What CPU cooler should I buy?...

[Ziggy]

I want it to be as silent as possible while still performing well...

Best bet is to use software that will monitor the CPU temp and control the fan speed for you. At idle, and light use, it'll throttle the fan speed. A slow fan means a quiet fan. If you're gaming or doing something CPU intensive, the fan speed will rise to compensate for the CPU temp rising. If your stock HSF is doing a good job at cooling but you're just looking for something quieter, I would suggest looking for software first before looking for a new cooler.

Most motherboards these days come with software that can do such things. You specified that you have an MSI. I don't know if this is something you've built or not. If you built it, your motherboard might have such software. If you lost the CDs that came with it, or never had them, you can usually always download everything from the manufacture's website. Motherboards that are made for Compaqs, HPs and whatnot are usually pretty limited with such features. If that's the case, you could try to look for third party software that will do the same thing. It's been a while since I've messed with them, but I definitely remember Speed Fan being one of the better ones, if not the best. It's also free, so that's always a plus. It might take a little effort to configure Speed Fan, where as software made for your mobo is usually effortless to use.

I have this monstrosity: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... aster%20v8

With that fan at full speed, it's a little loud. Not the loudest fan I've ever heard, but louder than I would like it to be. But, I use software as described above. It's pretty quiet most of the time.

What I like about the V8 is the air direction. Most stock CPU fans blow air down into the heatsink. The V8 blows the air thru it from the front to the back, which lines up great with my rear case fan. Also, most cases are set up for intake from the front, and exhaust in the back. So the V8 is gaining a lot from the airflow that's already going on in your case. Kinda like the whole idea of the BTX form factor (which I wish caught on more). Anyways, I think the whole airflow design of it really helps. The CPU can stay cooler at lower fan speeds (when using software) which means less noise.

But, it's insanely huge. I didn't realize how big it was until I saw it in person. Luckily, I have a fairly large tower (not full size). I bet it wont fit in most towers.

It has worked great since I got it, no complaints. But I probably wouldn't buy it again just because of the size of it. I bet I could get the same performance out of something more compact. Also, it's a little harder to clean dust out of the fan due to the design. Not a big deal, but something to consider.

I read a lot of reviews on the V8 before I bought it. The only negative thing I've heard is that the fan sometimes dies too early. I've had mine for a few years now and the fan is healthy. Though maybe that's due to the fact that it's rarely spinning at full speed.

Don't think all CPU coolers are compatible with all CPUs / motherboards - correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right, you have to watch for compatibility. The V8 linked above actually comes with a set of brackets so that it can be used on multiple systems. I believe it works with a 775 socket, which I believe is what you have. Lots of after market HSF are compatible with multiple CPUs.

If you really wanna get a new HSF, I would suggest looking on NewEgg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... 0Heatsinks

If you look on the left, you can narrow your search. Look where it says "compatibility." Select your CPU socket there (pretty sure you have a 775). Just note that you can select 775 (which will show you HSFs that support only the 775 socket) or ones that support multiple sockets, so you might wanna look through all of them. I'm not sure if you've used NewEgg before, but the reviewer base is strong. After you have narrowed your search down, some times I like to sort by "best rating" to find the ones that have hundreds or sometimes thousands of reviews. I like to think that if something has a couple thousand reviews, and it's 4 or 5 eggs (stars), that it's probably a safe bet.

Bah, hope I didn't rant on too much. But anyways, that's just my two cents on the matter.

[elmagicochrisg]

Bah, hope I didn't rant on too much.

No, my brain is just melting. That's all...

But anyways, that's just my two cents on the matter.

More like a whole buck if you ask me...

Much appreciated though...

Sigh, never though picking a CPU cooler would be that dificult.

Love what the Nofan IcePipe does, but that thing is huge and requires low profile rams...

Also been looking at the Mugen 2 Rev. B. Looks like a good contender. What do you think?...

Sigh, I'll just take it slow and read a little more...

Still, that Mugen 2 Rev. B is eyeballing me. And it's socket 775 compatible...

[Ziggy]

Also been looking at the Mugen 2 Rev. B. Looks like a good contender. What do you think?...

