Replacing intel I3 Stock cooler but with what ? for HTPC

[meridius]

Hi all

I just bought a I3 chip to install in my HTPC and wanted to know if there is anything better at keeping the cpu cool ? but one of the most important feature it has to be silent as possable but not be worse at cooling than the stock cooler.

I have not used the stock cooler so i dont know how quiet it is but as this is for a HTPC i wanted to know if there is anything better

thanks for the help

[ces]

What exactly is the case you are using?

[meridius]

Hi there, going to get a fractal mini case

[Abula]

Hi there, going to get a fractal mini case

Is it a Fractal Design Define Mini or Arc Mini or Array R2 Mini?

[meridius]

It's a Fractal Design Define Mini

[Abula]

It's a Fractal Design Define Mini

acording to fractal website can fit up to 165mm tall heatsinks, so you could probably fit a bing heatsink like thermalright HR02 macho and spin down the fan to 700rpm or also scythe mugen 3 that comes with a slipstrem pwm that can be spin down to 300 rpm.

[meridius]

What about a Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B can u use tha as a passive hs ?

[ces]

It's a Fractal Design Define Mini

acording to fractal website can fit up to 165mm tall heatsinks, so you could probably fit a bing heatsink like thermalright HR02 macho and spin down the fan to 700rpm or also scythe mugen 3 that comes with a slipstrem pwm that can be spin down to 300 rpm.

Good advice.

[ces]

What about a Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B can u use tha as a passive hs ?

It is probably not such a good idea to go 100% passive. If you do go that way, try to pick up an HR-01 plus HS. That is probably the all time best 100% passive heat sink.... even better than the larger HR-02.

[meridius]

the only 2 Hs i can find are these


so what would be best this

thermalright HR02 + Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1150 RPM Cooling Fan turned down to 700rpm
OR
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B + Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1150 RPM Cooling Fan turned down to 700rpm
OR
Noctua NH-D14
OR
Thermalright Silver Arrow

or the same above but without a fan on the HS

which would be better for a HTPC system ? as there the same price as well

these 4 HS seem to be trhe best at what they do but i dont want to run a fan any hogher than 800rpm if i need to use a fan but i would like to know if these can be used as passive.

[Abula]

I would wait for the HR02 macho, which is a $39.95 version, that already comes with the TY140 fan, this is to me at that price, the best deal out there, the fan can be brought down to 700rpm (at least in my build i did controlled by the mobo), the fan is very good (imho).

The Silver Arrow would be the best in temps, but this is a high end cpu cooler, more oriented for OCers, it uses 2 fans, to me a 2100 is an overkill the HR02, a silver arrow would be even more. The more fans you have the more noisy it will become, so i would try a single fan over dual, unless you were aiming into OCing.

The Scythe Gentle typhoons are to me the best fans for performance, but they have their own signature, not all like them, i see more good comments regarding slipstreams here than GT. The Mugen 3 comes with Slipstream PWM fan included, that can be lower to 300rpm, where it should be inaudible, and since the i3 shouldnt go high either, this imo is more than enough. But you will have to check your mobo to see if it can control the fans. I would also consider swaping the case fans that come with Mini for Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P 120mm Case Fan (PWM 200/1300rpm) and control them with the mobo (if you mobo can via bios/software).

[meridius]

had a read about the HR02 macho but everyone said the normal HR02 was a much better HS

seems to beat the older 1156 i7 stock cooler at idle by 5c and nearly 10c at load without a fan thats exellent as this would go on a i3 which is even better as its a sandybridge low power version

[ces]

I pretty much agree with everything Abula says.

But I would recommend the Noctua NH-C14 (as opposed to the Noctua NH-D14). Use one fan attached to the lower position. Set that fan to run at it's lowest speed (750rpm).

As a 140mm fan, air turbulence wise, that is about equivalent to a 120mm fan running at 900 rpm. It will cool both your cpu and your motherboard. If you aren't satisfied with the sound, replace the Noctua 140mm with a 120mm nexus running at 7 volts (about 680 rpm).

Strangely most of those huge double fan array coolers aren't so efficient at low thermal loads... they really only come into their own at high thermal loads. Yours is a low thermal load application.

[ces]

had a read about the HR02 macho but everyone said the normal HR02 was a much better HS

seems to beat the older 1156 i7 stock cooler at idle by 5c and nearly 10c at load without a fan thats exellent as this would go on a i3 which is even better as its a sandybridge low power version

We are really going to have to wait until an SPCR review.

But it appears to have more than enough cooling power for this application. And it is so cheap... and comes with a good fan. Sort of hard to beat for the price.

[Pigpen]

Keep in mind that most htpc's are on the other side of the room 10-15' away, so silence is not necessary.
Quiet is ok. You will not hear it across the room especially with audio playing. No real need to spend the big money on top end heatsinks and fans.

In my Antec case the stock tri cool fans at 5v are pretty much inaudible from the couch, on the desk in front of my nose would be a different story.