Anyone use this MCX159-R from Swiftech on their chipset?

geogecko · Post by **geogecko** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:08 pm

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 022&depa=0

It's $40, and fan dBa says 18. Just wondering if anyone had used it.

I'm looking at replacing the screamer on an A8N-SLI board with it, and wondered how it worked out. The Zalman NB47J I heard gets really hot.

mco_chris · Post by **mco_chris** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:12 pm

I use one for a Northbridge cooler on my P4 machine, and another as a CPU cooler on my EPIA PC. They are well made, heavy duty heatsinks. The small fan is not too bad, and undervolts well. I remove the fans to keep noise at a minimum, but I think they would probably be quiet enough at 6-7 volts to not be heard outside of a decent case.

Even at 12 volts, the fan is much quieter than the stock Northbridge cooler on my MSI PC.

These are much more substantial then the Zalman chipset heatsinks.

Highly recommended!

EvoFire · Post by **EvoFire** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:22 am

The heatsink looks like a winner.... though the combination of the sink and the fan looks kinda weird....

daba · Post by **daba** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:35 am

I use it passively. If you have a quiet computer, that 40mm "18dB" fan will undoubtedly be the loudest thing in your build.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:15 am

Here's what I did to mine. Opening up the pin-fins allows it to run much cooler passively. It's a high quality heat-sink, but that little fan has got to go.....

tay · Post by **tay** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:15 am

Bluefront wrote:Here's what I did to mine. Opening up the pin-fins allows it to run much cooler passively. It's a high quality heat-sink, but that little fan has got to go.....

Nice homemade Swiftech MCX -xxx clone bluefront.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:09 am

Bluefront wrote:Here's what I did to mine. Opening up the pin-fins allows it to run much cooler passively.

Oooooo, pretty.

Did you by chance bend them to the limit / break one?

I wonder how it compares to a ZM42 (with and without similar bending)

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:11 am

The MCX159 fan is very quiet for a 40mm. Undervolts nicely to 5-7V. I have one on my P4P800, but it doesn't even get warm. I could probably ditch the fan and use it for another project.

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:29 am

The Delta 40x20 mm fan is about 25db, not 18, but it's still the quietest solution. I have a Thermaright NB-1 and the Delta 45x10 mm fan was a real screamer until I reduced the speed from ~7,000 to ~4,700, but it's still loud for me. I wish I could find a lower speed 45x10 mm fan.

The manufacturing of the Swiftech is probably manual-labour intensive, but still can't justify the huge price, IMO. I can build a clone for under $10 (and probably will, with longer and smooth pins

).

eander315 · Post by **eander315** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:13 am

(and probably will, with longer and smooth pins

Those pins are probably already optimum length (heat only travels so far through the pin before it's completely dissipated) for this application, and they are not smooth for a reason:

"Patented Helicoid pin design (U.S. patent 6,469,898): pins are individually machined in an helicoid shape, to increase their surface area, and further enhance heat dissipation efficiency."

Swiftech is usually pretty good about only including features that increase performance. Not sure why they claim 18 dB if the fan is obviously louder, but as far as that heatsink goes, it's going to be tough to improve on. Maybe all-copper might be better?

pedxingx · Post by **pedxingx** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:15 pm

MCX-159 is a great product. Its heavy and you might have to be careful while mounting it on an exposed core chip. The copper base is well built. I can sometimes feel a large temperature gradient from the copper base to the tip of the posts of the aluminum pins. At least I know it seems to be cooling something and distributing heat away from the chip.

The fan is relatively quiet. I think my Zalman 7700 CPU and Zalman vf700 fans are louder at their lowest setting. The 40mm fan did not have a third wire for RPM, so I had to disable the fan monitor in the BIOS.

geogecko · Post by **geogecko** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:01 pm

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. You guys have sold me on it now. Depending on how loud the fan is (going in an A-Tech 6000 HeatSync case, so it has a lot of holes in the top and bottom, therefore, must be fairly silent), I may try to under volt it with an inline resistor (unless I can control the fan via a software solution), and if that's not enough, remove the fan all together.

I like the idea of spreading out the heat sink "pins" to help with heat dissapation. I may leave them straight, but not sure.

I think this is a fairly priced little job. Not as cheap as the Zalman, but a better heat sink.

Thanks again. Will let you all know how it goes when I get my case in the next few weeks.

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:39 am

eander315, I knew about the patent on helicoidal pins for 3 years now. It is the first reason for not using the feature in a clone. The second reason is running passive: the helicoidal design is not that good when passive, since the heat transfer transfer through the pins is lesser compared to 'full' pins. And that's why with 'full' pins one could make them longer.
An all copper would be too heavy, the copper is very good for the base, it's better to use aluminium for the rest.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 8:40 am

When I bent the pins on mine, none broke. I suspect they would spread out a little more if you wanted.

I did it carefully, about three pins at a time, using a thin 6" steel scale (ruler). Slide the scale between the outer row of pins. Bend one row out, then work your way toward the center. You can make adjustments to each pin as you go. Just don't over-do it.

Once you start this, the pins will never straighten out again, so be careful.

I figured out a way to soft mount the fan on the top of the pins. You get four short lengths of very small vacuum tubing. Run each rubber tube over a pin, leaving a short length sticking out. Then set the fan on the top of the four rubber studs. You can then run four short screws through the fan, into the rubber studs. The screw should not touch the pins. This decouples the fan, and works well.....if you really must have a fan.

scrawnypaleguy · Post by **scrawnypaleguy** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:03 pm

I also have this heatsink on my Asus A8N-E, and I was wondering: how do you undervolt it? That sounds like a good idea to me, since I'm too afraid to run it without the fan but I'd still like it to be a bit quieter. Doesn't sound too bad right now, but there's always room for improvement.