I think you should provide a little more information about your situation. Why exactly are you looking for a CPU cooler? Do you not have one now and need one for a system build? Or do you just wanna swap out the one you have now because you're unhappy with it? If the later, why are you unhappy with it? Is it just the noise thing? Or are you looking for better cooling performance than what you have now? Are you overclocking, or just running the CPU at stock specs? All of which factor into deciding what kind of CPU cooler to get.

Did you build this system? Or is it a prebuilt Dell, HP or whatever. If built yourself, model numbers of the motherboard and case would be useful. Otherwise, the exact model number of a branded computer.

Also, whatever you end up doing, I highly recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835100007

That particular thermal compound seems to be the industry standard. Here's the thing, even if independents did lab studies and found out it's not as good as it claims to be, I'm willing to bet it's still a million times better than the cheap peel-and-stick compound found on stock HSF, or that little packet of cheap generic shit you get with an aftermarket cooler. I'm well in the habit of discarding whatever thermal compound comes with a heatsink. I put my faith in Arctic Silver.

[elmagicochrisg]

My first PC died a week or 2 ago. Got lucky and found a decent second-hand one for €200 from someone who repairs PCs for a living. I'm pretty sure it's not a pre-built...

- Antec Sonata case with 450W PSU
- MSI G41TM-E43
- Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 2.93Ghz
- 4 Gb DDR2 Kingston Hyper X
- Western Digital HDD Green Power 500Gb
- ATI Radeon HD6670 1GB DDR2

Swapped the graphics card with my cheap old one (MSI RX1600XT) for now because it can do 85Hz refresh rate, which I really need as long as I'm working on this CRT monitor...

I think the CPU fan is a stock Intel fan from what I can tell. It's doing 2700 - 2800 RPM right now and Core 0's temperature is already going over 50C easily just by browsing the net and streaming some music on SoundCloud. So I don't think lowering the fan rate is an option...

Anyways, I just want a good silent CPU cooler. It doesn't have to look good. It has to do the job, and preferable be future proof so I can use it when I build my own PC eventually...

And yes, Arctic Silver is the way to go. Still have a few of those left from back when I still repaired Xbox 360s... ^^

Hope this helps...

[isiolia]

A very common choice these days is a Cooler Master Hyper 212+

It comes with brackets for most socket types from the past 5-6 years (or more...really a lot of coolers do), and is reputed to be fairly quiet. If you need heavier duty cooling, it supports a second fan for push/pull.

The main "con" with it will be the same as with most coolers using the vertical orientation and a larg(er) fan (120mm in the case of the 212+). Definitely not tiny, possibly blocking RAM slots (usually only a particular problem if you have heatsinks on the RAM, but still).

Personally I've used 92mm coolers more, Arctic Cooling's Freezer 7 Pro and more recently Xigmatek's Loki SD963. Some of the more recent feedback on the Arctic Cooling makes me wonder about it long term, but the one in my fileserver has been spinning away for two years now, and the one in my mom's PC for four.

Any of those will probably be around $30, less if there's a sale.

I have a closed-loop water cooler on my primary computer, Corsair H50. IMO, it's not worth the cost over a decent air cooler unless you simply can't accomodate one in the case. You're still running 1-2 120mm fans, just repositioned.
Some of the newer models might net better performance, but I've really just observed cooling on par with air coolers 1/3 to 1/2 the cost.


Another route you might go is to ask the friend you got the system from if he has a better stock Intel cooler hanging around. Core2Quads came with a substantially beefier heatsink than the Core2Duos (and in turn Celerons/Pentiums). Image reference here. Of course, enthusiasts building Core2Quad machines often opted for a better third party cooler, so you might be able to scrounge up a new-in-box stock one for free (or close to it) if you ask around.

One of the retail options would certainly perform better, but I mention this because the circumstances seem like you might want to be keeping things cheap. I have heard of people utilizing the heavier-duty stock coolers as a small upgrade for lower-end CPU cooling.

[Ziggy]

I think the CPU fan is a stock Intel fan from what I can tell. It's doing 2700 - 2800 RPM right now and Core 0's temperature is already going over 50C easily just by browsing the net and streaming some music on SoundCloud. So I don't think lowering the fan rate is an option...

