the Katana. The Katana was also much lighter than the Intel stock cooler.

Specifications for the Katana:
http://www.scythe-eu.com/usa/katana.php

The Katana costs $32.95 USD from:
http://www.bestbyteinc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HSK-SCY-KTN

A review of the Katana can be found at:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=scythekatana_1
http://www.gamergod.com/hw_review.cfm?hw_id=87

Just my two cents.
 
A couple month's ago, Maximum PC compared some HSF combos, and the best one they came up with was the Cooler Master Hyper 6+. The XP-90 was the runner up, but the Hyper 6+ ran a little cooler, at a slightly lower dBA.
 
Ever since I found out about Scythe....I would have to say they are an impressive company that so far unlike others have not stooped to hype to sell a cooler!!

There cooolers are as good as the best....

In fact reading various reviews they sometimes bench better...

Still a Zalman Boy!!

Just giving credit where credit is due!!!
 
Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
Kiwi does have a valid point: if it does a better than adequate job and looks great, nobody could fault you for choosing it.
Click to expand...
I didn't find a good photo the first time I added my comment about the bling factor brought by the brightness and electrically-blue (very attractive) color of Gigabyte's "Neon" heat sink designs. They have expanded the number of similar units, but the newest don't include K7 models. "Excaliber" has the requisite photo in listing they are running ($22.50 plus $4.50 +/-), although the main photo they picked doesn't really do it justice. I haven't made any special effort after that first disappointment to find a second Socket A source at a more attractive price for this model heat sink.

I'm curious, though, about the comparative sizes and efficiency of the "-97's" vs. the XP90. There is a similarity in the designs, although I haven't ever put up a split window with one on each half to see how sizes and shapes relate to each other.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Gigabyte_GH-...or/GH-ED821-LC/partinfo-id-554104.html


😕
 
In terms of cooling potential, how would you guys rate the TT Big Typhoon, Scythe Ninja, Zalman 9500 from lowest to highest cooling potential (highest to lower temps 😛)
 
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