Cooling Quad Core

Hello, I want, from people who tested/own a quad core (Q6600/Q9450) a cooling solution. No liquid and fanless solution. Also the silent the better, silent under heavy load, let's say 40dB max. Price can reach 150USD. I've read many reviews but still can't decide what to get that's why I'm asking advice from people who use such cooling solutions.
In my list is Scythe Zipang, Scythe Infinity, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, Noctua NH-U9B, Zalman CNPS-9700-LED. Room temperature is 20-25C. Q6600@3000 max, Q9450@3000 max.
I don't want to keep the system stressed
10x in advance, hope I'm not too picky!

 

Fanless... well as i remember CNPS 9700 have an fan... want to mean who make not alot of noise?

All the coolers can make not so much of noise ... if you have an fan controler you can control them(the fans)

I build 3 QUAD cores systems (3 Q6600) and i putted on them Zalman CNPS 9700 and it's really kick ass as i think... max we reached with overclocking on the Q6600 with CNPS 9700 was 3.5 GHZ(Considering the kick ass boards too )

 

If your looking for a fanless solution I would think something from Arctic Cooling but as Adrian and others have said I don't think that's what you want. I have used 2 solutions with a single and dual fan that sell in the 30CAD range(minus additional fans) and kick ass

The first is the Scythe Katana2 I am still running it on my second machine the angled heatsink partitions draw heat off the chipset and RAM ... I say

The second out performs the latter but with 2 fans. If you are using more than one case fan would you even hear one or two inside your case

I think not ... anyhew check out the Coolermaster cooler Here

 

Fanless is not an option!
No liquid or fanless solutions
The case I own is a Raidmax Sirius with one 120mm fan for intake and one 120mm fan for exhaust. On the side is a 80mm fan for intake. The PSU is Asus Atlas 55GA - 550W.
Thanks for the replies so far, waiting for more.

 

I think we all misread you first post on fanless except for Chai lol.

Your fan layout is similar to mine. Hmmm I see your case has a top mounted PSU thats too bad. My CM RC690 has a bottom mounted PSU with 2 spots for fans on the top. I am using one 120mm for incoming air on top and the other opening I am actually venting the CPU cooler with 2 120mm fans directly out of the top of the case.

If you chose a cooler select one with the flexibility of cooler/fan position. You will be forced to vent your CPU cooler in that case out the rear exhaust fan. So ideally you want your fan located on the heatsink opposite the exhaust fan blowing through it this will also draw heat off the chipset and memory.

The reason I mentioned this as I had issues with the Freezer 7 Pro in a similar case with a top mounted PSU. You cannot change the position of the fan on the cooler or reverse it either physically or electrically. Sorry for the length just some ideas

 

hmm, using Xigmatek S1283 here..Quite decent i should say..But i think it's better that you get something with 4 heat pipes (i think the S1284)

 

1. Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
2. Thermalright HR-01 Plus
3. Thermalright Ultima-90

or Scythe Zipang/Infinity.

Just pair either one with a low/medium speed 120mm fan.

Forget about Zalman/Arctic Cooling, they are no match for any of these.

 

Actually, the PSU is not that bad, has 1x120mm fan that takes out hot air from CPU. I have the Atlas A-55GA / 550W which is doin' a very good job and is also silent event when the system is overclocked. On Asus site I found only the previous version, Atlas A-45GA / 450W PSU.
Correct fan distribution: 1x120mm fan in front for intake, 1x120mm fan in rear for exhaust and 1x80mm fan on the side for exhaust.

 

In either case you are running into a fan obstruction. Two fans pushing air in the same direction should not just have air between them or be right next to each other. On your CPU cooler you will want to vent it with a single fan push/pull through your CPU cooler with your rear chassis fan. The fan in your PSU will be less efficient than this configuration but it will still draw heat off the CPU cooler like my Corsair HX-520 did in my other case.

 

Grab the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 for sure.
It comes with a PWM fan so that you can run it at its minimum 800 RPM. Performs really good, just go read its review at SilentPCReview:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 & SD964 "heatpipe direct-touch" CPU coolers | silentpcreview.com

It's even one of the top rated at SilentPCReview, and they're serious about silence.

 

Well if you are searching for the best aircooled heatsink(assuming you are) you might want to add the Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme to your list, I read an article where they had a shootout with 50 or 70 coolers(can't remember) and Im pretty sure the Thermalright won it. I own an xp 120 which is a slightly older design and am very pleased with it. It only has one 12cm fan on it but the Ultra 120 can have up to 3 I think. You should probably lap whichever one you choose though, they never come perfect from the manufacturer and lapping has been shown to drop temps between 2-6 degrees C.
Cheers-Draz

Edit, looks like I have to get in line to suggest the Ultra, the first time around it didn't show any replies to the thread starting post.

 

Well, thanks for all the replies, I'm still waiting for my Q9450 to arrive and after that I will let you know how it ended. My choices so far are: Scythe Zipang, Cooler Master Hyper 212, Noctua NH-U12P. I will do a research on the Thermalright. I'm looking for a balance between dB and CFM.

 

You might want to get a 120mm fan that has the selector switch on it to choose between 3 speeds, the slowest is pretty darn quiet indeed. Obviously the heatsink wont drop the temps as much with the slower speed but if you were to use the 120 ultra with 2 fans(using directional air supply and air suction) then I am pretty sure you could have em set to lowest speed and still see impressively low temps.

review: Thermalright Gets Back on Top with the Ultra-120 | silentpcreview.com


Cheers-Draz