C2D LGA775 heatsink recommendation?

[Fallengod]

Ok. Well put together a new C2D build recently. I planned on going with a cheapish solution but that didnt work out so well.

Anyways I need some help deciding. I am looking to spend really no more than $35-$45 total shipped(less if possible). I have been looking towards the TR Ultra 120(probably more than $45), the Scythe Ninja, Scythe MINE, scythe Infinity. Any other recommendations to consider would be helpful. What do you think the best buy here is?

I was kind of leaning towards the Scythe Mine or maybe the NINJA since they are a little more on the cheapish side. I am not sure on the infinity.

Also, is there any reason to go with one based on the mounting? Is the bolt thru kit heatsinks going to have better contact perhaps? After messing around with the Stock heatsink and ultra90, im not so sure the pushpin mounting system is that great. My temps are terrible right now with both.

Thanks.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Fallengod
Ok. Well put together a new C2D build recently. I planned on going with a cheapish solution but that didnt work out so well.

Anyways I need some help deciding. I am looking to spend really no more than $35-$45 total shipped(less if possible). I have been looking towards the TR Ultra 120(probably more than $45), the Scythe Ninja, Scythe MINE, scythe Infinity. Any other recommendations to consider would be helpful. What do you think the best buy here is?

I was kind of leaning towards the Scythe Mine or maybe the NINJA since they are a little more on the cheapish side. I am not sure on the infinity.

Also, is there any reason to go with one based on the mounting? Is the bolt thru kit heatsinks going to have better contact perhaps? After messing around with the Stock heatsink and ultra90, im not so sure the pushpin mounting system is that great. My temps are terrible right now with both.

Thanks.

The ultra120 extreme is the best heatsink out there, but it has one hugh problem. The base is bowed, and the mounts are very not acceptable for this situation.

The next best choice would be a tuniq tower, which has proven to be a absolute monster air heat sink. If noise isnt an issue, a high cfm fan on the CM Gemini has no equal yet.

If budget isnt an issue, i would wait a bit for thermalrights IFX-14. It looks very promising however, its very big. Almost 2x ultras.

I would highly advise you to stay away from Coolit's liquid cooling system no matter how tempting you get. And also that you stay away from the monsoon vigor, or any Air TEC product. The reason is to obtain thermalrights Ultra120, lapped, and mount moded temps. The Vigor monsoon would need to get EXTREMELY loud.

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah. Like I said, im not looking for those extreme heatsinks that either huge, weigh alot or cost over $50. I wouldnt even consider the Ultra 120 extreme. Ive seen many weird reports on them lately. Maybe Tuniq tower if I could find one in the $40 range used.

Edit: after doing some reading, It seems like the cooler master hyper tx or scythe ninja or mine might be a good pick.

 

[Henny]

The Scythe HSF's do a very good job (Mine, Ninja and Infinity). I use an Infinity and I rarely see temps >30 degrees with a C2D OC'd with 1.475 Vcore. Even with a torture test its stays <40. It's also very quiet which is an important consideration for me. (fan is set for about 1000 rpm).

I've been surprised by the most recent Hexus review which shows the Mine better then the Tuniq Tower. It might be worth reconsidering a Mine since they're about $35.

I'd say the Scythe HSF's do a good job if you want quiet and good cooling.

The TR Ultra 120 Ex had such good potential but I'd avoid it since they're having so many quality problems. $70 for warped base, bad mount and no fan!!!

If quality and ultimate performance are important and noise is secondary then Tuniq Tower is still top dog.

Enzotech is interesting but I prefer the tower style HSF's.

Best bang for the buck is TR Ultra 90. It does a very good job and is <$20. It'll do fine with an overclocked C2D.

TR IFX-14 and Ultima may be interesting but TR has a tainted reputation right now.

 

[Elfear]

My vote goes for the Ninja. I've used that sink in 9-10 builds and it has always impressed me with how quiet it is and how cool it keeps the cpu. It's $43 shipped from Jab-Tech and you can also pick up 120mm Yate Loon fans for $2.50-2.75 at the same time, if you're in need of some case fans.

There are better heatsinks out there but you'll pay a lot more for a couple degrees difference.

 

[Daverino]

The real question is 'why do you want to replace your HS'? The heatsink you will choose will depend heavily on whether your goal is to reduce noise or increase your overclock. If you do not care about noise or overclocking, there's no real good reason to replace the stock HS. If I had an idea on what your goals are for your system, it'd be easier to give a recommendation.

