Core2 Quad cooling

[ibiris]

I regret getting the Zalman 9500 now but it is a vast improvment over the stock cooler. May upgrade to the Scythe if it is quiter tho. I run the zalman thru a fan controller and just bump up the speed when gaming, but it is a lot noisier when at max speed.

[DannagE]

tuniq tower 120 ftw

I totally agree. The Tuniq keeps my overclocked cpu at low temps. Its a huge cooler though, so check the dimensions out and check it will fit your mobo first.

Dan

[ibiris]

Yep, Tuniq Tower - and change the fan for a quieter one if you want it.

[merdat]

Tuniq tower - Does it come with a fan as standard ie is that what the '120' is???

[DannagE]

Yeah It comes with a 120mm fan in the middle of it. There is also a back plate rheostat controller if you want to use it or as ibiris said you can change it to another if you want.

Think this says enough




Full review HERE

Dan

[merdat]

Yes that TT certainly comes well recommended. Thanks for posting temp chart.

[EtheAv8r]

Custom PC have performed several Labs on this issue, their current 'Elite' recommended HSF is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, and with good reason.

It has not been tested alongside all those in the graph above, but includes a couple so can give a fair comparison.

The Scyth Ninja was regarded as good passive cooling, but unable to adequately cool an overclocked P4 (which is hotter than a C2D). With a quiet 120mm fan it cooled the P4 to 6 degrees below the stock cooler under load. Results will vary with fan installed more airflow = cooler & noisier

The Zalman CNPS9500LED was noisy, expensive and performed very well cooling the P4 to 16 degrees below the stock cooler under load.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro was quiet, with PWM controlled fane so only spinning as the temps demanded, cheap and cooled the P4 to 19 degrees below the stock cooler - puting it in the same league - performance wise - to the Turniq Towers taking the figures from the above graph. CPC commented the the ACF7P was "actually better at cooling Pentium 4s than most water-cooling kits".

[Xenomorph]

Horses for Courses...

I have a Scythe Infinity with stock 12cm Fan & my QX6700 with a slight o/c upto 6800 (no voltage increase) runs at 40-41 degrees idle upto 45 when playing games (Titan Quest).

It is also inaudiable over the general system (mine is quite!), which is what I wanted.

If you really want to o/c then use Two fans in "push / pull" config. This increases perfromance substantially.

You will need some additional fan connectors (i.e. bits of wire).
I emailed Scythe about buying another set of fan connectors & they sent me them in the post FOA
You cannot get better Customer Service than that...

Here are the reviews I used as a basis of my purchase.
Bear in mind that I did not know about this company or their products, whan I started looking.


Reviews:
http://www.bigbruin.com/2006/scytheinfinity_1
Least favourable review...(you have to be subjective when you recommend items)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Scythe/Infinity
Good overall review & good for installation pictures...
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article658-page1.html
Good review on various voltages & various fan orientations...
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=298
Good review with various fans to improve cooling...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coo...an-scythe.html
Probably the most complete comparison with Zalman CNP9700 & other high perfromance coolers...
Also tests 2 x low speed verses 1 x High speed fan's, with very good results (pager 11) ....

You should now have a good idea of what the Scythe Infinity is capable of & why I chose this cooler, simply put I beleive it was the best choice for me & I highly recommend it to all except the uber o/c's.

[IAmATeaf]

How come nobodies mentioned the Thermalright ultra-120, seems to perform really well and doesn't have some of the clearance issues reported for the much squarer TT and Scythe.