Metal Clips for the Fans on Aftermarket CPU Coolers

[jabjab90301]

How safe are the metal clips that hold on to fans on Noctua, beQuiet and other aftermarket cpu coolers? My fear is that vibration would eventually knock one loose and land on the back of the CPU. Anyone had an issue with them?

 

[gradoman]

The only flimsy one I've come across are on the Silver Arrow SB-E's larger, second fan. That one is pretty much dangling. Noctua and beQuiet have some very firm setups that can't possibly wiggle off even if you dropped your entire PC off a table.

 

[jabjab90301]

I have been looking to upgrade my cooler from the CNPS9900A LED to a Dark Rock PRO 3 or Dark Rock 3 because I am planning on getting a X5650 and overclocking it. I was concern with the metal clips. I don't like AiO. The Zalman is a pain in the ass to clean due to the curves.

 

[ClockHound]

Never had a fan slip off. The Noctua & Be!Q fans have very tight fan clips (Be!Q a little too tight). Mere residual vibration that made it through the silicone dampers on the fan frame will not have the energy to loosen those metal finger traps. If properly installed - which is harder to do with the Be!Q metal finger traps.

If you're still afraid, could belt and suspender mod 'em, with ziptie screws.

 

[gradoman]

I have been looking to upgrade my cooler from the CNPS9900A LED to a Dark Rock PRO 3 or Dark Rock 3 because I am planning on getting a X5650 and overclocking it. I was concern with the metal clips. I don't like AiO. The Zalman is a pain in the ass to clean due to the curves.

You should be fine with either beQuiet model, but yeah Zalman with those weird coolers, man oh man.

 

[jabjab90301]

Never had a fan slip off. The Noctua & Be!Q fans have very tight fan clips (Be!Q a little too tight). Mere residual vibration that made it through the silicone dampers on the fan frame will not have the energy to loosen those metal finger traps. If properly installed - which is harder to do with the Be!Q metal finger traps.

If you're still afraid, could belt and suspender mod 'em, with ziptie screws.

The ziptie mod looks like the answer.

 

[jabjab90301]

The Zalman cooler seemed like a good idea when I was a noob and knew almost nothing about most of these parts. Now 7 years later I know better.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I don't think I'd bother with a Zalman cooler, and I'd seen quite a few, bought none.

But judging against the Phanteks models, the Hyper 212 EVO, and a Noctua U12S, the Dark Rock Pro is neither the best cooler you could get for the money nor the worst.

I know I'd just pick one of the two coolers I'm now using on my OC'd SB-K systems, or consider either an NH-D15 or a decent AiO cooler.

I mentioned the D15 because one of my two coolers is a D14. The other is an EVGA "Super-Clock" renamed the EVGA ACX (120mm):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=EVGA_CPU_cooler-_-35-288-004-_-Product

I know I have the Dark Rock Pro beat by several degrees; the ACX almost keeps up with an H110i if it is ducted to the case-rear exhaust fan.

It all depends on your processor's thermal profile, and how much you want to nit-pick over higher clock rates and better cooling. You should be satisfied with the Dark Rock, although there are better air-coolers and many worse. So -- I say . . . clock that sucker as high as you can within sane temperature and voltage limits given any other limitations presented by the cooler. And . . . don't worry -- be happy -- as the song goes.

BY THE WAY, (having gone off like a loose cannon to critique your cooler choice) -- Those metal clips will do just fine. Just make sure they're seated properly in both the cooler-fin mountings and the fan holes.

On my Super-Clock-ACX, the cooler comes with what would otherwise be normal rubber fan mounts, but these have a little barrel-shaped right-angle on one end that slips into a hole that runs vertically through all the fins. Getting the top ones unhinged is easy; the bottom ones nearest the motherboard need some prodding, and usually you can gently push down between the fan and the cooler with a plastic ruler to unseat those little rubber barrels. But today -- I broke one, leaving three good ones.

I just took a gum-rubber fan-mount that had a fairly long end, put it into the fan-hole backwards, and jammed the long tip down the top of the hole in the fins. The kloodge has a spongy feel to that particular fan-mount, but it's quiet and doesn't seem like it's going to come loose. And even if it did, the other three will hold it all together.

Next time, I'll grease up a chopstick from the kitchen with some Vaseline and use that to unseat these fan mounts.

And after hearing my long, dull digression, you might even have second thoughts about picking the ACX cooler instead. Nor would I attempt to talk you out of the Dark Rock Pro.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I just wanted to chip in and say something which is not intended to cast aspersions onto BonzaiDuck's experiences but rather to provide a contrasting point-of-view: we have another community member here who tried the ACX cooler (versus an older lapped TRUE) and got very little in the way of gains from using it. His setup was different, but a superior cooler in his case should have performed better; the ACX provided no benefit indicating that it wasn't much better than an old lapped TRUE. I feel at least somewhat responsible for his loss of ~$50 buying the cooler without producing superior results, since he did so on my recommendation. The ACX is a fairly good cooler for the money. I just don't know that many people are going to be able to produce results as positive as BonzaiDuck's using that particular product.

As for the Dark Rock Pro 3, it is not a very good product for the price. The cheapest I can find it is ~$80. That cooler gets its butt handed to it by the NH-d15 even in single-fan configuration meaning you can get an NH-d15S for less.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I just wanted to chip in and say something which is not intended to cast aspersions onto BonzaiDuck's experiences but rather to provide a contrasting point-of-view: we have another community member here who tried the ACX cooler (versus an older lapped TRUE) and got very little in the way of gains from using it. His setup was different, but a superior cooler in his case should have performed better; the ACX provided no benefit indicating that it wasn't much better than an old lapped TRUE. I feel at least somewhat responsible for his loss of ~$50 buying the cooler without producing superior results, since he did so on my recommendation. The ACX is a fairly good cooler for the money. I just don't know that many people are going to be able to produce results as positive as BonzaiDuck's using that particular product.

As for the Dark Rock Pro 3, it is not a very good product for the price. The cheapest I can find it is ~$80. That cooler gets its butt handed to it by the NH-d15 even in single-fan configuration meaning you can get an NH-d15S for less.

Nor would I dispute your own observations. In my own case, I did cross-verification on the SuperClock-ACX cooler from multiple review sources before I chose to pay for it. After that, I lapped the base to bare copper and used IC-Diamond paste. The thermal profile of the processor put the high thermal wattage around 117W, and compared to my D14, it performed as the reviews suggested it would. But figure I may have got between an extra 2 and 4C temperature improvement from the lapping and nano-diamond, and at least another 5C improvement for the simple duct-box between the cooler and the rear-exhaust fan. These, of course, were the same approaches I used with the D14, and together -- they both fell into line with what the reviews would suggest, but at still-lower temperatures across the comparison.

My next build will use an i7-6700K, Z170 board, Corsair Vengeance C70 case and the H115i Corsair Hydro AiO cooler. It will actually fit the Vengeance case, while I'd probably have trouble with an EKWB Predator -- preferred because it can easily be expanded to become "custom-water."

AFTERTHOUGHT: I forgot about this. The LED fan bundled with the ACX is -- only relatively speaking -- a piece of shit (in my opinion.) To get these coolers to perform, you need to push more air through them when the temperatures are above 60 to 65C. One might succumb to the temptation of noisier fans, -- and I do. But an AP-30 or Noctua iPPC 3000 can be held to RPMs lower than their full-bore spec, and the noise can be dealt with by turning the duct-box into a duct with acoustic shield (Spire pads cut to shape). At gaming temperatures, they're quiet machines.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I'm pretty sure both the ACX in question and the lapped TRUE both had dual fan configs . . . a pair of Ultra Kazes if I recall correctly.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm pretty sure both the ACX in question and the lapped TRUE both had dual fan configs . . . a pair of Ultra Kazes if I recall correctly.

