Quiet AM3 cooler needed

lations · Post by **lations** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:36 am

Hi everyone,

firstly, great site, a real asset to those looking for info on silent PC's.

My question is this: I need a cpu cooler for a Phenom II 955. I may do a little bit of 'amateur' overclocking, but not right now at least. However I'd like a silent (if not quiet) cpu cooler. Preferably, something not too big, low profile sounds good to me. And preferably, one that blows the air either upwards - towards the top of the case, where there will be an exhaust fan (thinking P183 at this stage), or onto the motherboard itself, thereby cooling the components around the motherboard, and the hot air will just rise up to the exhaust anyway.

Any thoughts as to a good, silent/quiet cooler? Many thanks

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:00 am

Phenom II 955 has a thermal power design of 125W and it does get quite hot at full load, which of course is quite rarely.

What you want is a cooler that has:

- tower type cooler
- airflow parallel to motherboard
- fan placement freedom on the bottom side of the tower
- silent at low airflows
- low profile

Everything except the last one is easily done and there are several good contenders: Scythe Mugen 2, Prolimatech Megahalems (w/ optional AM3 retention kit), etc. Many tested here at SPCR in the reviews section. These paired with a good fan should be able to cool down your CPU very quietly.

You can find the Mugen 2 and others ranked alongside each other here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article961-page6.html

Is it low profile? Well, the heatsink is 30mm taller than the fan. If you want the kind of air flow direction as you explain above, then a tower cooler is probably your only option. That means a height of 125mm at the very least. Most tower are in the 150mm range, as is Mugen2.

So, they are not as low profile as top-down blowing heatsinks, but that air flow direction is against your requirement.

If you want a top-down cooler and don't care about the air flow direction being everywhere instead of towards the top of the case, then see the following thread.

viewtopic.php?t=54682

It lists current top top-down coolers, most of which are also available with AM3 retention kits.

lations · Post by **lations** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:47 am

Hmm. Thanks for that... still not sure though

How about the Katana 3?

Wayne Redpath · Post by **Wayne Redpath** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:46 am

The Scythe Big Shuriken could have the fan sucking the air from the pcb area.

K.Murx · Post by **K.Murx** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:38 am

halcyon wrote:Everything except the last one is easily done and there are several good contenders: Scythe Mugen 2, Prolimatech Megahalems (w/ optional AM3 retention kit), etc. (...).

However, if you prefer not having 1kg+ of metal hanging from your MB, I strongly suggest the Xigmatek 1283 or 1284EE. The base of the Heatsink is almost a perfekt match to the IHS of the AM3 CPUs, so all heatpipes make very good contact. It works quite well on my 720 BE.

Generally, the standard mounting orientation is almost always "upwards" with AM3 anyway, so no need to worry about that.

Why do you want a low profle heatsink? If you get a P183, you will have plenty of space anyway.

lations · Post by **lations** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:47 pm

Hi Murx,

I just wanted a low profile heatsink because it seems a lot more stable, and less likely to cause problems if i ever need to ship the computer overseas. And of course, for weight issues.

I'll have a look at the Xigmatek 1283.

Also, while we're here, are there any cheaper alternatives to the P183? Preferably something with a removable hard drive cage

K.Murx · Post by **K.Murx** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:57 am

While the Xigmatek is quite lightweight, I would personally nether ship a computer with the heatsink installed, not even the stock heatsink. It takes on AM3 ~1 minute to open the case and remove the heatsink, and maybe 4 minutes to reinstall it - so why risk it? You never know how rough it will be handeled, and the heatsink is just too close to your most expensive components...

For the case: Most peple around here suggest the Antec Solo as a smaller/cheaper alternative to the P18x. You might want to read up a bit on it in the Cases and Damping forum. Just do a search

[edit]Sorry, I forgot. The review for the Solo (back then called P150) is here

lations · Post by **lations** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:37 pm

Hi again,

Whats the difference between the 1283 and 1284EE? Also, do I need to buy a quiet fan to go with these, and if so, what do you reccommend?

Thanks very much. this is probably info I could find myself if i looked hard enough

baconandeggs · Post by **baconandeggs** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:42 pm

K.Murx wrote:While the Xigmatek is quite lightweight, I would personally nether ship a computer with the heatsink installed, not even the stock heatsink. It takes on AM3 ~1 minute to open the case and remove the heatsink, and maybe 4 minutes to reinstall it - so why risk it? You never know how rough it will be handeled, and the heatsink is just too close to your most expensive components...

maybe get a bolt thru retention kit to secure it more. i did this to my current PC for the same reason.. i move it alot. no problems what so ever.

lations · Post by **lations** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 6:38 pm

bump

lations · Post by **lations** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:44 am

as it turns out, i can only get the S1283V and S1284C here (in terms of Xigmatech)

Which sucks, cause i hear the fans are really loud (translucent ones)

Any suggestions? Want to keep costs low if poss, you see. Thats why im not going for a TRUE black or anything

lations · Post by **lations** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:33 pm

decided to go for a big shuriken