New cooler for i7?

I built my i7 D0 based rig last year with an Akasa Nero cooler which I have been rather disappointed with in terms of cooling performance (only slightly better than the stock cooler) and I am contemplating purchasing the Noctua NH-D14 so I can get some better temperatures as the hot weather is really pushing them up and also so I can try some overclocking.

It is pretty expensive at around £60 and so, understandably, I am hesitant. Does anyone have experience with it or have any other cooler recommendations that perform near to or just as well?

Judging from the measurements of my motherboard (P6T-SE) and current CPU cooler (Akasa Nero) it should fit however I'm not sure if my case will accommodate it (Antec Sonata III).

Also, thermal compound recommendations please (if the included Noctua/other cooler brand isn't good enough)?

Cheers, I'm new so I'll fill in the PC spec profile thing now.

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Originally Posted by JustExtreme

It is pretty expensive at around £60 and so, understandably, I am hesitant. Does anyone have experience with it or have any other cooler recommendations that perform near to or just as well?

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Not familiar with your case but the Corsair H50 gets decent reviews for around the same price.

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Originally Posted by JustExtreme

Also, thermal compound recommendations please (if the included Noctua/other cooler brand isn't good enough)?

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TBH, only the enthusiasts will notice or care about the differences between thermal compounds. Most good coolers, air or water will come with a suitable and perfectly adequate compound.

As has been shown on more than one occasion, the correct amount of an average compound well applied will out perform top end compound if too much is used.

The nero should be much better than the stock cooler, it's not a top end cooler but it's a good sight better than the stock cooler.

What is the exact issue? and what exactly have you done to investigate it?

Just randomly throwing money and new bits of kit at a problem is not a good way to approach any issue.

I went for the H50 :)

venomousX is my suggestion, keeps my i5 under 50C even when running loaded on 3.8ghz overclock

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Akasa...6-1366-AM2-AM3

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=1168215 <-- this is a big improvement over the nero.


http://www.scan.co.uk/products/AKASA...ocking-ALL-CPU

This one looks cooler though :D

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Originally Posted by Pob255

The nero should be much better than the stock cooler, it's not a top end cooler but it's a good sight better than the stock cooler.

What is the exact issue? and what exactly have you done to investigate it?

Just randomly throwing money and new bits of kit at a problem is not a good way to approach any issue.

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I get idle temps of 47-52 with the Nero and under maximum load with Prime95 it gets to 80 max whereas with stock cooler I got 51-55 idle and 88 max

I had worse issues when I completed my build last year but it turns out the cooler was not attached correctly however this is not the case now, it is firmly attached and in place. I experimented a bit with different amounts of thermal compound and different methods of application but what I have now is the best I've had it - thin zig zag across of arctic silver 5, the small dot suggested didn't appear to be effective at all and I was advised on another forum to try the zig zag.