If it's the stock Intel fan from the CPU you have, it should be easy to tell. Should have a sticker right on the fan center that says Intel, and it'll probably be holographic. If not, than it's not the stock HSF. It could just be some junk HSF, I know a lot of system builders cut corners and use cheap parts like that.

Unless the room you're in is hella hot, 50C does sound pretty high. Are you pulling that temp from the BIOS? If you're pulling the temp from software while on your desktop, be careful. Unless it's the software MADE for your motherboard, you could be reading the wrong temp. 50C could easily be another temp sensor (north bridge, RAM, etc). If you haven't already, double check the CPU temp in the BIOS to confirm that is the correct temp.

Assuming you're reading the right sensor, not overclocking, and it IS the stock Intel fan... yeah, 50C is unacceptable. I skipped over the 775 generation, but I don't believe they should run that hot at idle/light use. I'm guessing you don't have a dust pillow in your case, so I would check to see if the heatsink was installed properly. Firstly, I hate the design of them. Those stupid push in and twist things are very hard to do. If once corner is up, that'll be enough not to properly cool the CPU. Secondly, if it was the previous owner who installed the CPU and HSF (and not you) than I would almost assume that he installed it wrong. Maybe he used a junk thermal compound that dried out, or the heatsink isn't seated properly. What I'm driving at is this: a stock Intel HSF is more than enough to properly cool the CPU it came with, and you should be able to throttle the fan speed too. So if that's not the case, then something isn't right (non-Intel junk HSF, not installed properly, not reading correct temp sensor).

So if you check in the BIOS and your CPU temp is indeed that high, and it is an Intel HSF, since you have Arctic Silver on hand already then I would suggest reinstalling the CPU and HSF. Be sure to follow proper procedure for cleaning off the old thermal compound, and follow Arctic Silver's recommendations...

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_appli ... ethod.html#

[elmagicochrisg]

Just checked and it's indeed the stock fan and that smaller stock heatsink as seen in the picture.

I used SpeedFan to check the temperature.

Just checked in the bios too and this is what I found:

CPU temp. 81C
System temp. 37C
CPU fan speed 2500RPM

That doesn't sound right to me. Unless I'm missing something...

Gonna take it off tomorrow and have a look...

But I think my mind it set on that Mugen 2 Rev. B anyway...

From what I read it's really quiet, and does a good job at keeping things cool. Some people say it's difficult to install. But it can't be that hard I think. And some people say it's ugly. But I don't care about that...

EDIT

Couldn't wait, so I took it off. What looked like a relatively clean fan and heatsink turned out to be anything but clean. Cleaned the heatsink with a small brush and alcohol, cleaned the fan's blades, cleaned the CPU, applied new thermal compound and put everything back together. Also, I think one of the 4 screws was loose before I took it apart. From the looks of the cooling block -the part that connects to the CPU- I'd say that was indeed the case since part of it was brown, just like the fan's blades and the heatsink. As far as I can tell that could only be the case if there was significant space between the CPU and heatsink. What a fucking retard. Acting like I know nothing, yet selling me this PC in the state it was in. Grmpf...

Anyways, checked temperatures in the bios again:

CPU temp. 36C
System temp. 33C
CPU fan speed 2000RPM

Still plan on buying another cooler eventually, but at least now I can take my time...

Also, BIG thanks to all of you for helping me out. Much appreciated...

[Ziggy]

Haha, I called it! What's surprising is that your CPU was actually able to reach 81C. There should be a setting in the BIOS that'll shut down your PC if the CPU reaches a certain temp. I usually leave mine on the default setting, and I couldn't even tell you what that is, but 81 sounds excessively high.

Anyways, glad you got it taken care of. 36C sounds more of where you should be.

[elmagicochrisg]

Finally got myself that new CPU cooler.

I went with the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced C1.



Much more quiet than the stock Intel fan... ^^

Checked temperature in the bios:

CPU temp. 33C
System temp. 31C
CPU fan speed 1510RPM

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I recently swapped to the stock cooler from my crappy LC unit. While the stock cooler actually lowered temps the noise kinda drives me nuts if I'm not using my headset. May look into a quiet unit like that one.