Help on choosing new cpu cooler

[Steve1]

Since building my original pc about eighteen months ago I've been upgrading bits and pieces to get it running more quietly, now the AMD stock cooler is the loudest thing in it and I'd like to upgrade.

I've got a budget around £40 but I guess I'm limited by what will fit in the coolermaster 335 case, can anyone please help with a nice quiet cooler that will fit?

[Skulltrail]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa...roved-mounting

The Nero's are quiet, give good cooling and are reasonably compact (allthough I haven't bothered to check if it would fit)

Otherwise for about half the price a Freezer 7 Pro would be fairly quiet and again should fit most cases.

[Cheapy]

If your willing to remove your motherboard the coolermaster hyper 212 plus is another option. As it uses a bracket you pick which way it faces so its not venting up into your PSU.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3

[Steve1]

Thanks for the replies, I do like the look of that Akasa Nero (I was also quite taken by the Thermalright 120). My main worry is if they will fit, it seems the average cooler is about 160mm tall and it would be great if someone could confirm that I'll get the side panel back on at that height!

[Pob255]

the coolermaster elite 335 is only 185mm wide so cooler clearance is going to be an issue, they list it as 166mm clearance, however a Thermalright HR-01 Plus (159mm tall) has issues and the ends of the heat pipes stick into the side panel grill holes, so I'm guessing they are using top of stand off to side panel measurement.

Your best bet is take the stock cooler off your cpu and actually measure the distance to the side panel from the top of your cpu.

You could play safe with the Thermalright SI-128 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/therm...without-fan%29 (note it's sticks out 91mm so only need 106mm clearance) then add a 120mm PWM fan (my choice would be the lovely Akasa Apache http://www.scan.co.uk/products/therm...without-fan%29 although the total cost is a bit high.)

The Xigmatek hdt-D1284 should fit, it's a bit taller than the silverstone but a good price and comes with a fan. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xigma...t-d1284-cooler

EDIT: while there's no back plates involved, you'll want to take the motherboard out of the case to fit the cooler, this isn't an issue with the mounting system but a physical constraint of any oversized non-tower cooler, you have to reach under the fins to get to the socket mount and that's just not easy to do inside a case.

[Steve1]

I guess my budget choice of case has crippled my options with a tower cooler, so after reading up on a bunch of reviews I'm going to get the SI-128/Apache combo as I was willing to pay that much anyway. Thanks for the help.

[Pob255]

In part, however if you'd picked up the slightly older 330 it have an extra 5mm width which is just enough to give clearance.
Unfortunately to keep costs down budget cases are getting narrower again, 5mm may not seem much to us, because on a single case the added material is tiny, but when you're producing cases by the thousand that tiny bit of extra metal means savings on material cost (paint and metal), number of units you can fit in a shipping container, weight per 1000 units, etc, those numbers can mean a big effect on the profit.

[cub1061]

How about a bit of water cooling. CoolIT Domino A.L.C
It might be a tight fit but I think it should fit as your case is roughly the same size as mine.

[Pob255]

If that's the case I think it is, antec NSK 4000 then it's 200mm wide, the 335 is only 185mm, 15mm is quite a bit.

However a corsair H50 will fit so the CoolIT ALC ECO should as well
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooli...ml#post7987245

[Pob255]

EDIT: double post

[j.col]

the coolermaster elite 335 is only 185mm wide so cooler clearance is going to be an issue, they list it as 166mm clearance, however a Thermalright HR-01 Plus (159mm tall) has issues and the ends of the heat pipes stick into the side panel grill holes, so I'm guessing they are using top of stand off to side panel measurement.

Your best bet is take the stock cooler off your cpu and actually measure the distance to the side panel from the top of your cpu.

You could play safe with the Thermalright SI-128 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/therm...without-fan%29 (note it's sticks out 91mm so only need 106mm clearance) then add a 120mm PWM fan (my choice would be the lovely Akasa Apache http://www.scan.co.uk/products/therm...without-fan%29 although the total cost is a bit high.)

The Xigmatek hdt-D1284 should fit, it's a bit taller than the silverstone but a good price and comes with a fan. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xigma...t-d1284-cooler

EDIT: while there's no back plates involved, you'll want to take the motherboard out of the case to fit the cooler, this isn't an issue with the mounting system but a physical constraint of any oversized non-tower cooler, you have to reach under the fins to get to the socket mount and that's just not easy to do inside a case.

to be honest, any of these will be a good choice.
pob255 really knows his stuff

i have a tuniq tower 120 which is 150mm high, i also have a nzxt hades case, and with the side fan on the case, all i had was 120mm clearence .
i needed cpu cooling more than case cooling, so i removed the side fan,
my cpu temps dropped by over 20.c at load, so its worth it

also most of these forums, have a classifieds section (you need 100 posts to see it)
so it might be worth buying a used cooler for less money

[Pob255]

Actually 2nd hand can be a good move, as long as the heat pipes are not damaged and it's clean then a cpu cooler doesn't suffer any loss of performance over time.

I picked up a Scythe Mine on fleabay for £10 a couple of months back, about 152mm tall.

[Cryptik]

if your going for air cooling get something with exposed heat-pipes nothing can compare.
the sunbeam core contact freezer and most of the Xigmatek coolers have them.
cooling performance per £ there the best u can buy by far.
little example pic: