My thoughts on the Cooler Master TX3

[Jman13]

So I finished my new i5 2500K build last week, and I originally just used the stock Intel HSF. I'm not planning on overclocking at the moment, but likely will in the future. I was getting about 76-80C temps on full load on all cores, which I guess is fine for stock speeds, but I figured I'd eventually be adding better cooling, and so I just decided to add a better HSF now and get the benefit of lower temperatures and a happier CPU.

I chose the Cooler Master TX3 for a few reasons.

1. I didn't want to have to take my motherboard out of the case to switch coolers. Since this heatsink uses pushpins, I didn't have to.

2. I wanted something that would cool decently well, but I didn't want a gigantic heatsink that looks like it could eat the rest of my computer. Since my current case is a mid-tower (though well laid out to fit lots of stuff), I didn't want it to dominate.

So, I picked one up today at Micro Center for $19. I followed the advice of the Benchmark reviews article on direct heat pipe HSF thermal grease application, and it seemed to work well. Popped in the new heatsink (after cleaning the CPU) and it took about 10 minutes total, which was nice.

Best part? Cores are 60-64C under full load after 20 minutes of Prime 95. I'll take a 15C temperature drop for $20.

I know that these temps aren't going to break any records, but I'm really glad I went with the smaller cooler instead of something like a 212+. The biggest reason? A larger cooler wouldn't have fit in my case! I had to remove the tunnel shroud on my side door after installing this, and there's only about an inch of clearance between the top of the TX3 and the side of my case, so I'm really glad I didn't get a larger heatsink.

So, all in all, pretty happy with the purchase, and it'll give me some headroom for some overclocking in the future. While I'm sure I won't be hitting 5 GHz, I'm hoping I can get at least 4-4.3 or so. But, I'll probably save that for a year or so down the road...unless curiosity gets the better of me.

 

[lsv]

I saw reviews of that HSF and noise on high was just too much for me, something like 56dba@1M. But if it doesn't get up too high it seems nice at 30~ish. I'm a silence guy but if it works and just $20 for a good 10-15c drop then all the better.

May I ask what case you're using and what your case cooling is like?

 

[dma0991]

The only thing I dislike about the TX3 is the availability of 92mm fans. They are hard to come by and choices are very limited unlike 120mm fans that the Hyper212 uses.

 

[Jman13]

I saw reviews of that HSF and noise on high was just too much for me, something like 56dba@1M. But if it doesn't get up too high it seems nice at 30~ish. I'm a silence guy but if it works and just $20 for a good 10-15c drop then all the better.

May I ask what case you're using and what your case cooling is like?

I'm using this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119106

Good little case. I wanted a smaller case (I have an Antec full tower from 10 years ago that is much larger, and when I built my C2Duo machine a few years back I wanted something smaller. Plenty of drive bays, though.

I have one intake fan in front, that blows across the HD stack, and one 120mm rear case fan for exhaust. There are two side vents, one of which I could attach another 120mm fan on, which I might do eventually.

I tested a mild overclock this morning (3.6) and all four cores still stay under 70C.

EDIT: Added a 92mm fan on the opposite side of the cooler, and at 3.6 for all four cores, I'm at 65C for full load. I was hitting 83-84C on the stock cooler when I did this little overclock before. I think I'll need to find a quieter second fan, though, as this one makes the machine a bit loud.

 

[Jman13]

So I got a quieter second fan for the cooler, which is basically inaudible. I also got a 120mm fan for my case door. Now I remember why I moved that to the front originally...the amount of air the fan moves just makes a ton of noise through the inlet slots. It's not that the fan itself is particularly loud...it's not...but the small opening + large airflow = noise. Sounds like I have a nice blower under my desk now. I might just unplug it for the time being, and only use it when I do a more serious overclock, as it certainly does help...adding that fan dropped load temps by a few more degrees...now at around 62-63C at full load at 3.6 GHz. That's about 20C down from the stock cooler at that speed.

EDIT: Bumped it up to 4.0 GHz, and on Intel Burn Test (Maximum), core temps range from 70C on the hottest core to 66C for the coolest core. During PC Mark 7, the hottest it gets is 57C - hits 61C on 3DMark. So, everyday usage will see pretty low temps comparatively. I'm going to stop at 4 GHz, as I really don't have a need for any more speed right now, and the chip seems happy here so far.