Quiet CPU cooler?

[CustardInc]

Basically I want to upgrade from the stock Intel cooler for my i5 3450, I've got a mATX motherboard (GIGABYTE H61MA-D2V) and an mATX case (coolermaster silencio 352) and 2x be quiet! 120mm 1500RPM case fans, if anyone could suggest a small and quiet cooler for less than £50 I'd be very grateful.

[AETAaAS]

What do you mean by 'small'? Without further info, I'd go to my favorite standby, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. It'd cool a lot better than the stock Intel HSF, with less noise and can be had for around £25 from most retailers.

[minicale]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/arcti...us-am3-am3plus

Easily with the height restrictions of the 352 because its quiet and does a surprising good job at cooling when you look at the size of it.

Its not the review for it but the temps are on the graph
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/coolin...h-120x/?page=3

[CustardInc]

I mean small enough to fit in an mATX build, width will probably be more of an issue than height. I'm also a bit skeptical about Cooler Master fans, I had a couple of their 'quiet' 120mm case fans before I got the be quiet! ones, they were horribly loud, but I suppose if the reviews say it's quiet then I'll have to believe them, thanks for the suggestion.

[AETAaAS]

I've just had a look at your case and you're right, 120mm coolers could be a problem. Minicale recommened a good cooler with a 92mm fan and low profile, and if you don't like Cooler Master, Scythe and Zalman are other places to look.

My recent personal experience with a Zalman CNPS5X leads me to recommend it. Quiet at reasonable loads and able to cool a mildly overclocked AMD 1090T (3.6GHz), it should handle your proc easily. Also pretty danmed cheap at around £15.

[Corun McCarthy]

I have a zeal man CNP at the moment and I find it can be very noticeable under heavy load like gaming, I'm opting for a closed loop with my current build.

[c12038]

Or go for an AIO (All in one) cooling solution like Antec Kuhler 620/920 or Corsiar H75 look at these as they are quiet and reduce heat on OC's systems pretty effective... ^_^

And rear of your case a 120mm fan can be fitted with the radiator

[CustardInc]

Yeah, I thought about getting one but I figured that seeing as I'm never going to OC and reviews say they aren't that much quieter, plus they're like 2-3x the price of the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13, which is my first choice at the moment.
EDIT: My case fans are screwless, so can't be used on radiators

[CrispiusBaconus]

Hyper 212 Evo is pretty much the best price/performance cooler out there.

[edd677]

If you can determine your size constraints, and it fits, as others has mentioned, the CM Hyper 212 EVO is often regarded as one of the best air coolers, before you even reach its affordability.

[Willzzz]

I'm a bit puzzled here.
The stock cooler is very quiet and you hardly need any cooling for an i5-3450.

Have you tried cleaning it?



The reference cooler is almost the quietest you can find.
If you must buy a new one get something simple like this:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...m2-am3-fm1-fm2
Or one of the cheap Artic Cooling Freezer 7/13 models.

[Pob255]

Yes, I do think the first thing you need to do is check your motherboard pwm settings, although after a quick look at the manual that is one of the worst PWM setting I have ever seen.
This is the setting, from the manual

Options are: 0.75 PWM value/C ~ 2.50 PWM value /C

And I thought Asus was bad, they at least give you some fine control via software, the gigabyte Easy Tune6 software just gives you a couple of meaningless sliders

Your best bet is in the BIOS under the M.I.T. tab in the PC Health Status section, You find the following options for the fan control
Normal = Allows the CPU fan to run at different speeds according to the CPU temperature. You can adjust the fan speed with EasyTune based on your system requirements. (Default)
Silent = Allows the CPU fan to run at slow speeds.
Manual = Allows you to control the CPU fan speed under the Slope PWM item.
Disabled = Allows the CPU fan to run at full speeds

Set it to Silent is probably your best bet

[OilSheikh]

Coolermaster Hyper 212+ or any big fat heatsink with heatpipes + an Arctic Cooling F12 PWM

[l1ghtm4st3r]

Cooler Master Hyper 212+ and a Noctua F12 and maybe an Arctic Cooling MX4 thermal compound.....although to be fair, Cooler Master's thermal compound is already quite reasonable.

Apparently meant to make it quite a bit quieter with some better temperatures: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...e-noctua-hyper