Lightweight CPU cooler

hookoo · Post by **hookoo** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:06 am

I'm searching for a lightweight CPU cooler that should be both efficient and silent and I've found three possible ones and they are:

Noctua NH-U9F
Thermalright Ultima-90
Scythe Ninja Mini

I've tried to find some good reviews and comparisons between them but I've found none. So has anybody spotted any? Of course user opinions and recommendations are always welcomed too

And the other questions is the fan for Ultima-90 and Ninja Mini. Would Noctua 92mm or 120mm be a good choice or could nexus do better here? I mean that I've heard that Noctua might not be the best choice to put on a heatsink.

Thanks

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:17 am

What system do you plan to use with that cooler? Is it HTPC machine? Gaming rig? Or general 24\7 machine?

I'd take mini-ninja if you want the ultimate silent cooling as its good with passive. Although, Ultima would beat mini ninja in effectiveness, but requires fan. I would not use Noctua in Ultima, since it has tigth finspace. I'd take scythe S-flex. I use Noctua in HR-01 in gaming rig and I don't have backpressure howl. But I am pretty sure you would get such howl in Ultima as its finspace is considerably more tighter than HR 01.

What is your purpouse? Overlocking? Then Ultima is great. If you have cool chip and you don't plan overclock, Mini/Ninja is more than suitable in passive cooling for the effective silent cooling.

hookoo · Post by **hookoo** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:54 am

thejamppa wrote:What system do you plan to use with that cooler? Is it HTPC machine? Gaming rig? Or general 24\7 machine?

Thank you for your reply. My system is a general 24/7 machine that is used for gaming every now and then and for CPU intensive working. The CPU is Intel E6600 and I've also a passively cooled GeForce 8600 in a Antec Solo case which has one 120mm fan and Seasonic S12 PSU pushing the air out.

thejamppa wrote:I'd take mini-ninja if you want the ultimate silent cooling as its good with passive. Although, Ultima would beat mini ninja in effectiveness, but requires fan....

What is your purpouse? Overlocking? Then Ultima is great. If you have cool chip and you don't plan overclock, Mini/Ninja is more than suitable in passive cooling for the effective silent cooling.

I'm not planning to cool the CPU passively cause I don't have any problem with noise that the best 120mm fans are producing running with 5-9 volts. I've overclocked the CPU slightly but I mean very little so the heat level hasn't rised a lot.

So what do you think, would Ultima-90 be best option to be used with 120mm (or possible only 92mm) fan because it has tighter fins than Ninja Mini? And what about that Noctuas cooler??

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:14 am

Noctua's coolers are good ( I have U12F ) but thermalrights are better. So if I were you, I'd take Ultima 90 and pair it with Scythe S-flex E model with Fanmate 2. Or 92mm Scythe Minbea.

puddnhead · Post by **puddnhead** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:46 am

I just put Ninja mini in my fusion black case & 65w amd 3600+ x2 with the scythe sflex D (1260rpm) model fan (it's actually a case fan, but is so close to minja in the fusion that it might as well be CPU cooler -- see review on this site). I have the fan set up to be cpu temp controlled in bios, and it seems to be running pretty consistently at min rpm (~630rpm) under normal usage so far, quietest box I've ever had, easily, hardly audible except drive noise (but then again I'm not hard core on this like some others). This is only fan in my system besides PSU.

Hope that helps a little.

hookoo · Post by **hookoo** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:34 pm

thejamppa wrote:Noctua's coolers are good ( I have U12F ) but thermalrights are better. So if I were you, I'd take Ultima 90 and pair it with Scythe S-flex E model with Fanmate 2. Or 92mm Scythe Minbea.

I'm turning to Ultima 90 and maybe pair of 120mm fans with fanmates, one attached to Ultima and one replacing the original Antec fan in the back of the case.

It seems that there won't come any clips for 120mm fan with Ninja Mini. They both have same amount of heat pipes while Ultima has more fins and is little bit lighter than Ninja, so I'm guessing that Ultima is more suitable for me.

I'm thinking of putting a Noctua NF-S12-1200 as a case fan because it moves air so well in free air and has those silicone mounting grommets. For Ultima I'm planning to use Scythe S-Flex SFF21E.

So does this setup sound good to you guys or does anybody have any suggestions how to make it better?

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:44 am

That sounds pretty darn good to me.