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CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Hi guys,
I've been running my new system for a few weeks now with no problems. Everything is running smoothly and quietly, except the stock cpu fan and the optical drive. Now I can live with the Optical as I don't use it much but the CPU fan is noticible even at idle.
So new fan it is! But which one?
I originally decided on the Titan Fenrir because all the reviews say it offers performance close to coolers at double the price. But then I thought "do I need a £30 cooler" after all it's not like I'm going for the world record in overclocking or likely to spend 8 hours a day playing Crysis. Maybe I want quiet rather than extreme cooling.
So I did some looking and I came up 3 possibilities which should fit my AM3 board:
Titan Fenrir, Gelid Tranquillo and Coolermaster Hyper 212 Quiet.
The Fenrir is £28.78 with noise levels from 17.2 to 39dBA.
The Tranquillo is £24.87 with noise levels from 12 to 25dBA
The Coolermaster Hyper 212 Quiet is £18.78 with noise levels at 19dBA
Now the fenrir is the best, no question, but the tranquillo is very quiet, seems to offer the cooling performance I would need and is £4 cheaper.
The coolermaster, on paper at least, is very similar to the other 2 but is £10 and £6 cheaper.
Has anyone used any of these coolers? What were they like? Or have you any other recommendations given that the fenrir is the top end of the budget.
Oh! It's cooling a Phenom 965 BE.
Edit: Blimey...it's quiet on here today. I must be the only person not at school or Uni :mrgreen:
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
I always recommend the Artic Cooling 64 pro (rev 2 now?) might have a different name these days too. Cheapish tower with rubber fan mount, but absolutely superb at both cooling and quietness compared to stock coolers, with very easy fitting.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
The Xigmatek is a very potent cooler for the price. Personally I would go with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus if you can find it for around £20. It seems to be the only cooler capable of being mounted in any direction on a AM3 board. Somthing I need in a CPU cooler as I have no top exhaust fans
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...M2-AM2plus-AM3
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
I have the coolermaster hyper 212 and the fan on it isn't *that* quiet but I guess it's all subjective. If you get it, make sure you get the newer "plus" version that Cheapy linked to as it is a different design (fancy direct-touch heatpipes) and it may have a better fan.
IMHO I think the fan that you put on it is as important as the cooler itself so maybe you could get away with a cheap cooler but a good fan. I swapped the coolermaster fan for a Zalman ZM-f3 at 7v.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kalniel
I always recommend the Artic Cooling 64 pro (rev 2 now?) might have a different name these days too. Cheapish tower with rubber fan mount, but absolutely superb at both cooling and quietness compared to stock coolers, with very easy fitting.
I read there were some slight fitting issues with the Artic for the AM3.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
killie99
Doesn't say that it fits AM3 and starts louder than the 3 mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Queelis
Hmmmm...worth a look into. But with postage it's more than the fenrir.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cheapy
The Xigmatek is a very potent cooler for the price. Personally I would go with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus if you can find it for around £20. It seems to be the only cooler capable of being mounted in any direction on a AM3 board. Somthing I need in a CPU cooler as I have no top exhaust fans
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...M2-AM2plus-AM3
Had scan had it in stock I would have gone for this. I keep an eye out elsewhere
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lego batman
I have the coolermaster hyper 212 and the fan on it isn't *that* quiet but I guess it's all subjective. If you get it, make sure you get the newer "plus" version that Cheapy linked to as it is a different design (fancy direct-touch heatpipes) and it may have a better fan.
IMHO I think the fan that you put on it is as important as the cooler itself so maybe you could get away with a cheap cooler but a good fan. I swapped the coolermaster fan for a Zalman ZM-f3 at 7v.
Did this swap do the business?
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
It made it quieter but of course, it's all relative! Once you start trying to silence everything then things can easily get out of hand. I found the swap a good compromise for me but YMMV. The original fan was not exactly loud compared to others I have had.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
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Originally Posted by
Queelis
+1 Vote for the Zalman. Very well made piece of kit, but the stock fan is f****** loud. Ended up using 2 Yate Loon fans in push-pull configuration. And can't complain with the price.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
The Xigmatek works fine on AM3, don't know why it isn't listed.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article818-page1.html
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
killie99
I've fitted two of those and they are amazing. Silent, and very efficient.
Lovely coolers.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
killie99
The Xigmatek works fine on AM3, don't know why it isn't listed.
Well it looks like the Xigmatek has found it's way on to the shortlist especially as I have top exhaust fans so cooler orientation is not a problem.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Regarding the Titan Fenrir, I've found the normal one and a special edition one. Does the extra £4 actually buy you anything other than a slightly different colour scheme?
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
AFAIK it's just a different colour, that's the Christmas special one IIRC.
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
Yeah just it's a different colour, (I have the xmas edition!)
Also I think at the time [the Xmas edition was released] there was only rev.1 of the normal edition out so you had to send off for LGA1156 support bracket, but with a new revision of the standard colourscheme I think it also got the 1156 bracket.
I am very happy with my Fenrir (on my main rig), but was also impressed with the (much) cheaper Coolermaster TX3 that I fitted to my folding rig. I would suggest that the TX3 is to me now what the Arctic Cooling stuff used to be (I've had tonnes of AC HSFs), something very cheap and effective you can use if the stock cooler is rubbish or with an OEM CPU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...M3-940-939-954
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Re: CPU Coolers...choices, choices, choices!
the xigmatek red scorpion is great its extremley quiet and keeps my quad core below 60 on full load and cheap