So is the XP-120 the best air cooler?

[letdown427]

I'm planning on getting a DFI Lanparty, and my current hsf, an akasa evo 120, would either not fit, or fit, but be pushing air down into the bottom of the case, which would be crap for airflow.

So, is the XP-120 the best air cooling option? Water cooling is a bit excessive for me at the moment, but I'm looking for a good overclock on my 4400+. It's annoying because I've found the EVO 120 to be excellent, at low to medium RPM, it's practically inaudible in a pc case, and the cooling at medium levels is excellent (in fact adding another 500rpm doesnt really drop levels by much more, maybe 2 degrees, but it does get noticeably louder) So I'm hoping an xp-120 would be reasonably quiet?

Any input is appreciated,

thanks

 

[Meuge]

Go for the SI-120 - it is within 1-2C of the XP-120 and doesn't have the incompatibility problems of the latter.

 

[Wentelteefje]

The Scythe Ninja is about the best there is... However, instead of taking an expensive XP-120 or SI-120 and fitting it with a fan, buy an AC Freezer 64 Pro... It cools just as good, will only cost half of the combo, is easy to install and compatible with every mobo, and is very silent as well...

EDIT: You can turn it when mounting, so the hot air can be directed towards your rear exhaust fan... No problems with airflow anymore...

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: Meuge
Go for the SI-120 - it is within 1-2C of the XP-120 and doesn't have the incompatibility problems of the latter.

qft

 

[letdown427]

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't even know about the SI-120! Ease of installation isn't an issue, I'm more than happy to take everything out, give it a good dusting and reinstall bits. I'll only be buying one when I get the new motherboard too. I've already got an akasa 120mm fan (the amber one from the EVO-120) which I know is quiet enough.

I'll have a read up on the AC Freezer, anyone else got experience with it?

I'll google into the scythe too, thanks


P.S Whilst not entirely n00bish with hardware, I'm mildly more n00bish with forum abbreviations, so what is qft? I know what it means, but just not the actual words. Seems like Quite Fücking True? lol

 

[peleejosh]

Quoted for truth

 

[letdown427]

Ah ok thanks. The artic cooling one seems good, but it's only a 92mm fan, and I can't help but feel an SI 120 would be better. On to googling the scythe.

 

[AntiStatic]

my SI-120 also cools my Asus A8N32 heat pipe

 

[letdown427]

afraid i'm settled on a dfi, even if i don't like the yellow bits! The scythe does seem the best, and I could easily mount my 120mm akasa fan on it, and then use the adjustable speed to give either silence or performance. given that spcr gave it such high praise, i'll probably go for that. Any thoughts? and yes, it'll fit in my case!

 

[Yreka]

Scythe Ninja is nice, I use it and my only complaint about it is its rather flimsy. The TT big typhoon is also popular. Check the sticky at the top of the forum if you want to read more reviews. Its a fairly comprehensive list.

 

[Ping to the Pong]

id go for the ninja, its the best performing air cooler out there and its cheaper than the si-120. Plus you already have a really good 120mm fan (people around here seem to love the akasa amber fans).

 

[letdown427]

yeh, I'm definately going to go for the ninja when i get the new board. ANd I'd definately recommend the akasa amber fans, or the evo 120, it's hefty, but it's been an excellent cooler, and it fits fine on my asrock dual sata 2. And best of all, it has a rear panel mount so u can adjust the fan speed, so I'll get the best of both worlds when I mount it on the ninja.

thanks everyone, next bit of research, 7800s!

I'll create a thread elsewhere, but anyway,I'm drawn to the leadtek if I go 256mb, as it has the better cooler as seen on the 512 models, but, I just WANT a 512. I mean, if i'm blowing that much money, I want to get the best available, so why not blow a bit more!

 

[Skyhanger]

The X1900s are coming out this week or so, there's even rumors that the G71 (7900 GTX) will show up early March.

You should look around and see if there's a price drop.

eVGA's lifetime warranty covers swapping to a 3rd party heatsink, unlike many other companies.

