CPU Cooling thread

[Hoax]

So anyways I have all the parts for a new rig for my dad's home office except an optical drive (on backorder from Newegg) and a CPU heatsink that isn't the jank-ass stock intel one.

Barring any good advice from any of you people, I'm going to get whatever Zalman's option is as I have loved their giant copper flower cooling systems in the past.  However I'm vaguely aware that there are new heatpipe () or somesuch technologies in vogue in some circles so I'm willing to read anything you link me to.

Also silence is the #1 priority, followed by the thing actually doing a better cooling job then the stock intel pos.

[Ironwood]

Zalman.

[Engels]

First off, bear in mind that if your dad has a new Core2Duo chip, these chips are far far far less prone to higher temps than chips of yore using 95nm architechture. You may not really need to spend money unless your dad is gonna be goin all Ext33M3 uverclockin on it.

That said, I have a Zalman on my 939 AMD San Diego chip, and it does do a great job. With a stock fan, its idle was around 43 degrees, with the Zalman, it idles at 35. Its this one, if you're interested.

I was going to recommend it, since its easy to install on a 939/AM2 socket, but since you got an Intel chip, and that's gona require you to remove the motherboard anyway, there are other, fancier, better solutions. Morphiend has some form of teh Ninja. Despite its name, it has the respect of the f13 geeksquad. It is, however, gynormous, so be sure to read any documentation you can on wether there is a compatibility issue with your motherboard.

[MisterNoisy]

Anand seems to really dig the new Thermalright tower cooler, but I'd be somewhat worried about the kinds of stresses something that big and heavy would place on the mounting area, not to mention that fitting it in smaller cases could be somewhat difficult.

[Engels]

Cautionary note on that review on LGA775 sockets:

There are no real penalties with the performance of the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, and all the features we look for in a quality cooler are present. However, Thermalright still has a bit of work to do on the Socket 775 adapter that will ship with the Ultra Extreme. Where it barely fits on Ultra 120, the 775 adapter will fit between the heatpipes on the original Ultra 120 and effectively mount a Core 2 Duo. However, with closer heatpipes on the Ultra 120 Extreme, the 775 adapter will not fit between the heatpipes.

You have to bend and weaken the metal 775 adapter to pass it through the pipes, and then straighten it out for mounting. If you are careful this will work, but it is not the kind of mounting we expect to see with a top-end cooler like the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. We sincerely hope Thermalright will make the necessary corrections to the Socket 775 adapter to fix this problem. Most enthusiasts these days will be using a Core 2 Duo for their overclocking system and requiring end users to bend cast metal is not a good solution.

[Sky]

Home office? Cooling shouldn't be an issue. I'm using a Scythe Ninja (a newer one, and it is indeed huuuge) with a 12cm fan. Really, anything with a 12cm fan set to low should cut the mustard for productivity apps. Even the stock intel would be fine unless it's too loud.

I have to say if I did it again, I'd probably stick with Zalman. I had one on my last pc (which needed it badly...Athlon XP toaster), and I felt the Zalman was built much better, the Scythe works good but looks and feels pretty cheap.

[Strazos]

This is similar to the Ninja. It also works great, and is quiet.

Also, the weight really isn't an issue. Actually, it's lighter than the bigass stock units that come with Intel chips. Also, they come with a plate to mount on the backside of the mobo, so you really don't need to worry about the weight.

[Hoax]

Home office? Cooling shouldn't be an issue.

Again, sound is the #1 issue here, plus since he now has a hand picked ass kicking rig I'm not going to skimp on the cpu cooling on principal alone.  I really just hate how tacky and cheap the stock intel things look, the silver metal looks fucking ugly.

The computer is:
Antec P182 black case
E6600 core duo
Abit-9aw-max (or something along those lines)
Seasonic S12 650W Plus PSU
2gig matched Corsair XMS2 ram
Umm the video card is a really nice eVGA Geforce I want to say 8800 but I forget if it was GS or GT, looks badass w/ a nice black fan housing on it
2xWD Caviar 80gig HD's for the stupid raid setup he insisted on, with a bigass HD for non system storage.

I'll post some pics perhaps once it is done, the case is badass looking, I am jealous (it really hurts that my own computer is acting odd right now).

[Trippy]

For all things "quiet PC" related go to:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

I'm happy with my Zalman 9500s but the fan isn't as quiet as it could be which is odd since it's coming from a company that's supposed to be specializing in quiet cooling solutions. Objectively the Ninja is a better cooling solution when mated with a quiet low RPM fan -- it's quieter and cools better. However I didn't like the amount of force I needed to mount it on a particular socket 939 MB so I swapped it out for another Zalman 9500.

[Hoax]

I'm very loyal to brands who make things I have used and liked, so Zalman it is.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

[Strazos]

From the one time I have seen it in action, under load, the Asus unit I linked is Very quiet.

But quiet can sometimes be subjective. For what it's worth, I'm not a huge stickler when it comes to my PC being quiet.

[sinij]

I used Thermaltake Mini Typhoon and my PC is super-quiet and stays cool under load while OC.