Heatsink woes - advice needed

[Bagnaj97]

I've just replaced my case (Loved my NZXT Rogue but it was too damn heavy and bulky for taking to LANs) with a Coolermaster Elite 342, however my heatsink (Hyper 212+) is too tall and I can't put the side panel on

So, rather than take a dremel to my new case I'm looking for a decent heatsink that's shorter than the 212+. The CNPS10x Flex gets good reviews and according to Zalman's product page "For optimum case compatibility the heatsink’s height is set to 151mm, ensuring compatibility with 180mm width cases." but in all the pics it doesn't look much shorter - should I risk it?

I'm open to other heatsink suggestions, the only caveat is that it's got to support sockets am3+ and 1155 as well as 775 as I'm not sure of my upgrade path yet. This isn't a problem with almost all heatsinks though. Oh and my q9300 runs hot no matter what I have strapped to it so nothing too tiny.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The other alternative is to use a 92MM to 120MM adaptor and a cooler like the following:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/antec...plus-am3-3plus

It seems this chap did something similar:

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89857

[Pob255]

Actually I don't think that would work ether it'll probably still stick out too far to get the side panel on.

This is my big reason for telling people NOT to get the Coolermaster Elite 342, it's no ware near as good as the older 340 or 341.
The zalman might fit, you'd need to get a tape measure out and see what the clearance is from the top of the cpu to the side panel.

You could drop down to a 92mm fan based cooler or change case
The NZXT vulcan (£55 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-...tx-psu-fits%29 ) or silverstone tj08 (£70 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...-black-w-o-psu ) would be good choices
So would the fractal design Define mini or arc mini but again they are pricey (around £85 and £90
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...fd-define-mini
http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-13090.html

edit: almost forgot the silverstone fortress 03 although that's over £100

[Zak33]

don't decide on a heatsink now that you also want to use in future.....

ie upgrade path shouild NOT be determined by a heatsink!

[Zak33]

anyway... a Q9300 is a 2.5 gig 95 watt ouput maximum....

my QX6700 is a 2.67 and it was easily cooled at defualt temp with this £12 job in a small form factor, as was my Dad's also in a small case and these cpu's are 135w jobs

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa...wm-fan-and-ebr



wil that fit?

the trick in our cases was tthat the CPU was under the power supply. The power supply had a fan in the bottom, sucking air up... so we flipped the fan over on the CPU cooler so it too pulled up...and it worked like a dream.

If yours will NOT be near a PSU, then leave it blowing down into the cooler.

[Bagnaj97]

Well in the end I decided to cheap out and get a Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2. I used the original Freezer 7 and Freezer 64 a few years back so I'm hoping the updated version will continue the tradition of reasonable price/performance. A Freezer 7 Pro will easily fit my case and is cheap enough to not worry too much about replacing if I want something better. It also covers all sockets so when I do upgrade I can keep using it if it's up to scratch.

I did consider the Noctua NH-C14. It's the coolest heatsink on Frostytech, yet only 130mm in push/pull or 105mm tall with just 1 fan. But that performance in a fairly low profile doesn't come cheap. Maybe when I've got some more £££...