Zalman's VF900 is due to come out sometime this Q1 2006

 

[imported_Sincity]

Letdown,

I'm a Zalman convert. The Arctic Cooling products are very good. Especially the pricing :thumbsup: I currently have a Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO that I bought after reading the review links and Maximum PC heatsink reviews. Performance (cooling and noisewise) on par with Zalman CNPS9500 but at a much lower price point. Note, lower price but not lower quality.

 

[letdown427]

I've heard those rumours too, so I'm hoping there is a nice little price drop. Especially as my savings pays interest on the 31st of march, so alongside my wages coming on the 25th of each month, there's set to be a big influx of e-money and a possible price drop on the 7800's. hehehe

Sincity, I had a good look at the artic cooling products, and was surprised they were clearly so good for the money. However, I'm settling on the ninja because I can use my existing fan, which I know I find acceptably/inaudibly quiet, also, the ninja works very well at low low fan speeds, so will be ideal for overnight running, when I have to sleep in the same room, so i can turn the fan right down, and it'll still stay icey cool. Also, given that I have a 12cm outlet fan, and 12cm fan in the bottom of my PSU, the airflow around the scythe should be very good already, and so the fan speeds can be very low with the akasa amber 120mm which is also controllable by a backplate knob. Thanks very much for your input though, I'll recommend it to my friend, who is crrently aiming at a zalman 9500 to go with his opteron, whenever one becomes available.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Most of the top ranged heatsinks only vary by a couple degrees. I would go with the best value, which is the Freezer.

 

[phantom404]

Scythe Shogun FTW Its even silent when you mount a 120mm fan on the side of it as well. It also says you can use it as a passive cooling solution but I used the fan since I dont trust anything thats not water cooled to run without a fan, especially dual core.

 

[letdown427]

What's FTW mean? sorry....n00bish....


I read a review of that that had some issues with it, although that was on lga775, I'll give it a research, thanks.

 

[Agent11]

Originally posted by: letdown427
What's FTW mean? sorry....n00bish....


I read a review of that that had some issues with it, although that was on lga775, I'll give it a research, thanks.

For the win

 

[JEDIYoda]

Define the word B__E__S__T??

For each and every system any given top of the line heatsink could be the best.

Too many variables for me to claim that what works "best" for me should also be the "best" for you....

There is no such thing as the "best"....
Only what is percieved to be the "best" by each one of us,

 

[letdown427]

you oculd've just said which you think is best. best to me meant the one that's probably going to be most popular, or the ideal situation (maybe u couldnt fit a the ebst in ur case, but IDEALLY...)

I don't want purely the best cooling, else I'd get something that i could mount a vantec tornado on or something crazy, then i'd get some long cables and put the tower in the garage. so fair enough, I see your point. In my opinion, it's perhaps a bit anal of you to question the original post when 12 other people have managed to help me to a conclusion. Either way, I'm settled on a scythe, coz i believe it will work out as the best suited to what I want.

Thanks

 

[Spike]

It's all about what other feature the top coolers have which is why I chose the SI-120. Sure it is a degree or two worse than the sythe ninja but unlike the ninja it cools my ram as well as my PWM IC on my DFI NF4 Ultra-D, that alone is worth the money. Using the SI-120 with a Panaflo M1A 120mm is a great combo. Can be turned down to silent but when the heat is building (10+ hours of gaming in the summer) you can crank this sucker up and cool half of your mobo.

On the flip side it cannot direct the warm air towards the rear exhaust fan so if you case does not have good airflow the SI-120 can be worse. In my P180 it is a non-issue as the airflow is so good.

-spike

 

[letdown427]

Yeah, the whole RAM cooling was a thought. and the various MOSFETs and capacitors around the cpu. I'd be more inclined to rig up say an M1A for cooling those bits instead of relying on the CPU cooler to do those, as a bonus. I'll have to look into that. It is a tough choice.

Still I've got time to decide, I won't be getting any of this until I've got a PCI-Express graphics card, so that gives me some time. I'll hav a good browse of the DFI-Street forums to see what people say about cooling their other bits around the CPU. lol