Heatsinks!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

So, I finally broke down and picked up a couple of 2600K CPUs for my gaming boxes and am wondering what you folks are using for heatsinks. I'm running about 70-75C under full load running Rift (stock clock settings) and I'd like to get that down under 65C at the very least, preferably under 60C.

Things I'm looking for:

• Air cooling (not interested in water, even the closed "zero-maintenance" systems)
• Screw-down CPU baseplate (not the plastic push-pins)
• Relatively small footprint (don't need the double-wide three-fan monsters)
• Preferably comes with a PWM fan installed.
• Needs to fit in a mini-tower case. I don't have humongous RAM heatsinks so clearance should not a problem.

[MiRai]

Ehhh... this Venomous-X meets some of the criteria. It's what I'm using with ambient room temps anywhere
from 76 - 81 F). Using a push/pull setup I had RAM clearance issues on my old Gigabyte UD7 board but not on
this Maximus IV (just barely fits).

[Sajuuk]

Eh, just cut a hole in your case. Nobody will notice.

What are your ambient temperatures? Pre-load temps?

If you don't have any plans on overclocking you could stay with stock cooling and live with it, or stay with stock cooling and undervolt your processor as much as you can while still maintaining performance.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Ambient temps in here are always under 75.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/96...l=c369s1037b32

Looking at that one. I like the mounting bracket on it a bit better than the VenomousX.

[RSM72]

Megahalems (or its successor the Super Mega) both come without fans premounted and the already mentioned Venomous-X. After using several other fans on overclocked builds for the past years I'm currently using a Megahalems with a single scythe fan and am somewhat pleased with its performance.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Jing

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Products.aspx?C=1417

[RSM72]

Jing

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Products.aspx?C=1417

I'm not certain that 2 way fans is really a plus because from my experience it increased the noise by a fair margin but not really lowers temps but it may depend on the cooler. And I think that "caged" fan containment around the actual cooler will hinder airflow and thus decrase cooling performace.

[Sajuuk]

I'm not certain that 2 way fans is really a plus because from my experience it increased the noise by a fair margin but not really lowers temps but it may depend on the cooler. And I think that "caged" fan containment around the actual cooler will hinder airflow and thus decrase cooling performace.

It's all about airflow and keeping the air moving over the fins of the heatsink. If air isn't moving, heat transfer is occurring at a slower pace, which could limit performance. (hah, maybe a couple degrees difference, but whatever)

[burningforce]

have you looked into the cooler master hyper 212+? It is not that wide but i somewhat tall, so should check clearance before buying.

it comes with a PWM fan, although not sure how good it is as I do not use it, I use another fan.
Seems to cool sandy bridge cpu's quite well and if you stay under 4.7Ghz overclock, then the heatsink should work great.

Only thing I do not like is after you mount everything and the heatsink is on the cpu and secured, the heatsink seems to be easily turned. This is not a huge problem if you install and do not mess with it. I however like to mess around in my machine installing/uninstalling and moving stuff around. I sometimes bump the heatsink and it turns a little, I just turn it back the right way and it seems fine.

here is the heatink webpage http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/prod...roduct_id=2923

if you do plan on getting it, be aware that this is a $29.99 heatsink tops. Newegg used to sell this heatsink for this much, but when it become a cheap alternative to higher priced heatsinks, they decided to raise the price to around $40+.

I just checked newegg and it seems the price is $32.99 shipped as of right now. So I would read around and see what you would like to get based on your needs and performance.

[MiRai]

have you looked into the cooler master hyper 212+? It is not that wide but i somewhat tall, so should check clearance before buying.

it comes with a PWM fan, although not sure how good it is as I do not use it, I use another fan.
Seems to cool sandy bridge cpu's quite well and if you stay under 4.7Ghz overclock, then the heatsink should work great.

here is the heatink webpage http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/prod...roduct_id=2923

if you do plan on getting it, be aware that this is a $29.99 heatsink tops. Newegg used to sell this heatsink for this much, but when it become a cheap alternative to higher priced heatsinks, they decided to raise the price to around $40+.

I just checked newegg and it seems the price is $32.99 shipped as of right now. So I would read around and see what you would like to get based on your needs and performance.

Have heard good things about the H212+ myself.

Only thing I do not like is after you mount everything and the heatsink is on the cpu and secured, the heatsink seems to be easily turned. This is not a huge problem if you install and do not mess with it. I however like to mess around in my machine installing/uninstalling and moving stuff around. I sometimes bump the heatsink and it turns a little, I just turn it back the right way and it seems fine.

As far as I know... most, if not all, big gigantic heat sinks move after being mounted in place. My Venomous-X,
Zalman 9500, and whatever other one I had back in the day all moved if they were bumped or messed with.
If you could apply enough pressure in order to keep the heatsink from moving... I'm guessing you'd either
damage the CPU or crack the motherboard.