Hi all. I'm thinking that I need to replace my stock Intel CPU cooler that came with my E8500 Core 2 Duo. I'm not a rabid overclocker, so I don't need to go crazy here. My one big desire is that I can replace the stock cooler without having to go through the hassle of removing the MB. I'm extremely busy right now and just don't have a lot of time to fuss with this. I'm good with popping off the old cooler, cleaning up the CPU and screwing on the new cooler if I can get away with it. I have an Antec P182 case, so there's a fair bit of headroom. My MB is a Gigabye GA-EP45-UD3P. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
There must have been a ton of posts and threads -- several to which I contributed -- about the Wolfdale, the GA-EP45-UD3P and the many cooler options.
First, it's not so much the idle temperature that matters -- it's the load temperature of most concern. If I wanted to compare your idle to my idle, I could only compare my TCase temperature on my E8600. I haven't even much looked at that sensor reading in months, but I think it's as high as 40C -- just over 100F. And the reason I can't compare my TJunction core temperatures arises from a minor flaw that appears here and there in a statistical sampling of those Wolfdales -- either the C0 or E0 steppings - but certainly the E0: Sometimes the TJunction sensors appear "stuck" on the idle temperature end. And Intel had posted a disclaimer: TJunction was not meant to accurately measure idle values. Once the temperature rises under load conditions above the stuck value (mine always reads 51C at idle), the sensors begin to register properly.
I can't even remember exactly what the thermal limit was -- I think it was close to 80C.
Now the reason I bring all this up -- and I love to talk as everybody knows! -- the E0 Wolfies over-clocked very well. Very well indeed. With the right mobo, a 20% overclock wouldn't require that much of a boost in VCore. It would be easy. It would bring the E8500 to around, ah . . . maybe 3.8 Ghz.
With that, I'd have to say that even a ThermalRight Ultima 90 -- a scaled-down version of the TRUE 120 -- would be more than sufficient. I think I have a Noctua cooler -- just a shade better than the TRUE -- on the E8600, and it's OC'd to 4.1 Ghz, or just under 25%.
But TR doesn't seem to show the Ultima 90 as a current product, no doubt having replaced it with something else.
So the final point being -- if you're not going to over-clock it, you could feel free to pick any number of coolers, but I'd still look at old and new comparison reviews. A cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 would be more than adequate for an over-clocking exercise, and almost unnecessary if you don't over-clock at all. You could also look at the Prolimatech Megahelem Revision B. But these coolers are going to cost you -- somewhere between $60 and $80.
I also have the UD3R version of the same motherboard, and it should be quite "over-clockable." Those are the "Ultra-Durables" owing to some . . . copper-layers, I think -- in the board -- with advantages that are various. Mine -- I use with an E8400 at stock settings for a WHS server . . .
But the big drawback: On the coolers I mentioned, you'd have to remove the mobo. There are only a few coolers I know of -- few of which I remember -- that have the Intel-type screw-devices that would allow you to do as you say . . .
EDIT: NOw that I remember, and if you don't mind the care and tedium that accompanies the strategy, I have indeed been able to install coolers with backplates (like the TRUE, Prolima, Noctua . . . etc.) without removing the mobo. Maybe -- in one case, I had to loosen the screws securing the mobo a bit. But here's the challenge: you have to use some flat object -- a plastic ruler, for instance -- to guide the backplate under the motherboard to a point where you have at least one of the screw-holes lined up with a hole in the mobo. Then you have to maneuver the backplate to line up the other screws; you would have to secure the backplate loosely with the first screw. That's the way I remember it.
