Cooling for CPU advice

[Nay]

Hello!

I would really appreciate some advice on a new water cooling/fan for my cpu.

Im using the Phenom II x6 1090T, and the stock fan that comes with it is just too loud for me. I shouldve actually changed it a long time ago but ive been too lazy.
Other than that, the fan works quite well as in cooling down the cpu, but the noise is too much for me to take.

So i checked around a bit and i cant decide between water cooling or another fan that doesnt produce noise as a departing plane.
But i have no idea which one are good at what, the pros & cons, and would really appreciate some help and advice!

I checked some fans:
Noctua CPU-Kylare NH-U9B SE2
Noctua CPU-Kylare NH-D14
Noctua NH-C14 CPU

And also read people that recommended corsairs water cooling.

But once again i have no idea what to look at/whats better.

My main goal is basically to get a much more silent cooler, because this stock one is very very loud. But also one that that has good-great cooling ability.

Im looking at something thats around ~70$

Im using the Asus Socket AM3 (M4A785D-M PRO), which is quite tiny, and my case isnt that big either (looking to buy a new one though). My ram sticks arent low profile either, as i checked some fans, they seem quite giant and dont really know if it would fit either?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Liquid_Static]

Noctua is known for having quiet coolers, while I believe a lot of people complain the h100 is quite loud.

 

[Liquid_Static]

That being said I have a h100 and love it...

 

[Nay]

Guess it might be a noctuas, but i got no idea which one i should get.
how loud is the h100? Are the other corsairs ones loud?
It might also be that im traumazied by the phenom stock fan since it really can go through loud music if it runs on the max

Thanks

 

[Smartazz]

Guess it might be a noctuas, but i got no idea which one i should get.
how loud is the h100? Are the other corsairs ones loud?
It might also be that im traumazied by the phenom stock fan since it really can go through loud music if it runs on the max

Thanks

I have an H80 and it's quiet. I can't hear it over the rest of my fans which are relatively quiet themselves.

 

[Puppies04]

If you aren't OCing the hell out of that 1090T then you will be able to leave the H100 on low fan speed and noise really won't be an issue unless you want a completely silent system (which I don't think you do from your posts)

 

[Wall Street]

Also worth mentioning - if you are upgrading from the stock cooler, you don't need to spend $70 to get a quiet cooler. Cheaper heatsinks like the Arctic Freezer 7 and the Cooler Master Hyper 212 (+ or Evo) are much much quieter than the stock. I would only use a Noctua heatsink or Corsair water cooler if you are planning for some significant overclocking.

 

[Nay]

Thanks for the fast replies!
Theres so many different ones, such a dilemma on what to get.
The Artic freezer 7 is definately much cheaper than the rest of them (~24$), where as the others ranges from 50-70$
How does the artic freezer 7 handle overclocking? Im thinking if i would overclock some in the future, id get a reasonable good one so i dont have to change again later on
So many questions here, sorry i got a lot to learn hehe

What are the pros and cons about having water cooling or fan though?
I get jelly when i see the prices on like newegg but then seeing they dont ship to sweden T_T...

Thanks again!

 

[Idontcare]

Noctua is known for having quiet coolers, while I believe a lot of people complain the h100 is quite loud.

It's true, I took sounds measurements for both my H100 and NH-D14, stock fans are loud but get the job done.

If you want performance without the noise then simply replace the stock fans with some nice low-rpm pwm fans and set them to run from your mobo's CPU fan header so they only ramp up in rpm when needed as your CPU gets hot.

 

[BrightCandle]

While there is some variation in noise for fans at the same RPM in general its normally fair to assume that the RPM will determine the noise level roughly speaking. Some fans have a nicer tone such as the Scythe Gentle Typhoon and some of the Noctua fans but in absolute terms they don't really outperform something basic made by Yate Loon.

Quiet is simply a factor of rotation speed, so any fan will do as long as its running on low speed with a fan controller or the 7V/5V mod on a reasonable fan (<1800rpm).

