Please can Anandtech do a review of CPU HSFs?

[mikeymikec]

I'm considering which HSF to replace the stock one on my Athlon II X4 630, the main reason being its noise levels (I would like to achieve near-silence when the system is idle, and preferably for the HSF to be quieter and keeping the CPU cooler than the stock one when the processor is being pushed to its limit), however there's a few factors that complicate the choice IMO:

- I would rather not have to take the board out of my machine to install the HSF unless there really is a significant benefit. I guess the reason why some HSFs want this method of installation is to provide greater stability when attaching potentially enormous and heavy objects to a board.

- Arctic Cooling likes to use the 'sone' measurement versus the usual dbA. This really doesn't help in the comparison of products.

- Arctic Cooling's Freezer 13 Pro has a miniature fan at its base for cooling surrounding components. Normally I would expect such a fan to whine (or at least make a lot of noise without pushing a lot of air), but I can hardly ask the manufacturer that.

- One thing I'm not sure about is the application of HSF paste these days (which isn't a problem normally because stock heatsinks have some on already), and also AC's paste guide says to squidge the paste blob with the HSF in a circular way, but I'm fairly sure that the plastic around an AM3 socket would stop that sort of movement.

Scythe also has my attention as I've used one of theirs before and it did a good job. I'm a bit curious about why the two HSFs from Scythe that I've looked at are something like 400g lighter than the AC and CM products I've looked at too, and whether they still do a good job.

 

[lehtv]

I don't understand what the subject line of the thread has to do with your post. Looks like you're just asking for heatsink recommendations.

Coolermaster hyper 212+ is the usual aftermarket cooler recommendation, it's not loud by any means but it's not dead silent either. If you want dead silent without breaking the bank, Scythe makes some of the best coolers in that category. I have Scythe Mugen 2 and the fan has a great range of speeds. My mobo PWM's the fan between 400RPM idle and 1300RPM load. Can't hear it on idle. So to that end I would recommend Scythe Mugen 3 (less bulky yet just as good) for $50, but you could also be fine with some of their lower end products

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't understand what the subject line of the thread has to do with your post. Looks like you're just asking for heatsink recommendations.

I would have thought that most people will only buy one HSF for a given processor (perhaps two if they made a mistake the first time round, and one is probably the stock HSF), so therefore they're probably in a position to say whether they think one is significantly quieter than the other or how much of a temperature reduction it made approximately, but there's a lot of variables to take into account. For example:

- Was there enough dust in the original HSF to cause a reduction in cooling capacity when they replaced it, so their figures for 'before and after' aren't really that accurate? Similar variables on this front would be if the computer is in a smoker's house (tends to cause sticky deposits of dust which is far worse than normal dust), or if the computer is in a house with hairy cats/dogs.

- If the original HSF wasn't a stock one, did they apply paste correctly, and what sort? Did they apply paste correctly on the new one? Did they clean the processor between HSFs?

- Does the person giving a recommendation have a particularly sensitive ear or possibly bad hearing, or their computer/environment is noisy already, throwing the test? When they say they don't like a particular cooler, is it because it is generally noisy or is there an annoying whine?

- Over-clocked processor, first HSF wasn't adequate. Assuming that the second HSF was adequate, it looks like a far greater improvement than it ought to be, and the recommender gives it their highest possible praise, even though it whines a bit.

- Person recommending lives in Siberia. Extreme example of course, but he can over-clock a (extraordinarily wasteful/beefy processor) to (improbably high speed), with the stock heatsink (which is usually inadequate for the job) and wonders what all the fuss is about

One could direct these points towards the quality of the reviewing process as well of course, but I trust the reviewers on certain sites to do a decent job, and at least it's one person's perceptions on some of the criteria I've mentioned rather than multiple people living in different places.

