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Thermalright Macho or Venomous-X for i7 980?

dkm777

dkm777

Senior member
Hi,

I am looking to replace my Scythe Yasya with one of the aforementioned coolers, because it is inadequate and covers a RAM slot on my Sabertooth X58. The processor is an i7 980 and it hit 72 deg. C on stock settings using a Noctua NF-P12 fan. The Macho is significantly cheaper and comes with a fan, but I already have my Noctua so this is not a problem. I am mostly concerned that the Macho might not fit in my Fractal design R3 case, although the dimensions provided by Fractal show that it should. The Venomous is a lot more compact and I'd be able to take out the mobo without removing the cooler first. So is it worth paying a little extra for the Venomous-X, since it might cool a wee bit better?
 
I like bang for the buck, so I'd probably go for the Thermalright HR-02 Macho myself. Oh wait, I did. XD

I did have to remove my side intake fan for my Antec 900, so I could close the side panel, but at least it fits.
 
That's what I'm afraid of - there is sound insulation material on my side panels and if the heatsink doesn't fit, I can't return it :'(. Anybody with a HR-02 Macho and a Fractal Design Define R3?
 
That thing is massive! The way it mounts on an LGA1366 socket it will surely cover the EPS 12V connector. Venomous-X it is then.
 
Hmm, not so sure about that. The EPS connector is on the top edge of the board, at least on my board.

Are you sure you don't have any other options than VenomousX?
 
Well, the Archon is too tall, so is the True Spirit 140. Was strongly considering them until I found out that with the fan installed they are ~170mm tall. Fractal Design says the Define R3 fits heatsinks up to 165mm in height so I had to count them out. The Prolimatech Armageddon is incompatible with my mobo and the Megahalems cools not that much better than my Yasya and I'm not quite sure about its thickness. What other heatsinks will cope with a 130W CPU and won't cover RAM slots? I was considering the Corsair Hydro series, but the only one available here right now is the H100, which won't fit in my case without mods (2x140mm fan mounts on top).
 
dkm777 said:
Well, the Archon is too tall, so is the True Spirit 140. Was strongly considering them until I found out that with the fan installed they are ~170mm tall. Fractal Design says the Define R3 fits heatsinks up to 165mm in height so I had to count them out. The Prolimatech Armageddon is incompatible with my mobo and the Megahalems cools not that much better than my Yasya and I'm not quite sure about its thickness. What other heatsinks will cope with a 130W CPU and won't cover RAM slots? I was considering the Corsair Hydro series, but the only one available here right now is the H100, which won't fit in my case without mods (2x140mm fan mounts on top).
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Actually, the Megahalems competes with the Venomous X. So if you are considering that Thermalright cooler, the Megahalems performs pretty much the same. But it will be thicker in profile than the Venomous X.

If you are not overclocking, even a $30-35 Cooler Master 212 / Evo is more than good enough. You don't need a $50-70 cooler for a stock i7 980X. I also don't see anything to worry about 72*C with the Yasya. LGA 1155 and LGA 1366 processors can work perfectly fine at up to 98°C and 101°C, respectively. I wouldn't recommend anyone to run their CPUs at these high temperatures for 24/7 operation, but 72*C is certainly not a cause for an alarm.

On a side note, I am not sure why your temperatures are this "high" at stock speeds to be honest. The airflow in the case is likely poor or you have higher ambient temps? (25-26*C?).

Does it load to 72*C when you run programs that use 6-12 threads?

The easiest way to see if the cooler will fit is to take a ruler from the socket and see how many centimeters you have until you hit the end of the case. Subtract 1 cm to be on the safe side. Take a measure and see. I've never had a problem fitting any fan 165-170mm in height in the case (unless you have a side case fan, then it will be a problem).
 
Last edited:
RussianSensation said:
Actually, the Megahalems competes with the Venomous X. So if you are considering that Thermalright cooler, the Megahalems performs pretty much the same. But it will be thicker in profile than the Venomous X.

If you are not overclocking, even a $30-35 Cooler Master 212 / Evo is more than good enough. You don't need a $50-70 cooler for a stock i7 980X. I also don't see anything to worry about 72*C with the Yasya. LGA 1155 and LGA 1366 processors can work perfectly fine at up to 98°C and 101°C, respectively. I wouldn't recommend anyone to run their CPUs at these high temperatures for 24/7 operation, but 72*C is certainly not a cause for an alarm.

On a side note, I am not sure why your temperatures are this "high" at stock speeds to be honest. The airflow in the case is likely poor or you have higher ambient temps? (25-26*C?).

Does it load to 72*C when you run programs that use 6-12 threads?

The easiest way to see if the cooler will fit is to take a ruler from the socket and see how many centimeters you have until you hit the end of the case. Subtract 1 cm to be on the safe side. Take a measure and see. I've never had a problem fitting any fan 165-170mm in height in the case (unless you have a side case fan, then it will be a problem).
Click to expand...

I reseated the heatsink and surely enough I somehow managed to mount it wrong the first time. The thermal paste was covering only 2/3 of the heatspreader. A new drop of MX-2, keeping it as level as possible when lowering onto the CPU, press, turn side to side a little, lock into place. And lo and behold - IBT Maximum stress only heats up to 65 degrees (20-22C ambient). So I got a little adventurous and overclocked it to 4GHz (at work right now so don't remember what the Vcore is) and now IBT heats it up to 69 degrees and the case fans ramp up to keep the temperature constant. So it looks like I have good cooling now and the only problem is that pesky RAM slot.
 
So, after some testing I found that at certain RPMs the case fans (2x 120mm BeQuiet SilentWings Pure 1350RPM intakes, 1x Be Quiet SilentWings USC 1500RPM exhaust) create a resonance with the Noctua CPU fan which makes for an annoying, pulsating howl. Therefore I'm going to order a Macho after all, since I found a review where the guy used a Sabertooth X58 mobo and it looked like the heatsink clears the RAM slots with room to spare and it is generally accepted that Thermalright TY-140 fan is pretty quiet and I hope it won't create a resonance like the Noctua does. I'll lose the ability to remove the mobo from the case with the heatsink still attached, but I do it only once a year to blow the dust out with a compressor. I also hope to push my chip to 4.4GHz, since it does 4GHz with 1.288Vcore as reported by CPU-Z. Thanks guys for all your replies. You really are a nice bunch.
 
Just remember that while Thermalright HR-02 Macho is an awesome cooler both in pure performance and value for money, you'll need a long-neck screwdriver to mount it. One screw goes through that hole in the center of the sink. You may already own a screwdriver that does the job but if not, you'll need to pay another $5-10 for a new long neck phillips screwdriver.
 
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