Fan and Heat Sink

[PaperScissorsStone]

I am going to purchase new PC parts at the weekend and I am currently unsure as to what fan and heat sink combo to get.

I have had bad experiences in the past with fans; my current one makes a horrific noise when the PC is turned on from cold. My last PC also had the exact same problem although it was not as loud.

I am either very unlucky when it comes to fans or I have been buying the wrong thing.

I am going to get an AMD 64 X2 3800+ processor and an Asus A8N32-SLI motherboard. Could someone please recommend a good fan and heat sink? I do not know if you can get such a thing as a quiet fan but after a few years of my current PC, anything will be quiet

Thank you kindly

 

[NaOH]

Go on ebay and look for the stock AMD HSF that comes with opterons and high end x2's. It should have 4 heatpipes coming out of it. Will cost you max $2x and work as good as the best aftermarket heat sink.

 

[pkrush]

In general, just avoid anything with a small fan (under 80mm's). If you want the absolute best heatsink out there, that would probably be the Scythe Ninja. It's possible to run one of those without a fan on it even (as long as it's pretty close to the rear case fans), however I'd run it with a lower speed fan (a Panaflo or maybe one of the Nexus Real Silents)on the rear of the case and another of them attached to the front of the heatsink blowing toward the rear of the case. I'm using a Thermalright XP-120 (which is almost as good as the Ninja) on my A64 3200+, running fanless (I have it ducted to the rear fans on my case). You can get reasonably good temps with a setup like this. If you want to find out more on quiet computing, you'll probably want to go to SilentPCReview (www.spcr.com) and look around.

 

[Bobthelost]

SI 120 with a nexus 120mm fan is quiet at full speed, and nearly inaudible if undervolted. (this is a reworking of the XP 120 to get rid of the few compatablity issues the XP had)
Sycthe ninja is almost as good, but the fan sits ON the RAM on my A8N32.
Termaltake Big Typhoon is good.
Zalman 9500 is also good.

Any of those will do you nicely, the Arctic cooling 64 is supposed to be good too, but i haven't read up on it yet.

 

[NFarnzy]

I would go with a SI 120 and a good 120mm fan. If I had thought about it a little more..I would have got myself the Si 120 ...Instead I started buying parts for my pc last summer and I got the Xp90 ..I have also a 90mm fan on it and it works very well for me. I could do a little better but for now it works. If it is something you want...also check ebay for the 4 heat pipe stock heatsink. It is well worth it. As that is another option I would consider.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

scythe ninja with nexus@1000rpm and 4800+ X2 idling at 33C and load at 41-42
same set up with LGA775 p4 prescott 3.2HT idling at 37C load at 45.
i recommend it over SI120 or XP120 or anything by tt

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Thank you kindly everyone! great advice as always. I will look at each recommendation and go from there.

Cheers

 

[WildHorse]

I'll toss in the folowing:

Thermalright XP-90 (I have this one) or XP-120. Get the all aluminum one, not copper. (A tad cheaper if you buy as a kit including both fan & heatsink together)

Apply with Arctic Silver 5 thermal interface compound.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
Go on ebay and look for the stock AMD HSF that comes with opterons and high end x2's. It should have 4 heatpipes coming out of it. Will cost you max $2x and work as good as the best aftermarket heat sink.

:thumbsup:

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: scott
I'll toss in the folowing:

Thermalright XP-90 (I have this one) or XP-120. Get the all aluminum one, not copper. (A tad cheaper if you buy as a kit including both fan & heatsink together)

Apply with Arctic Silver 5 thermal interface compound.

Copper cools much better than Aluminum.

 

[WildHorse]

Originally posted by: Googer

Copper cools much better than Aluminum.

Yes, I agree that you're right, Googer.

When I was buying my hs I did some research, and I read a test showing that the Thermalright XP-90 aluminum & copper versions are close in resulting cpu temps, maybe within 1 or 2 degrees C. I didn't want to spend time looking up that test info to link it here.

The other thing is, if an aluminum hs falls, the video card will probably survive, but if a much heavier copper one falls, kiss that expensive video card goodbye.

So that's why I went with aluminum instead of copper.

 

[kenrippy]

thermalright SI-120

 

[imported_rod]

You CPU 'might' be one of the new AMD ones that uses heatpipes. If it is, it should be pretty decent anyway.

But if you're buying something, the Thermalright XP-90/XP-120 or Zalman CNPS9500 are IMHO the best out there.

RoD

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: scott

Originally posted by: Googer

Copper cools much better than Aluminum.

Yes, I agree that you're right, Googer.

When I was buying my hs I did some research, and I read a test showing that the Thermalright XP-90 aluminum & copper versions are close in resulting cpu temps, maybe within 1 or 2 degrees C. I didn't want to spend time looking up that test info to link it here.

The other thing is, if an aluminum hs falls, the video card will probably survive, but if a much heavier copper one falls, kiss that expensive video card goodbye.

So that's why I went with aluminum instead of copper.

I did some research on this when I was getting a new HSF. Because of the different thermal conductivities of Al/Cu, an HSF with a copper base and aluminium fins would theoretically be better than any all-Al or all-Cu combination.

RoD

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: rod
You CPU 'might' be one of the new AMD ones that uses heatpipes. If it is, it should be pretty decent anyway.

As far as i know, only Opterons and High-end X2s come with the heatpipe heatsinks, not the 3800+. But if you can find one cheap on Ebay go for it, because one of those offers the same (actually a bit better) cooling than the ThermalRight XP-90. There were benchmarks on a site but didn't want to take the time to search for it. Search this forum for something about AMD heatpipe heatsinks if you want info

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: 996GT2

Originally posted by: rod
You CPU 'might' be one of the new AMD ones that uses heatpipes. If it is, it should be pretty decent anyway.

As far as i know, only Opterons and High-end X2s come with the heatpipe heatsinks, not the 3800+. But if you can find one cheap on Ebay go for it, because one of those offers the same (actually a bit better) cooling than the ThermalRight XP-90. There were benchmarks on a site but didn't want to take the time to search for it. Search this forum for something about AMD heatpipe heatsinks if you want info

I honestly don't know - I haven't looked into it at all. I'm just going by bits + piece I've heard.

BtW: Shouldn't this be posted in cases + cooling...

RoD

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: scott

Originally posted by: Googer

Copper cools much better than Aluminum.

Yes, I agree that you're right, Googer.

When I was buying my hs I did some research, and I read a test showing that the Thermalright XP-90 aluminum & copper versions are close in resulting cpu temps, maybe within 1 or 2 degrees C. I didn't want to spend time looking up that test info to link it here.

The other thing is, if an aluminum hs falls, the video card will probably survive, but if a much heavier copper one falls, kiss that expensive video card goodbye.

So that's why I went with aluminum instead of copper.

Why would it fall? I have never heard of that happening or ever being any sort of problem before? Heat will destroy before gravity will.