Coolermaster hyper 212+ is the usual aftermarket cooler recommendation, it's not loud by any means but it's not dead silent either. If you want dead silent without breaking the bank, Scythe makes some of the best coolers in that category. I have Scythe Mugen 2 and the fan has a great range of speeds. My mobo PWM's the fan between 400RPM idle and 1300RPM load. Can't hear it on idle. So to that end I would recommend Scythe Mugen 3 (less bulky yet just as good) for $50, but you could also be fine with some of their lower end products

Thanks for that. When you say that you can't hear it on idle, how noisy is your graphics card? I would say mine (ATI 5770) is the second most noisy bit of hardware in my machine. It's one reason why I'm a bit nervous about spending loads on a CPU HSF, only to find that my system is only slightly quieter, despite the silent CPU HSF

 

[ElFenix]

good sound reviews are very hard to come by because it is very difficult to set up a test site. good consistent recordings and subjective impressions are more important than raw dB measurements as well.

silence that video card.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Give me a bunch of HSF's I could do it .

 

[Insomniator]

Whats the point of HSF reviews anyway with sandybridge around... they overclock like crazy on the freakin stock cooler.

 

[jhansman]

Remember that whatever cooler you choose, you can almost certainly replace the stock fan on it with something quieter, although such a move will usually result in a trade off. I hated the fan that came with the CM 212+, and even though I could control its speed, running it at a level that keep my CPU cool enough was still too loud for me. I replaced it with one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835426016 and my system is quiet. I doubt, however, that I could O/C my rig very much without it getting excessively warm. For me, quiet is more important than faster.

 

[lehtv]

Thanks for that. When you say that you can't hear it on idle, how noisy is your graphics card? I would say mine (ATI 5770) is the second most noisy bit of hardware in my machine.

On idle? I can't hear it. Just like the CPU. It's a Gigabyte dual-fan card, by default the minimum fan speed is 40%. That I could hear, so I decided to mod the BIOS in order to lower the fan speed below that in MSI afterburner. I have it set to 37% (1650RPM) on idle and if I go any lower I don't notice the difference.

So your 5770 makes noise at idle? What kind of temps do you get? There could be room to lower the RPM.

I have a couple of case fans also, but they're at ~500-700RPM so they're pretty silent.

 

[aigomorla]

lolz...

problem with reviews is you never make anyone happy.

IDC is trying hard with 2 sinks right now which most people would consider.

But a full blown review...

Very hard to keep an accurate scale and hold methodology.

 

[BoomerD]

Why does Anandtech need to do what's been done by others?

(just a sample of the many HSF reviews available to anyone who's willing to Google)

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/lga-1156-heatsink,2535.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-heatsink-roundup,2788.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/2010_CPU_Heatsink_Test_Platform

 

[mikeymikec]

On idle? I can't hear it. Just like the CPU. It's a Gigabyte dual-fan card, by default the minimum fan speed is 40%. That I could hear, so I decided to mod the BIOS in order to lower the fan speed below that in MSI afterburner. I have it set to 37% (1650RPM) on idle and if I go any lower I don't notice the difference.

So your 5770 makes noise at idle? What kind of temps do you get? There could be room to lower the RPM.

I have a couple of case fans also, but they're at ~500-700RPM so they're pretty silent.

The minimum speed that ATI CCC allows me to set the fan speed to is 20%, at which point the system is reasonably quiet. Gigabyte's 'easy boost' tool claims to allow me to drop the graphics card's fan speed down to 0%. I did that just now and the GPU temp started rising by about a degree celsius every two seconds, but the noise level didn't change. The only way I know to stop the CPU fan on the fly is to stick my finger in it, but then I can't listen to the machine with the side panel on and sitting in my normal place It does make an audible difference if I stop the CPU fan myself, but not with the chassis fan. I know my PSU is ok noise-wise because I've built virtually silent systems with the same PSU (Corsair VX450W).

 

[BoomerD]

I used a Noctua CPU cooler when I built this system and the only thing I can hear is the GPU fan. (EVGA GTX460)
The HAF 932 case has 1-140MM fan and 3-230MM fans, the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cooler has 2-120MM fans.

 

[lehtv]

Yeah so it sounds like a silent CPU cooler is going to be the most effective way to decrease noise. You probably won't be bothered by just the GPU idle noise.