 

[Nay]

Oh i see thanks! interesting thread with tests u had there! Although i didnt understand quite some stuff =P
So basically ill try looking for a fan with a lower rotation speed, that manage to keep the cpu cool at that, how do i set them to run from my mobos CPU fan header though?

Im debating on maybe getting the D14, as it seems really good, and while i upgrade my PC in long periods, i think it should last pretty long and good till the future? So i dont have to get a new one later on if i decide to OC etc?

Thanks again!

 

[sm625]

Why not just get a ARCTIC Alpine 64 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler at newegg for $15? If you're happy with stock cooling performance but just want quiet, then you're looking at solutions that are too expensive.

 

[Nay]

Oh something like this?
http://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/hardvara/161974-arctic_cooling_alpine_64_pro_cpu-kylare
Sadly newegg doesnt ship to where i live (in europe T_T)

The cooling performance would be about the same as the stock one in my case? Sure is a much cheaper alternative!

 

[mikeymikec]

I tried the Arctic Freezer 13 on a P4 3.4GHz prescott (which with the stock HSF went between 62C and 89C), it was virtually silent and brought temperatures down massively. I started a thread about it here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2282571&highlight=

I also have a Ph2X6 and while the stock cooler does a reasonably decent job (33C, 1691rpm, during winter-nearly-spring 5C outside), it could be quieter, and if I have the money at some point I'd get the Freezer 13. Easy to fit, no board removal required. My only misgiving about doing it is that I'm sure my graphics card is still making a certain amount of noise and so therefore the new HSF's effect might be minimal.

 

[Wall Street]

Oh something like this?
http://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/hardvara/161974-arctic_cooling_alpine_64_pro_cpu-kylare
Sadly newegg doesnt ship to where i live (in europe T_T)

The cooling performance would be about the same as the stock one in my case? Sure is a much cheaper alternative!

Using the site you linked, I sorted by "Mest Salda" (most popular) and the Freezer 7 Pro (169 kr), Hyper 212 Evo (299 kr) and Noctua NH-D14 (679 kr) are at the top of the list. All will be quieter than your stock fan. From lowest to highest price is also lowest to highest performance. All of them would allow for a modest overclock, but he NH-D14 would allow you to push your CPU as far as you would be willing to go on air if your aren't afraid of voltages and whatnot. If I were you, since you are already using an almost 3 year old CPU, I would get one of the two cheaper fans and save money for a future upgrade.

When you do get a new fan, you should plug the four pin fan into your motherboard instead of using the adapter to power it from a molex connector. Then go into the motherboard bios and make sure the CPU fan speed setting is set to "auto" or "smart fan" or language to that extent.

 

[fyb3r]

EK Is supposed to be releasing a new prebuilt WC setup thats going to be pretty decent for around ~110$.

If silent is the goal WC is the best.

 

[sm625]

Oh something like this?
http://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/hardvara/161974-arctic_cooling_alpine_64_pro_cpu-kylare
Sadly newegg doesnt ship to where i live (in europe T_T)

The cooling performance would be about the same as the stock one in my case? Sure is a much cheaper alternative!

Yes that would be fine. $12-$13 USD? It is better than stock, and is quiet.

 

[coffeejunkee]

I have an H80 and it's quiet. I can't hear it over the rest of my fans which are relatively quiet themselves.

I really don't understand how people can say this. The H80 comes with not one but two 2600rpm fans. No matter how good the fan, 2600rpm is simply loud as hell. Now they can go down to a minimum of 1300rpm, but that's still not very quiet and quite easy to hear, unless maybe you play music all day or have a tv nearby. I'm not trying to dis the H80, it has its place but that's not in a quiet system.

