CPU Heatsinks

[chili dude96]

Hey so I just got a coupon from newegg for 15% off all CPU heatsinks thats expires on the 4th. For awhile I've been thinking about getting a heatsink for my 2500k that I bought about 2 years ago, but I have a few questions.

This would definitely be a christmas present for me. But the question is do you think I should buy the heatsink now for 15% off or wait for christmas when newegg runs a lot of sales?

As for the actual heatsink, I'm open to the options. I would be willing to spring for something expensive like the H100 or NH-D14 if its worth the money, but not if it isn't significantly better than the others. I am definitely looking into overclocking in the future, so I would also be curious as to how much I can OC with various heatsinks.

Also, I would like it to be relatively quiet. I hate a noisy computer.

BIG TIME EDIT:
Ok so I've talked to a lot of people and I have decided to go for the lower end heatsinks. I really like the hyper 212 evo, but it is very loud, up to 36dba. It has good reviews.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...-Review/1407/6
But if I were to buy it, I might either add a second fan or replace the existing fan with a more quiet one, any suggestions?

Or the thermalright mux-120 is really quiet, 23.5dba Also with good reviews. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,2535-14.html

Or a third option all together! Suggestions please!

 

[pillar]

Ok so this peaked my curiousity. What makes you wanna buy a heatsink fan for $90?? I mean seriously, that thing cant be any better than the ones that cost anywhere from $30-50. I mean if your gonna get something up in that range, might as well go liquid cooling, but only if you know what you're doing. Ive heard both good & bad things bout the pre-made liquid coolers. I mean are you really looking for the this heatsink fan to make a big impact in your cooling process for your cpu?

Might want to consider all of these factors when it comes to getting an aftermarket heatsink fan. My bit of advice is to stay away from the liquid cooling unless you know what you're doing (not to mention the fact that you've done plenty of research into it). I myself am looking to get an aftermarket as well, but my parents have taught me how to shop smart.

 

[chili dude96]

Ok so this peaked my curiousity. What makes you wanna buy a heatsink fan for $90?? I mean seriously, that thing cant be any better than the ones that cost anywhere from $30-50. I myself am looking to get an aftermarket as well, but my parents have taught me how to shop smart.

Well, thats what I'm asking people's advice for. Some people say the $90 is worth it, some say it isn't. The $90 if it enables me to overclock significantly more than the others, it would allow me to keep my CPU around for a longer period of time, which might pay off in the long run.
Besides, there isn't much else I want anyway. I have a job so I can buy myself games periodically and I'm not in need of anything new this holiday.

 

[Maverick]

Really Depends on your needs, If your going to try to OC and Or you do heavy encoding and decoding, Water Cooling is the way to go. The H100 Has some bad hype about Rmas, Its because the double size radiator and the pump cant handle it so they fail, Could just be hype I cant tell you for sure. Ive used A Cool it Domino ALC for 4 years now with no problems, Im Oc at 4 Ghz and do Heavy encoding and decoding. Just remember To blow out your case every month, Main resin a closed loop system fails is because of improper maintenance.

Here are two systems that are proven to be reliable.
H60 $64
http://www.frys.com/product/6556993?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Cool it $35
http://www.frys.com/product/6367561

Just my 2 cent on it.

 

[Demoralized]

The H60 is not that great, I ran one for awhile. Temps were higher than expected and even a push/pull config didn't help. As for a closed loop water cooler, I've also used an Antec K?HLER H2O 920 on my i5 (last build) and it was fantastic. I did some overclocking and it maintained the nice low temps I wanted the whole time. I've also had the 920 on my FX (current build) but I wanted something different so I went back to my Cooler Master V8. I must say I've fallen back in love with the V8, does a fantastic job and has killer looks. Also the V8 is cheap, around 49 CDN. The 920 costs bout 89CDN.
Unless you really know what you are doing and do your research, I'd stay away from custom water loops. Yes they are nice for higher OCing and they can look killer, but the maintainence doesn't seem worth it to me. Plus for a really nice custom loop (cpu, vid card, etc, etc..) it's a lot of money. People say they just want to water cool the cpu, but eventually everything else gets added in, I have a few friends who've fallen into this trap.
Remember to read reviews on any and all coolers you like, compare and shop around.

 

[Turmoil]

This is the heatsink that I recently purchased for my 2550k:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

The stock product by itself works wonders in comparison to a standard cooler as I learned even through some very rough benchmarking.

[Playing BF3 for an hour, I found my CPU temps reaching 65 Celsius. After installing this, I found it didn't peak over 45 Celsius.

One thing I must point out though, I actually removed the stock fan and installed two Corsair SP120 fans in Push-Pull configuration. Helps marginally, but still a great product right out of the box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027

 

[VP :3]

This is the heatsink that I recently purchased for my 2550k:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

The stock product by itself works wonders in comparison to a standard cooler as I learned even through some very rough benchmarking.

[Playing BF3 for an hour, I found my CPU temps reaching 65 Celsius. After installing this, I found it didn't peak over 45 Celsius.

One thing I must point out though, I actually removed the stock fan and installed two Corsair SP120 fans in Push-Pull configuration. Helps marginally, but still a great product right out of the box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027

This. I bought the Hyper 212 EVO as well an have never gone over 45 Celsius. It's definitely one of the more known coolers out there. Also I'm gonna have to ask Turmoil, how'd you install those two fans on the 212 EVO? Is there a clip on them like the stock ones? My current one is too loud at 100% and I have to manually set it in the bios to keep it at 45 Celsius and around 70%.

