Cooling Q6600 in an LC17 case, height limited :(

[Martytoof]

I'm in a bit of a space crunch. Right now I'm cooling a C2D 2.4 (I've forgotten the specific model) with a TT MaxOrb.

Two things are going to happen:

I'm about to upgrade to a Q6600 C2Q, and I'd like to switch the MaxOrb with something quieter. Unfortunately the LC17 HTPC case I'm in is limiting me in my choice of heatsinks.

Right now I'm looking at the Ninja Mini, but I think the tests I've read have been carried out with a P4 system, and I bet a Quad core will stress the environment a little more than a P4.

So I'm wondering two things:

Will a Ninja Mini be sufficient for a Q6600, and what my other low profile options would be. None of this will be run completely passively and a fan will always be providing active cooling, undervolted most likely.

[rei]

it would be sufficient.
do you have enough height for a noctua nh-12cp?

[FartingBob]

Right now I'm looking at the Ninja Mini, but I think the tests I've read have been carried out with a P4 system, and I bet a Quad core will stress the environment a little more than a P4.

The P4 used by SPCR runs very hot, so even though its much older, it still stresses the heatsink as much. They could upgrade to a C2Q extreme, i think they use even more watts, but it seems like a waste of money.

[Modo]

Thermalright SI-128 SE.

[Bushido_Blade]

Martytoof, I have the exact same case, Silverstone 17B, and a similar processor: Intel Q6700 2.66Ghz G0 stepping. I am currently running it on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Rev. 2.0 motherboard. I initially tried the Thermalright Ultima-90 mini-tower cooler and found the temps to be excellent but the top of the heatpipes were about 3mm too tall for the case cover to close. After returning the cooler I switched to the less expensive Ninja Mini that you were looking at. While I was not thrilled with the push-pin style mounting's contact pressure I was mainly looking at the large fin spacing and surface area for low noise air cooling. I currently have a Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm fan (the orange closed corner version) attached with the Scythe 120mm fan clips (purchased seperately) blowing in from the 80mm intake grill next to the cpu. I oriented the base of the Ninja Mini so that the fins on the lower cooling block allow for the air from the fan to pass through them and flow towards the northbridge cooler. I use the motherboard to control the fan and it is running silently at 888 rpm idle. I used the MX-2 from Arctic Cooling for the TIM. I am currently running my Q6700 at 1.17v (1.3v is stock) which passed the Prime95 Small FFTs test, but core 4 failed on the Blend test after about 1/2 hour so I need to do some voltage adjusting. Might be my memory voltage. I don't know the ambient temp, but I live in the desert so it's warm here in the summer . Here is some thermal data from Core Temp in a closed case:

Idle:888rpm
Core0:37°C
Core1:43°C
Core2:33°C
Core3:33°C

100% Load:1306rpm
Core0:55°C
Core1:59°C
Core2:51°C
Core3:51°C

Well below the 71°C threshold of the G0 stepping quad cores and even at 1306 rpm you only hear the air movement and not the fan. In my real world use I have never hit 100% on all cores except doing 3D rendering, so it almost never gets that high. I was sad when I got my PS3 because it is louder than my computer . If you have any questions about other components or whatever, feel free to ask. Hope this helps.

[Martytoof]

Very interesting. I have that side hole closed up at the moment so my airflow is explicitly directed out the back. It's not really working as well as I'd hoped though or I am just plain lacking airflow since my ambient temperatures seem a little high.

I wonder if it would be worth mounting a fan to the side of the case as an exhaust and ducting it to the ninja, perhaps letting the rear two fans handle the remainder of the ambient heat buildup.

I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the airflow in the LC17 since it's such a confined space and my temperatures seem to be a lot higher than I had hoped (Ambient 42, NB 48, VGA 56, Core0/1 ~40)

[Bushido_Blade]

I though about ducting the CPU to the rear 80's but had issues with my 80mm fans noise/cfm ratio above 7v. Also the air coming into my case from the front is heated by my toasty suspended 750GB 4-platter Hitachi harddisk. The case layout is not very conducive to low airflow setups as the PSU doesn't aid hot air exhaust and the 5 1/4" drives obscure direct cool air to the CPU from the front. In my case, my 10" long video card effectively creates a little boxed off CPU zone that can only be properly cooled from air coming from the side vent. I have thought about using cardboard to create better air pathways but hven't gotten around to it yet. Man I wish internal case layout was modular and allowed for user customization. Would make things so much easier XD. I should also note the Ninja Mini made a wierd noise when I was originally using a 92mm fan and sucking air through it (fan strapped on back pointing towards the two 80mm exhaust fans). It only happened when the fan was directly attached to the heatsink. so ducting should be fine