 

[Fallengod]

Its funny you should recommend the Ultra90. I thought the same thing about it being the best bang 4 buck. Here is basically my problem. For some reason, I am having odd temps. First with the stock intel HSF, and now with the Ultra90. I have a E6400 and abit quadgt. At stock speed and volts, my temps with the stock heatsink were about 50C idle... So I figured ok, the stock heatsink must just suck. I bought an Ultra90 here off forums then and figured that should do it. Well, I installed it and my temps are still 50C idle. No change. Odd yes? I do have fairly high room temps at around 74-76F normally. Also, I am using a 120mm fan on the Ultra90, which I hoped would not be an issue, but perhaps it is.

This is the reason im looking for something better than the ultra90. I need to drop my temps. I mean, I am already at 50C idle and I havnt even overclocked yet...... Id rather buy a whole new heatsink than spend $10 on a 92mm fan you know? Im not convinced the 92mm fan would be some huge 10C improvement over a 120mm anyways.

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: Fallengod
Its funny you should recommend the Ultra90. I thought the same thing about it being the best bang 4 buck. Here is basically my problem. For some reason, I am having odd temps. First with the stock intel HSF, and now with the Ultra90. I have a E6400 and abit quadgt. At stock speed and volts, my temps with the stock heatsink were about 50C idle... So I figured ok, the stock heatsink must just suck. I bought an Ultra90 here off forums then and figured that should do it. Well, I installed it and my temps are still 50C idle. No change. Odd yes? I do have fairly high room temps at around 74-76F normally. Also, I am using a 120mm fan on the Ultra90, which I hoped would not be an issue, but perhaps it is.

This is the reason im looking for something better than the ultra90. I need to drop my temps. I mean, I am already at 50C idle and I havnt even overclocked yet...... Id rather buy a whole new heatsink than spend $10 on a 92mm fan you know? Im not convinced the 92mm fan would be some huge 10C improvement over a 120mm anyways.

If you're at 50 degrees idle at stock settings then something is definately wrong. I use an Ultra 90 in a second C2D system and it's usually around 30 degrees and that's OC'd and with Vcore at about 1.4V.

I bet the IHS on your CPU is not flat or your case ventilation is poor. Maybe your temp monitor is wrong. Buying a different HSF will only get you a few degrees so it's unlikely to solve your problem.

 

[MotF Bane]

Want to stay really cheap? How does 25.63 sound?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835207001
I use that, it's quiet and works really well. It's a little bigger than an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, performs about the same (it's not lapped very much, and the fins aren't polished). For that price range, you can't beat it.

Otherwise, Ninja for your price range.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I know its off-topic. But I cant wait to see ThermalRight's Ultima line. It's been shown fairly clearly that most of the cooling bottle neck isn't in the fins, but in the amount and size of the heatpipes pulling heat away. There simply isn't enough heat for those fins to take yet. The cram-all-the-heatpipes-you-can approach to the Ultima line seems to be working very well for it on the Ultima line.

 

[Fallengod]

If you're at 50 degrees idle at stock settings then something is definately wrong. I use an Ultra 90 in a second C2D system and it's usually around 30 degrees and that's OC'd and with Vcore at about 1.4V.

I bet the IHS on your CPU is not flat or your case ventilation is poor. Maybe your temp monitor is wrong. Buying a different HSF will only get you a few degrees so it's unlikely to solve your problem.

I dont know what to tell you. I know.... I need to pull the cpu out and stick a razor on it and see if flatness might be a problem. That is my next step. I mounted the Ultra90 like 4 times now so I dont know what to say. The Heatsink itself gets fairly warm. I can feel the heatpipes at the very top and they are warm, so it seems to be making good contact. I dont know.......BLEH. I did buy the CPU off the forums, im hoping thats not why the person was selling it.

What is the ambience in that system though? See my room stays fairly warm. It is about 78F right now. I think that is part of it. Also, im using a 120mm fan when I should be using a 92mm I think. Im not going to spend $10 to get a 92mm fan so, id rather just sell it and get something else thats better anyways.

 

[Laminator]

I also bought an Ultra 90 off of the forums. I was looking for a cheap alternative to the Ultra 120 for overclocking my E6600. Here are my results from a few minutes ago, if you're interested. The Thermalright thermal paste has not settled yet but I doubt it will get much better.