Nay: from the site you link, I would probably get the Freezer 13 Pro, it has a pwm fan with max 1350 and min 300 rpm. That will be really quiet idle and not too noisy under load. The BeQuiet Shadowrock Pro SR1 is another good choice, although a bit louder with max 1700rpm, but will likely cool better too though. Noctua NH-D14 is also good, but doesn't have pwm fans and also blocks ram slots. If you can find Thermalright Macho somewhere that would be another good choice.

 

[mikeymikec]

+1

The last time I considered ~2500rpm to be quiet was back in the days of Athlon XP CPUs. After building my current Ph2 rig (direct upgrade from an Athlon XP setup), I was pleased to be able to turn the volume on my hi-fi down when listening to music.

Recent Intel CPUs and stock fans in my experience typically run at 1000rpm, that's pretty damn quiet.

 

[Idontcare]

I really don't understand how people can say this. The H80 comes with not one but two 2600rpm fans. No matter how good the fan, 2600rpm is simply loud as hell. Now they can go down to a minimum of 1300rpm, but that's still not very quiet and quite easy to hear, unless maybe you play music all day or have a tv nearby. I'm not trying to dis the H80, it has its place but that's not in a quiet system.

Nay: from the site you link, I would probably get the Freezer 13 Pro, it has a pwm fan with max 1350 and min 300 rpm. That will be really quiet idle and not too noisy under load. The BeQuiet Shadowrock Pro SR1 is another good choice, although a bit louder with max 1700rpm, but will likely cool better too though. Noctua NH-D14 is also good, but doesn't have pwm fans and also blocks ram slots. If you can find Thermalright Macho somewhere that would be another good choice.

NH-D14 shouldn't be blocking ram slots unless you have those silly tall ram coolers on your dimms.

Here's my D14 sitting over-top (plenty of clearance) my GSkill DDR3-2133 4GB sticks:

 

[Puppies04]

Nay: from the site you link, I would probably get the Freezer 13 Pro, it has a pwm fan with max 1350 and min 300 rpm. That will be really quiet idle and not too noisy under load.

I can attest to the 13 pro being quiet, I have mine set very aggressively on a custom CPU temp curve and it is barely audible inside my HAF X. I have all the fan bays in the case populated set on low speeds so they are whisper quiet aswell and the only time I hear my CPU cooler is when running IBT or similar.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Noctua NH-D14 is also good, but doesn't have pwm fans.

Instead, Noctua comes with adapters, so you can fix the speed, if necessary. If you choose the ULNA adapter, you will never hear the fan during your computer experience, it's much nicer than, say, to have an atrociously noisy fan coming down in revs, say CM 212+ (PWM fan).

D14 is the best air cooler, I've had. Even passively, it can dissipate quite a lot of heat on its own. Even though, I'm now running C12P SE14 (changed to a smaller case).

The build quality and the service is second to none.

 

[Nay]

Thanks a lot for all the replies and tips!
Seems like its between the arctic cooling freezer 13 or the D14, but as you pointed out, my specs are prob quite old already. Times goes by so fast, didnt realize it been so long since i got my cpu already =P
Nice pics IDC, thanks! Think the D14 would actually fit, iirc that mines not the really tall ones.
A little easier to pick one now with all advice.
I think for my needs, the arctic cooling freezer 13 seem to be enough. How does it handle OC:ing though, say if i would decide to later on?

Thanks again!

 

[Deltaechoe]

I'll add to the NH-D14 praises, it is by far the best non custom cooler I have ever used and definitely the best air cooler. It's quiet and reasonably priced for it's performance, you can't go wrong with purchasing one of these

 

[mikeymikec]

I think for my needs, the arctic cooling freezer 13 seem to be enough. How does it handle OC:ing though, say if i would decide to later on?

Unless someone has virtually the same CPU as you and overclocks to the same extent, I think the only answer to that is 'try it and see'.

There's the Freezer 13 Pro as well, but I was put off that one by the titchy fan at the base (which is supposed to cool the heat pipes and base quicker), because in my experience, titchy fans = premature failures and whiny noises, but I'm probably wrong in this case.