E7200 Cooler

[watercooled]

Can anyone recommend a good air cooler for an E7200? I'm planning to apply a small - mid (less than 3.5GHz) overclock in the future and I'd like it to run cool. I have an Antec 900 case.
Thanks

[PROJECT2501]

Lots of people on this forum are recommending the Thermalright True Black 120

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Something like an Akasa AK965,Coolermaster Hyper TX2 or an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro will be good enough for a 45nm Intel dual core.

Hexus themselves say that the AK965 outperforms much more expensive coolers:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.ph...=15387&page=16

Not too bad for a cooler which costs under £10!!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...228&source=hx1

[watercooled]

Thanks, I'll have a look at them. And thanks for your help.

[Will404]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Scyth...nd-940-and-AM2 or http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...U-(Without-Fan) or http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Xigma...0mm-LED-cooler

[watercooled]

Is this cooler: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...U-(Without-Fan) the same as the TRUE black cooler, just without the black finish?

[r_j_k_p]

im selling a zalman 9700nt if you want it? its a very good cooler, not as good as a thermalright true, but should get to 3.5ghz

[Webby]

All I will say is that the Hexus review Cat linked to is in my opinion complete tosh the reviewer did not apply the TIM correctly for the direct heatpipe coolers (that would be all the Xigmatek coolers that were reviewed).

Anyway onto the question at hand personally I would buy a Thermalright Ultima 90 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...-(Without-Fan) £25 plus you will need a fan I would recommend the Akasa Amber 92mm very quiet and moves plenty enough air costs ~£4.50 or you can get any 92mm or 120mm fan you like. Although reviews showed that the fans performed about the same until very high heat loads were used then the 120mm had a slight edge.

I suggest the Ultima 90 because it is significantly smaller than the TRUE which makes fitting it easier it is a lot cheaper and it comes with a backplate and bolt down kit so you do not need to worry about the motherboard flexing or trying to wrestle push pins in! It has plenty enough cooling potential for a 45nm duel at 3.5GHz.

[watercooled]

Yes, I was thinking of the Ultima myself. It's a good performer and it looks good But does it come with pre-applied thermal compound? I'm going to use mx2 and it would be great if it came clean.

Also, thanks for the offer, rjkp but I don't have a paypal account or a chequebook so I'd have trouble paying. Thanks all the same, though.

[watercooled]

How should I mount the fan - push or pull?

[Webby]

Watercooled it comes with no paste pre-applied so no need to worry about that.

It comes with two sets of clips one for 120mm and one for 92mm fans, personally I would have the fan pushing air through the cooler you can attach a fan on each side but would need to buy a second set of clips (or have mismatched fans I guess).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

All I will say is that the Hexus review Cat linked to is in my opinion complete tosh the reviewer did not apply the TIM correctly for the direct heatpipe coolers (that would be all the Xigmatek coolers that were reviewed).

Anyway onto the question at hand personally I would buy a Thermalright Ultima 90 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...-(Without-Fan) £25 plus you will need a fan I would recommend the Akasa Amber 92mm very quiet and moves plenty enough air costs ~£4.50 or you can get any 92mm or 120mm fan you like. Although reviews showed that the fans performed about the same until very high heat loads were used then the 120mm had a slight edge.

I suggest the Ultima 90 because it is significantly smaller than the TRUE which makes fitting it easier it is a lot cheaper and it comes with a backplate and bolt down kit so you do not need to worry about the motherboard flexing or trying to wrestle push pins in! It has plenty enough cooling potential for a 45nm duel at 3.5GHz.

A few other reviews have said that the AK965 is a good cooler for the price.

An E7200 at 3.5ghz is supposed to have the same power comsumption as a previous generation E6850 at 3ghz:

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Inte...-E7200/?page=3

The E7200 draws much less power than even the slower E4600 and E4700 in both overclocked and non-overclocked states. Compared to both the E6*** and E8*** series power consumption is very much lower when overclocked.

[watercooled]

I think I might have been wrong to call 3.5GHz a 'small' overclock as this seems more like an average OC. I'm a OC noob, though so I'll probably start around 3. Anyone have any tips? I've reached 15 posts so my config is now displayed.

[Webby]

I wasn't saying that the Akasa cooler wasn't good for the money just that the comparison done by Hexus was completely flawed due the fact that they used far to much TIM which impacted negitavely on the performance of the direct touch coolers, they couldn't make that error with the Akasa as it comes with pre-applied paste.

As to the E7200 consuming less power when overclocked it will be entirely dependent on the voltage required for each particular CPU. If one E7200 will run at 3.5GHz at 1.1v and another needs 1.3v they will have drastically different power consumptions and since the review does not state the voltage used for each CPU tested it is pretty inconclusive it has to be said.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have overclocked both E4300 and E4500 processors to 3ghz+ and these probably consume more power than an E7200 as they need higher voltages. I have used budget coolers without any major heat issues although I make sure the case is well ventilated (even though the room the computer in is reasonably warm).

I tend to think that any CPU cooler over £20 is a bit expensive IMHO for a dual core especially for a well ventilated case like an Antec 900. However if the OP wants to upgrade to a socket 775 quad perhaps the extra expenditure is justified as long as the cooler can be used on a future socket 1366 or socket 1156 cpu.

[watercooled]

There's a chance I'll upgrade to a quad core in the next few months so I'll get a cooler with a bit of headroom, like a Thermalright. Also, thanks for making me feel welcome on the forum, everyone!