Recommendations for heatsink & fan for i7-870?

[Rifter]

Then I guess I will stick with the stock cooler. What a disappointment.

im not saying you wont find one better than stock, the stock one really sucks. You Just arnt going to get a top 10 cooler or anything. When selecting one without a backplate pay very close attention to weight, i would not hang one more than the weight of a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7. Basically i would stay away from the 120mm towers if not useing a backplate. I have a AC freezer 7 on my server and its not a horrible heatsink, just not in the same league as the big boys.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Rifterut is correct, the top coolers almost all require backplates, at least on modern Intel systems anyway. I was able to mount the nh-d14 on my AM3 board with no backplate (and no system teardown), but the mounting mechanism on AMD systems is different.

 

[Termie]

Another push-pin option, in addition to the AC Freezer 7 is the Coolermaster TX3.

It's not as good as the Hyper 212 and not much cheaper (would have been better to just get the Hyper 212 before building), but the TX3 uses push-pins so you can install it in a built-up system.

Both the AC Freezer 7 and the TX3 hover around $30. Sometimes they drop to $25 on sale, sometimes go up to $35 (where they are now).

Edit: links

TX3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103064
AC Freezer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

 

[Narmer]

Another push-pin option, in addition to the AC Freezer 7 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103064.

It's not as good as the Hyper 212 and not much cheaper (would have been better to just get the Hyper 212 before building), but the TX3 uses push-pins so you can install it in a built-up system.

Both the AC Freezer 7 and the TX3 hover around $30. Sometimes they drop to $25 on sale, sometimes go up to $35 (where they are now).

So I can just drop these in like the Intel one?

 

[Termie]

So I can just drop these in like the Intel one?

Yes you can. I did this very upgrade, installing a Freezer 7, on a core i7-920 system used for home-office purposes. It was much better than the stock cooler, and an easy drop-in upgrade on a system that I did not want to take apart.

 

[Rifter]

So I can just drop these in like the Intel one?

Yeah, and like i said its not a horrible heatsink. Just dont expect it to handle 4Ghz overclocks and you will be fine with it, it would make a good cheap stock speed replacement heatsink, and that fan is very quiet.

 

[Narmer]

Of those two, which would you'll recommend?

 

[Rifter]

AC freezer

 

[Narmer]

AC freezer

Thanks, before I add the thermal paste, do I have to take the Intel one out of can I just paste over it?

 

[Termie]

Thanks, before I add the thermal paste, do I have to take the Intel one out of can I just paste over it?

Remove intel paste using rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. You should not paste over the existing paste with more paste.

 

[Narmer]

Remove intel paste using rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. You should not paste over the existing paste with more paste.

Thanks.

 

[Rifter]

Remove intel paste using rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. You should not paste over the existing paste with more paste.

yeah this, also a rubber eraser works well after you get most of it off with alcohol. Coffee filters work well too if you dont have a cotton swab.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Coffee filters + 91% isopropyl alcohol ftw. Not a fan of cotton swabs since they are more likely to leave lint.