 

[Turmoil]

This. I bought the Hyper 212 EVO as well an have never gone over 45 Celsius. It's definitely one of the more known coolers out there. Also I'm gonna have to ask Turmoil, how'd you install those two fans on the 212 EVO? Is there a clip on them like the stock ones? My current one is too loud at 100% and I have to manually set it in the bios to keep it at 45 Celsius and around 70%.

You receive an extra bracket in the packaging to attach to one fan and then you can remove the bracket on the stock fan by unscrewing it and attaching it to another fan. These brackets that allow the fans to clip in are interchangeable on almost any 120mm fan.

 

[pillar]

I think ima gonna get me some of those fans, mainly for the interchangeable clamps. Thats just a fantastic idea, especially the fact that they can be used on majority of 120mm fans. I dont know why more companies dont use em (unless they dont fit properly on the case). Which brings me to my next point. Im gonna have to switch to a different case. My CM Storm Scout has built in fans & you literally have to rip out the built in fans (I almost tried to do this & found it to be 2 much of a hassle). If I can find a great airflow case in the future where I dont have to worry bout the pre-built fans, then ill definitely go for it.

But ya, getting back on topic, Ive heard plenty of great things bout the Hyper 212 Evo. The fact that it can pack a mean punch when it comes to keeping the cpu really nice n cool while being affordable really caught my eye.

 

[Turmoil]

I think ima gonna get me some of those fans, mainly for the interchangeable clamps. Thats just a fantastic idea, especially the fact that they can be used on majority of 120mm fans. I dont know why more companies dont use em (unless they dont fit properly on the case). Which brings me to my next point. Im gonna have to switch to a different case. My CM Storm Scout has built in fans & you literally have to rip out the built in fans (I almost tried to do this & found it to be 2 much of a hassle). If I can find a great airflow case in the future where I dont have to worry bout the pre-built fans, then ill definitely go for it.

But ya, getting back on topic, Ive heard plenty of great things bout the Hyper 212 Evo. The fact that it can pack a mean punch when it comes to keeping the cpu really nice n cool while being affordable really caught my eye.

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. The interchangeable clamps come with the Evo 212. The clamps can be added to any fan.

The Corsair SP120 fans are simply the fans I selected because they are designed to create high levels of static pressure for airflow through a radiator or heatsink.

As far as your case situation, I currently have a Tempest 410 Elite case which I am very happy with. The fans are extremely easy to mix and match, lots of room for airflow, side window, lots of cable management, and lots of room in the back for storing cables out of sight.

 

[chili dude96]

Ok so I am definitely not interested in custom watercooling. The evo looks good, however, can it overclock to 5 ghz the way the NH-D14 can? Because I am not just looking for a cooler to cool better, but to seriously overclock.

Also, I should add this to the front. I am looking for something that is pretty quiet. I don't want my computer to be loud.

 

[Dobbeh]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-010-TI&campaign=pcm/googleshopping&pup_c=gs

Currently been using this on my i5 3570k for about 4 months now. Hours on ArmA 2 and BF3 never exceed 30 Celsius @ room temps.
Idle (@desktop) sits at a cool 9-10 Celsius. This is also with a fan set up on the case.

 

[chili dude96]

Ok so I've talked to a lot of people and I have decided to go for the lower end heatsinks. I really like the hyper 212 evo, but it is very loud, up to 36dba. It has good reviews.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-EVO-CPU-Cooler-Review/1407/6
But if I were to buy it, I might either add a second fan or replace the existing fan with a more quiet one, any suggestions?

Or the thermalright mux-120 is really quiet, 23.5dba Also with good reviews. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/lga-1156-heatsink,2535-14.html

Or a third option all together! Suggestions please!

 

[pillar]

Dude, if you're looking to go oc'in that hardcore, they you'd better expect some noise. I have if you check out the review of that article that you posted bout the cm hyper 212, youll notice that the dba is lower than what mine is (arctic freezer 7 pro), however mine is an older version.

Here is my suggestion: if you plan on overclocking to at least 4.5 ghz, then make sure that your other fans can keep up w/ what the heatsink will produce power wise. The only thing I could really find in a possible 120mm fan config was the Thermaltake Frio, but that was just as up there as the Noctua heatsink. Overall, I would suggest either the CM Hyper 212 or the Zalman 92mm heatsink. Both have great reviews & are great for oc'ing. Ive even seen the Zalman in action. Now mind you that the Zalman has a blue LED built in & it will shine bright (bit of warning there).

 

[chili dude96]

Dude, if you're looking to go oc'in that hardcore, they you'd better expect some noise. I have if you check out the review of that article that you posted bout the cm hyper 212, youll notice that the dba is lower than what mine is (arctic freezer 7 pro), however mine is an older version.

Here is my suggestion: if you plan on overclocking to at least 4.5 ghz, then make sure that your other fans can keep up w/ what the heatsink will produce power wise. The only thing I could really find in a possible 120mm fan config was the Thermaltake Frio, but that was just as up there as the Noctua heatsink. Overall, I would suggest either the CM Hyper 212 or the Zalman 92mm heatsink. Both have great reviews & are great for oc'ing. Ive even seen the Zalman in action. Now mind you that the Zalman has a blue LED built in & it will shine bright (bit of warning there).

I think I'm going for the hyper 212 evo. I found out that for heatsinks you should either spend a lot of money or a little money. Going in between $30 and $80 is only going to yield a few degrees better performance. Its only at the $90 level when it will really make a difference.

Besides I found out you can easily do a 4.5ghz oc with the evo, which is good enough for me.