*NOT* OCing. Do I need to get an aftermarket cooler?

[Burner27]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Burner127, I don't have a P4, I have a Clawhammer 3400+. I can offer my opinion to you though. I am not overclocking my chip at all and I am using the stock AMD cooler with the stock TIM pad (a first for me I can assure you). The stock cooler is silent, I can't hear it running inside my Antec Sonata with a Gigabyte X800 Pro (also nearly silent). All I can hear is the light humming sound of my drives spinning and the power supply fan running. The temp. of my CPU is 37C at idle and it maxes out at 45C under 100% load (Prime95).

I sincerely believe that both Intel and AMD have designed (or specified) near silent, highly-efficient coolers for their CPUs which are perfect for the chips when they are run at stock speed. And using the stock cooler also preserves your retail warranty. That's definitely a big plus.

Yeah, the warranty thing is really a big thing with me. But I do not know if they (Intel or AMD) would be able to tell if you were using the stock HSF or an aftermarket HSF in the event you had an issue that would require you to RMA your processor.


I guess I could replace the thermal pad with some AS5 and see if that helps. If using an aftermarket HSF will void my warranty, then I want no part of that. I am most certainly not made of money.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It's up to you with an idle of -- what was it? -- 38C?

My memory -- the cerebral kind -- probably failed having read through all those posts.

Depends on what you want to use this rig for -- and what you feel comfortable with.

I have become obsessed with clamping the load temperatures to get them as close as possible to idle without using water-cooling or Asetek Vapo-Chill -- just fans and heatpipes.

This current system -- I've been fooling around with it since it was built between June and July -- in fact, I started doing sheet-metal work on the old ATX tower case back in January '04. I was going to use DDR500's and squeeze the full specification out of them, so the thought of over-clocking compelled me to plan for the coolest thermal solution possible with objective to avoid water, etc.

You'll probably save yourself $30 to $60 with the stock aluminum Intel cooler, and with that processor, the aluminum cooler comes with a copper core.

The other thing -- here in So. California, we try to save money on the electric bill during the summer. Sometimes we wait until the room temperature is 80F before flipping on the AC here, because after sundown and before sun-up, the ambient temps can drop into the 60s, and the mornings can be quite cool without running the AC.

So I have more than one reason to pick more expensive cooling solutions -- other places, with different electric rates, one might keep the room ambient at a constant range between say 69F and 74F -- just for comfort. And that makes it easy to go "stock" with cooling -- even if the "fears and worries" are unfounded, anyway.

But it has been an interesting topic for me since last spring -- with this system.

 

[Burner27]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
It's up to you with an idle of -- what was it? -- 38C?

My memory -- the cerebral kind -- probably failed having read through all those posts.

Depends on what you want to use this rig for -- and what you feel comfortable with.

I have become obsessed with clamping the load temperatures to get them as close as possible to idle without using water-cooling or Asetek Vapo-Chill -- just fans and heatpipes.

This current system -- I've been fooling around with it since it was built between June and July -- in fact, I started doing sheet-metal work on the old ATX tower case back in January '04. I was going to use DDR500's and squeeze the full specification out of them, so the thought of over-clocking compelled me to plan for the coolest thermal solution possible with objective to avoid water, etc.

You'll probably save yourself $30 to $60 with the stock aluminum Intel cooler, and with that processor, the aluminum cooler comes with a copper core.

The other thing -- here in So. California, we try to save money on the electric bill during the summer. Sometimes we wait until the room temperature is 80F before flipping on the AC here, because after sundown and before sun-up, the ambient temps can drop into the 60s, and the mornings can be quite cool without running the AC.

So I have more than one reason to pick more expensive cooling solutions -- other places, with different electric rates, one might keep the room ambient at a constant range between say 69F and 74F -- just for comfort. And that makes it easy to go "stock" with cooling -- even if the "fears and worries" are unfounded, anyway.

But it has been an interesting topic for me since last spring -- with this system.

well, my room here in the summer can easily exceed 85/f which is one reason why I was also considering aftermarket cooling. The room is on the 2nd floor and you know, heat rises. In the future I do plan on moving the computer room downstairs. Ambient temp now is 23/c. I am borrowing a used Thermalrght XP90 with a 92mm fan that pushes 56cfm @2500rpm @35dB. Idle temp is 29/c now.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

As I said, I have one in the carton waiting for an upgrade to another machine. It seems almost twice as "tall" as the XP120, so it has probably the same surface-area of aluminum fins.

Do you know the make and model fan you got? It's not likely to have noise beyond 30+ dB, and 57 CFM or thereabouts should be comfortably adequate -- from the reviews I've seen by people willing to compromise a few degrees F for peace and quiet. My philosophy on this is to buy a variable speed fan -- or even a thermally controlled ThermalTake -- which can be revved up to higher rpms, but which is relatively noise-free at the speed yours runs at.

Anyway, you might want to take a peek at the TT 92mm Blue LED fan at NewEgg. Not the most noise-free job that you can buy, but at that speed -- "you ain't gonna hear much of it." I think the Zalman is even quieter and you can push it to around 2,950 rpms, but Zalman doesn't advertise a CFM spec for it.

I've seen the Zalman fan priced around $10 or $12, but saw it at NewEgg or Zizpzoomfly or somewhere for about $6. Yeah!! Really!!

But wait and see what the fan you're using does. It may be as good as anything!