The only trouble I remember with the TRUE cooler was this: It really . . . really . . . really needed lapping. There were then arguments back and forth about its convexity as being an advantage.

I think my TRUE passed to my brother when I gave him a Q6600 rig I'd built. So I couldn't compare it. I'm not even sure it was in the reviews I read for comparison with the ACX. I just know it performed better than the D14, both in the reviews and my firsthand comparison as well.

If the D14 was worse than -- or not much better than -- the TRUE, I might have abjured buying the Noctua. I thought for sure it was better. I just know I did more review comparisons before I bought it.

 

[gradoman]

The Dark Rock Pro 3 loses because the fans are low speed, but for the price, now that I look at it, I'd say the NHD15 is a better deal.

Of course BonzaiDuck will recommend the ACX. He's got some special setup to improve its performance.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

 

[jabjab90301]

I am thinking of going with a D15. I am getting a x5650 and planning to overclock it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am thinking of going with a D15. I am getting a x5650 and planning to overclock it.

The D15 would be great. You may become annoyed when you need to get at something on the motherboard around the CPU or VRMs. Even a fan-plug can be a b****. I've got a D14, and it just falls behind my ACX, despite ducting mods that do the same thing even for a varied design (because the cooler designs differ).

There is something about the design of the pipes for the ACX -- someone else -- DrLordMrX, perhaps -- had noted it. They are direct-touch design with aluminum splines as part of a solid aluminum block. Without lapping, there are cracks you'd fill in with thermal paste which don't adequately make contact, and so the careful lapping will improve the contact. Further, if you wanted to go through the hoops of doing it, you could properly install an Indigo Xtreme gallium(?) liquid metal, you can't have any cracks with that but both metals are compatible with the IX. They may not be compatible with Cool-Laboratory's LU or whatever variations they have these days, which is a lot less trouble to use than IX.

For me, right now -- I'm building a second server to eventually replace the old one. I needed a cooler with all the right parts; found a Noctua (something like) NH-U12S. It looks as big as a Megahalem which I also had at one time. Couldn't find the Noctua's clips and fittings. Then I found the motherboard which still had the Noctua Bracket, and a bag of all the other stuff.

If I do this right, I'll have only made $230 for 2016 hardware outlays on this, which is less than the W Svr 2012 R2 Essentials that I found in an "AE" market-tier. If I need to actually make money with it, I'll buy the regular license.

 

[ClockHound]

I am thinking of going with a D15. I am getting a x5650 and planning to overclock it.

It's a solid choice for the hex-core xeons. I use a D15 on my 4.4Ghz 5675 and it barely hits 60c under full IBT load. The case has very good airflow (modded HAF XB EVO with two A15 intakes)

However, it's not plug 'n cool. Need to ask Noctua for the 1366 mounting kit, which they will send you for free.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just to correct myself. I had touted the ACX as the best cooler I found two years ago to fulfill my needs, techniques and improvements. I remember basically the shortfall of the ACX behind the H110i or H100i. It was between 5C and 7C at an OC thermal load of maybe 105 to 115W.

The NH-D14 falls behind the ACX by some 4 or 5C. So the numbers for the Phanteks and Dark Rock models are really quite good -- and I thought . . . better.

I think I exceeded in correcting the shortfall from the Corsair AiO's. With the Diamond Paste (and noting I could do better with Indigo Xtreme and the application tedium), the lapping, the acoustically-modded ducting and high-throughput exhaust fans like the Gentle Typhoon AP-30 or the Noctua iPPC 3000 -- all the coolers in a comparison test would improve.

But not all of them would improve to the same degree. Even so, the difference between my ducted D14 and my ducted ACX is the same as the difference reported in the unducted review comparisons.

And I would be interested in this Dark Rock -- definitely. But I've got to break with my air-cooling habits. The next system I build will either use an EKWB Predator kit or a Corsair Hydro H115i. The latter fits the Corsair C70 case without uncertainties and unanticipated modding solutions. The Predator had a "recall" recently, but that will change.