qubit's Sandy upgrade

[qubit]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermalright...9S?ref=prid-20

Thanks, I saw that, but I never buy off the Amazon marketplace any more, because I've had a bad experience once with them and Amazon covered it up by deleting my negative feedback.

Originally Posted by linoliveira

I think you don't want that cooler! Proof!

Originally Posted by Paulieg

LOL. Like I said, if you run just 2 sticks, you are fine. 4 is a no go, like with many of the high end coolers. Sometimes you just have to go low profile, if you want good cooling and all dimm slots populated.

I definitely want all my memory slots populated, so I'll just have to get some new low profile RAM, lol qubit gives himself another kick for not doing that in the first place. n00b

btw, I've just got adventerous with that tiny Akasa K25 fitted and set the BIOS to 4.5GHz: it worked nice and stable (no extra voltage applied) but the fan revs kept shooting up to high/max and back down again, depending on the load. Tried a little gaming and the CPU stuck at around 60C with the fan spinning fast. Of course, trying IntelBurn or similar with that cooler strapped on is a no-go (yes, I did try and it's a no-go even at stock).

Now I've underclocked it to 1.6GHz (slowest it'll go) with a turbo of 1.7GHz to get a feel for it like that. That little Akasa is sufficient for 1.6GHz though, with the CPU running at at around 46C.

Ultimately, I still can't quite decide what high-end cooler to get just now. That Thermalright Silver Arrow cooler is either slightly better or slightly worse than the D14, depending on which review one reads.

[linoliveira]

The NH-D14 comes with silent fans, so acoustics will not be a problem while still performing great, but it weights 75g more than the Silver Arrow. Also the Silver Arrow uses BIG fans rly, the dimensions are: Length 160mm x Width 25mm x Height 140mm.

Its up to you to decide now, both are good coolers

[qubit]

Ok, I've been reading reviews and watching YouTube reviews and am leaning towards the Silver Arrow. It seems to be slightly better in cooling performance, noise, looks and price, so I'm interested.

However, availability seems to be very poor, with only one Amazon marketplace seller actually having it, with most retailers not even listing it. However, the D14 is available everywhere. The Silver Arrow is newer too, so this lack of availability is bothering me and I wonder if this points to some flaw in it that I don't know about? There's no newer model listed on Thermalright's website, either.

I've resigned myself to changing my RAM to low profile modules to accommodate such a cooler, lol.

Here's xbit's review of the Silver Arrow, for example, which shows it beating the D14. Not every review agrees with this, but on average it seems to edge out the D14.

The Silver Arrow loses in this OC3D review however, so it's not clear cut to me without being able to get my hands on both of them and compare them.

My CPU does 4.5GHz without batting an eyelid, so I want to try for 5GHz and without going insane due to fan noise (the cheapie ones I have now go mad with noise, due to the high fan speeds, as you might expect) which is why I'm looking for the very best cooler.

Pauleig: I looked up a review of that Phanteks cooler (xbit, again) and it turns out that the fans are a bit loud, so it rules it out for me.

EDIT: Just found this YouTube video of Noctua showing off new prototypes at Computex 2011 back in June. They described a new version of the NH-D14 with greater RAM compatibility (clearance) and PWM fans. However, when I look around the retailers, it appears that's for LGA 2011 only, which seems a real shame. There's other interesting designs there too, which I don't see on store shelves. Even the Noctua website doesn't show these new models.

[twicksisted]

Thats a beast of a cooler!!!!
Looks like a pain to install (and uninstall again when changing ram). Also looks like it will put a lot of weight/strain on the motherboard.

Why not get a Corsair H80 or H100... i have had the H100 for the last couple of months and its great, looks sexy, awesome temps pretty easy to install and leaves the motherboard unobstructed.

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by twicksisted

Why not get a Corsair H80 or H100... i have had the H100 for the last couple of months and its great, looks sexy, awesome temps pretty easy to install and leaves the motherboard unobstructed.

This....

