Best air CPU cooler

[godsdog]

ultra 120 is £25.83 so just for £1.83 more you get better cooling.

Wish it was true. But from what I've seen recently the only thing that cuts it for bleeding nose overclocking is the 120 Extreme, with the Ultima-90 holding it's own not far behind. "Bang for buck, size etc, yada" it's where it's at at the moment....yo, bang, zap, baby

[moogle]

damn, guess my knowledge is outdated

[godsdog]

To be fair moogle, any of those coolers would do a great job under normal circumstances, it just comes down to "edge", "size/weight" and "value". I've found that Anandtech article to be pretty accurate (the stack em up side by side bit) from some of the stuff that's passed through my hands recently.

[Hunain]

So it means It was a wrong decision when I bought the ASUS silent knight for $54 ~...my C2D e6300 overclocked to 2.8Ghz idles at 33-34 and under 100% load goes up to 48-49C...ah well okay, sometimes 51C ~.....I thought its pretty nice

[moogle]

oh right, i thought my ultra was a waste then
but anyway even a stock intel hsf might be able to beat one of those babies in my basement
10c room temp ftw! well not for me but does wonders for overclocking

[Blitzen]

The problem with the Mine is that it's still quite large and uses push pins, the cooler vaines sit over the pin blocking direct access to them from above and if you've got a motherboard with heat pipes and PWM coolers the push pins get even harder to get at and apply the force needed to click them in.

Sorry but you are completely wrong!
I actually use the Mine and if you are careful you can easily get the pins correct. They arent blocked at all.
I also have a mobo with heatpipes and the problems you are talking about are non-existent so i hve no idea where your facts are from as thats simply not the case.
Also, with the pins, you need apply no more or less force than any other cooler that uses this attachment.

[Taz]

As others have said, if you're not going to overclock then you have lots of HSFs to choose from.

I went for the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme simply because I wanted to build a fairly quiet system rather than to overclock my system. The fan I bought for it is pretty quiet anyway and it only runs at around 900rpm most of the time so isn't audible (from outside the case).

[staffsMike]

The ninja is more tricky than the mine but it really isn't a problem getting it on. As long as understand how the push pins work all the coolers that use them are pretty easier to fit.

All coolers are easier to fit outside the case anyway.. it's why removable motherboard trays were invented i'm sure.

The ninja itself has fit on every motherboard i've cared to try it on. thats the,

Asus P5B-E
EVGA 680i
Abit IP-35
Asus M2A-VM

Havn't had a problem with any of them and I always fit the cooler with the motherboard out anyway because thats the way I build them. I also build very neatly so motherboards can be removed with very little effort if the cooler should be an after thought.

[godsdog]

but anyway even a stock intel hsf might be able to beat one of those babies in my basement 10c room temp ftw! well not for me but does wonders for overclocking

Off topic and completely irrelevant: I've just dropped a chocolate biscuit on the kitchen floor and it smashed, plate like.

[moogle]

Off topic and completely irrelevant: I've just dropped a chocolate biscuit on the kitchen floor and it smashed, plate like.

i keep the cans of coke there too. no need for a fridge baby!

[Buzzsaw]

Off topic and completely irrelevant: I've just dropped a chocolate biscuit on the kitchen floor and it smashed, plate like.

Did I sound like a plate?

"What was that smashing sound?"
"I dropped a chocolate biscuit!"

[peterb]

Did I sound like a plate?

"What was that smashing sound?"
"I dropped a chocolate biscuit!"

Must depend on the chocolate biscuit.. what sort was it? Chocolate digestive, Chocolate rich tea? Other? It would also depend on the freshness - a stale slightly soft biscuit might not shatter. And what if it had been dunked first? In tha event it might just crumble rather than break. I think we need more information (BTW - interesting topic on coolers!)

[Dreaming]

I *did* have the Scythe Infinity but I didn't like it. It was too heavy for the pushpins. I've heard installing a backplate can increase contact with the CPU. I think my CPU heatspreader and heatsink both need lapping, so will probably do that over xmas.

I don't think I need to drop temps especially, although I do do a lot of overclocking and will be getting a quad core which I've heard are especially toasty when clocked up. I've had my e6300 running at 75*C to get high 3dmark06 scores, which I did .

I really like the freezer 7 pro though. If only it had a 120mm fan than a 92mm, it could run that much slower / quieter.

[Pob255]

Sorry but you are completely wrong!
I actually use the Mine and if you are careful you can easily get the pins correct. They arent blocked at all.
I also have a mobo with heatpipes and the problems you are talking about are non-existent so i hve no idea where your facts are from as thats simply not the case.
Also, with the pins, you need apply no more or less force than any other cooler that uses this attachment.

From a recent build (3weeks ago) using one for the first time.

On an ABit IP35 motherboard the push pin in the bottom left corner where the heat pipe was is not easy to get at. Please note I said "not easy" not blocked, they are not as easy to use as there are on the stock cooler or something like the Arctic Cooling freezer 7 pro.
I'll say it does depend a bit on your mind set, this was the first ever complete build for my friend (with my self supervising) and he struggled with it, even after I had him practise with the stock cooler first.
I'll admit that getting him the Mine was a mistake, yes it is a good cooler, but it was far larger than I realised, he did struggle with it and bent a couple of fins getting it in.
Although it does run very cool and quiet with it's stock fan so the end resault is good.

4 days later, I had to help another friend with the Thermalright ultra 120 extreme, granted she's more pc hardware savy and was only haveing a bit of trouble getting the screws on into the retaining bracket.
She'd screwed one side in too tightly not working diagonals, so it was just a matter of losening the screws to gain enough leyway to get the diagonal screws in before tightening.
And you have far better access to the screws on the ultima120 than to the pushpins on the mine.


I do overall like the Mine, after seeing the resaults it's a good cooler for a low price, deffinately a step up from the ACf7p or Asaka ak-965x3
The push pins are both good and bad, as they can be far more confusing for a novice than a simple sprung screw. And while you don't have the extra steps of fitting a back plate or need to take the motherboard out of the case, I would not like to try to remove or fit the Mine with the motherboard insitue as the size of it does block line of sight of the push pins.
All told I'm not sure I'd sudgest the Mine to someone as there first non-sock cooler, something smaller that doesn't overhang the fittings would probably be far better.

[Pob255]

Could look at the Xigmatek HDT-S1283, Scan have it for £30 Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
German review
Xbits review

It seems ok, not as cheap as the Sycthes, but they are great performance/price coolers.

[staffsMike]

It's a shame intel didn't or couldn't copy the AM2 cooler fittings. They are a so easy to do. I got a ninja on in seconds ..although it did twist slightly under the stress lol