My room is very warm - about 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I used an E6600 CPU on an MSI 975X motherboard and a Cooler Master Centurion 5 mid-tower case with the glass window (no side vent). Cables were tucked away, so they weren't a factor. I have the Ultra 90 positioned so that the long side is going up and down. I also may have put on a little too much thermal paste, but I used to cooler to smear it all around so that the excess paste is knocked off to the side of the contact point on the CPU. To get the load temperature, I put OCCT in the background, did some work on the computer, and checked back when the temperatures stopped rising.

The cooler uses the same pins as the stock cooler to stick itself to the motherboard, which means that the entire installation is toolless and does not require the removal of the motherboard. The pins are delicate, however, and will weaken/bend out of shape every time you remove and re-install the cooler. One of the pins on my cooler has broken but as long as you have two pins diagonal from one another intact, your cooler should be pretty firmly attached. Attaching the fan uses wire clips and the process is very easy and sturdy.

After testing every possible configuration with the positioning of the fan and cooler, I have found that the best results come from having the fan pulling air across the cooler and blowing out the rear of the case. If your power supply has a downward-facing fan, which mine does not, you may get better results with the cooler rotated so that the PSU fan blows into the cooler and the mounted fan is on the other side, pulling the air downward and through. Note that I am using a Vantec Tornado, so any other fan would probably yield results at least one or two degrees higher.

Without a Fan, E6600 @ 266MHz FSB (2.40GHz/1066MHz), 1.21v:

Idle: ~55 degrees
Load: Not Tested

The results are worse than the stock cooler. This is a given and consistent with the reviews I've read of the Ultra 90, so I wasn't surprised. I didn't dare test this thing at load, much less overclock. Even with a 120mm case fan a few inches away from the cooler pulling air out of the case, performance was unacceptable.

With a Vantec Tornado Fan, E6600 @ 266MHz FSB (2.40GHz/1066MHz), 1.21v:

Idle: 39-40 degrees
Load: 46-47 degrees

> For some reason the idle temperature is only a few degrees cooler than using the stock cooler. The load temperature is only 46 to 47 degrees, which is much better than the stock cooler.

With a Vantec Tornado Fan, E6600 @ 333MHz FSB (3.00GHz/1333MHz), 1.28v (completely stable):

Idle: 42 degrees
Load: 52 degrees

> At this overclock I get the same results as the stock cooler at stock speeds. Pretty good for exceeding the X6800 with second-tier equipment.

With a Vantec Tornado Fan, E6600 @ 360MHz FSB (3.25GHz/1444MHz), 1.38v (probably stable):

Idle: 46-47 degrees
Load: 59 degrees

> At these settings, the CPU goes up to 59 degrees under load but then stabilizes, fluctuating between 58 and 59 degrees. I am not comfortable with anything above 60 degrees for the C2D, although I am sure it can go a little higher with no problems.

Henny, can you check your settings? If you are getting temperatures in the 30's with 1.4v on the CPU, then I think I am doing something wrong as I have the most powerful 92mm fan available and I cannot get under 40 degrees idle at 1.28v.

 

[Fallengod]

Humm yeah, so im at least about 10C off lol..... You seem to have almost identical room ambience temps and have the same heatsink. Cant get a better comparison than that.

I may have a faulty sensor. Or I guess that would be two faulty sensors? lol. Im thinking of RMAing my mobo.

I checked my CPU, the IHS is flat so....

 

[Laminator]

Have you tried flipping the fan around? Depending on your case configuration, it may be better to push than pull (or vice versa) air through your cooler. It probably won't be a 10 degree difference, though. I use Core Temp to check temperatures, by the way.

What kind of motherboard do you have?

 

[Fallengod]

I am really intrigued by that Ultima90 thats supposed to be out soon. Maybe I should wait for that. Im very curious to see what that will be priced at. If its around $40, id be all over it.

My mobo is abit quadgt. Yeah id have to believe coretemp is right, I just dont get why my temps are so high at idle at stock speeds, when other people with the same ambience temps and same heatsink are 10C lower. Thats weird. I think temps are still plenty safe though. Not sure i should worry too much. After I stick a heatsink better than the ultra90 on it, I should be good to go.

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: Laminator
Henny, can you check your settings? If you are getting temperatures in the 30's with 1.4v on the CPU, then I think I am doing something wrong as I have the most powerful 92mm fan available and I cannot get under 40 degrees idle at 1.28v.

I'm sure the difference is the ambient temps. My room temps are usually between 65 and 68 and almost never >70.

Subtract approx. 10 degrees from your readings and we compare very closely.

 

[Laminator]

Heh heh heh...I just found out that my room is 80 to 90 degrees, not 75 to 80 degrees as previously thought. Needless to say, I am much more impressed with the performance of the cooler now.