Originally Posted by qubit

I know water cools inherently better (sometimes way better) it's just not something that I want to put into my PC. I just don't like the idea of liquid coolant anywhere near it with the possibility of leaks and the awkwardness of the pipes.

[twicksisted]

yeah well i guess the same could be said for most things like immersion heating elements in kettles and heated swimming pools etc... if its done right its perfectly safe.

I'm quite impressed with this H100 and although its not going to outlive a standard metal HSF, it will definately outlast my sandybridge system whereby when i upgrade to the next best thing I'll look at what the best cooling solution is then and have something else.

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by twicksisted

if its done right its perfectly safe.

thats what she said!

[qubit]

Ok, I've quit faffing around and got myself the Noctua NH-D14.

I'll be installing in the next couple of days or so and I'll let you know how I get on with it.

btw, I bought it from Novatech and got the low profile RAM to go with it.

[HammerON]

To help with RAM clearance I simply moved the front fan to the rear and didn't notice much (if any) temp variances. Make sure you install your RAM before mounting the beast though
EDIT: But then again I am using a techstation and not a case. I remember I did that as well in one of my ANTEC cases and it was a tight fit with the fan on the rear...

[qubit]

Originally Posted by HammerON

To help with RAM clearance I simply moved the front fan to the rear and didn't notice much (if any) temp variances. Make sure you install your RAM before mounting the beast though
EDIT: But then again I am using a techstation and not a case. I remember I did that as well in one of my ANTEC cases and it was a tight fit with the fan on the rear...

Thanks, those are helpful tips. If I don't actually need the low profile RAM, I'll be returning it. I'm on a HAF 922 case, which can take the biggest graphics card, so this heatsink won't be a problem for it. Also, the fact that the side panel never goes on eliminates any potential problems with that.

I just love the way you can overclock a hot CPU hard with this thing, run IntelBurn on it and still have useably low temps - and all with quiet cooling! Of course, in day to day computing (even hardcore gaming) it'll never get stressed anywhere near as hard, so it's gonna run really cool and quiet.

It's funny, but I maintain a hot-rod gaming rig, upgrading it when the time comes, but I don't actually play games all that often. Why do I do this? It's a similar principle to people who by super-expensive 200mph cars and only ever drive them on public roads where they can't ever put the car through its paces. It's the having and the knowing that it's all there under the bonnet should they want it. Of course, I have the distinct advantage, that my hobby is waaay cheaper! And I do let her rip sometimes, too.

[HammerON]

You could always use your rig for crunching for the WCG team (just saying)

[qubit]

I forgot to update the thread, but my build is finally complete. I've installed the Noctua NH-D14 a while back and it is indeed a fantastic cooler, keeping my CPU nice and cool and doing it really quietly. I had to fit the low profile RAM on the nearest two memory slots, but I could just move the fan up for the second two.

[erocker]

but whaddabout pics?!

[v12dock]

Are you going to show how insanely large the Noctura NH-D14 really is

[qubit]

Yes, it looks very much like v12's picture, but it's in the case, lol.

I'll try to get us a picture.

[Aquinus]

I personally have a Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B which cools my SB-E 3820 and it does a very good job at it. It isn't too big and shouldn't interfere with tall memory (there is enough room to put 8-stick of tall DIMMs in my P9X79 Deluxe with this cooler,) and it doesn't go higher than 60*C at 1.4 volts and it is QUIET, very quiet, I almost thought that it wasn't working it was so quiet, but it was and does a very good job. I think it does just as well as my old Push-Pull setup with the Thermaltake Frio (which is not quiet one bit) with the two ThermalTake fans ripped off of it and two server grade 100CFM fans added.

Short answer: It's not all about how much air you can move but how efficiently it gets rid of the heat, I think Zalman has always been on the ball with this. Also if you don't have two CPU fan headers (my M4N72-E didn't, but my P9X79 Deluxe does) you may have to have some form of speed control or a board that handles chassis fan speeds well if you choose to go the route of a push-pull system (which doesn't benefit you unless you run it full power and under very heavy load at higher temps).

Here is a link to it on NewEgg: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU C...

Edit: I was too late again. t.t