Tower heatpipe CPU-coolers?

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:17 am

I'm probably about to build a new setup sometime late this summer, and I've always been into using the XP-120 to cool my CPU.

Recently I began thinking if this really would be the optimal solution. Maybe a tower heatpipe cooler would disturb the airflow less than the XP-120 with a fan blowing downwards.

I've seen many tower coolers out there, but it all seems like a djungle to me. Wich one is the best? I've seen that Schythe has quite a lot of them, also Thermaltake (brrr..) and the Titan Vanessa L.

Would any of them be a better choise, perhaps wth some ducting to the rear fan?

niels007 · Post by **niels007** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:48 am

http://www.fan-x.de/testkcpu001_1.htm

german but graphs and pics are universal

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:52 am

Nice link there! I studied german for 5 years, but i remember close to nothing now though

dan · Post by **dan** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 7:13 am

i had an earlier thread on the topic i think the writing is on the wall

tower heatpipes tend to be better than flat designs

jamesm · Post by **jamesm** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:42 am

i like the arctic cooling freezer 64, and it's pretty cheap too.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:59 am

The Freezer 64 sounds like a good choice to me.

If you're going for passive cooling, I'd recommend the Scythe NCU-2005. One of the only passive heatsinks I've seen that looks like it was actually designed for passive cooling. The fins are nice and spread out to promote convection.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 1:46 pm

I'm not going for passive cooling. I will overclock my rig a bit, and play games too.

The point was if there was any cooler better than the XP120 i terms of exploiting the airflow. The XP120 with a fan on it blowing downwards would disturb the airflow quite a bit. A tower heatpipe cooler with a 120mm fan on its side, pointing directly at the rear fan, would be a much better use of the airflow.

Maybe I'll go for the XP120 though, it seems like it would work just fine anyway.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 2:27 pm

If you are a little brave there is always the Thermaltake sonic tower with a 120mm fan . they look rediculous but they work pretty well if you have the space.

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 3:58 pm

I have the Aerocool HT-101 which works pretty well. Massive improvement over my previous Thermalright SLK-800A. Dunno how it compares with the latest generation though.

One advantage it has it that it is quite light, so the cantilever force isn't too bad compared with some of the heavyweights.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:53 pm

using TT103 fanless here since September or so. my A64 3000+ is at 29C idle (undervolted to 1.0V crystalcpuid) and 49C at stock 1.5V and prime95 for one hour. needless to day, superb cooling for a fanless hsf

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:26 pm

Ordered new version of Coolermaster Hyper 6+ to replace xp-120. Older version reviewed here.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:59 am

pony-tail wrote:If you are a little brave there is always the Thermaltake sonic tower with a 120mm fan . they look rediculous but they work pretty well if you have the space.

Yeah, i was looking for something like that. The only thing that worries me is the heavy weight and cantilever force on those things, and also the orientation of them. Almost all tower coolers seem to end up facing the wrong direction on S939 boards. All of them seems to be designed for Intel's specifications

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:26 am

I'm not certain, but looking at the mounting plates for the coolermaster hyper 6 it looks like they have changed the way it is mounted with a universal mounting plate which should allow for mounting in any direction since this was one of the original complaints. It's also a little bit lighter. Most of the weight is in the base, but I intend to find some way to support the top if necessary.

williemues · Post by **williemues** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:59 pm

I got this :
http://www.studiedata.dk/productitem.as ... OLD,COCOCP

which is the same as this :

http://www.tweakers4u.de/artikel/vaness ... htm?page=2

-but with a different fan. I replaced the fan with a Papst 19db, mounted with small foam pads in the corners and lapped the surface of the heatsink. It holds my P4 [email protected] at 43Cidle/650 rpm and 52Cfullload/1600rpm (speedfan controlled) on an Abit Ic7-G (which is said to report temps 5-10C too high). At 650rpm the fan is inaudible to me; my vgasilencer in low mode is louder.

You can turn the heatsink in any direction You like as long as Nb-heatsink etc. doesn´t get in the way.

I let mine blow the air directly out of the back through a cut out rectangular hole - but i might want to make a duct to improve intake airflow through the bottom/front vent af the case and place a hd in the airstream.

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:34 pm

If there is still any doubt, the Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja looks like it would fit your needs perfectly

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:05 am

The Scythe SCNJ-1000 looks excellent!

Now all i have to do is to wait halv a year for it to be available here in Sweden..

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:40 pm

pppsst
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=224

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 4:34 am

It's strange though, that in that test, their ambient was about ~30dBA, isn't that much louder than the SPCR test lab?

I might mix up dB and dBA, I'm no sound engineer..

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:34 am

The modified shuttle zen in the SCPR lab tour article is about 16db. So I wouldn't rely too much on any decibel analysis the do in their tests, as they have a much louder noise floor.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:39 am

anything below 30dBA can not be measured unless you are in a soundproof room

you know, the ones with mouche on the walls:)
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=268

bedroom at night = 30dBA
radio broadcast studio (they have sound proofing) = 20dBA

so.. anything <30 dBA in a "normal" room is simply.. impossible

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:35 am

Ah, okay!

If i just ignore the decibel values then. All coolers with Papst fan at 50% speed was rated 34dBA. Then it was easy to compare, just look for the coolest one with that exact fan.

The SCNJ-1000 is the winner, by quite a margin over the XP-120

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:56 am

jmke wrote:anything below 30dBA can not be measured unless you are in a soundproof room

you know, the ones with mouche on the walls:)
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=268

bedroom at night = 30dBA
radio broadcast studio (they have sound proofing) = 20dBA

so.. anything <30 dBA in a "normal" room is simply.. impossible

jmke, i believe MikeC would disagree with you. From that article:

it has the benefit of a lower ambient noise floor (14 dBA after midnight), reduced reflections due to carpeting and heavy drapes, and larger dimensions (20' x 10' x 8') for reduced wall proximity effects in both recordings and SPL measurements.

take a look at the pics of the SPCR lab setup... it gets much lower than 30db and does not use commercial soundproofing.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:00 am

I know MikeC will disagree with me, fact is though that <30dBA readings are only possible in soundproof chamber, carpeting may help, but it's never going to make the ambient noise at 14dBA. I know he will be kicking me soon for saying this:) .

in my room, in the middle of the night, with everything turned off, and it's dead silent that I start feeling uncomfortable due to the absence of noise, the meter hits 29-30dBA.

in rooms like this: http://www.isvr.co.uk/faciliti/lg_anech.htm you can obtain <30dBA readings..

enjoy this read , it goes pretty in depth[/url]

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:17 am

Regarding the first post, you could try the xp120 without a fan. Thats what i'm doing at the moment and my temps are low. I am however using a lowish power cpu, P4 2.26 with 533FSB. Its meant to give out 67.6W which is quite low.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:18 am

if you want to go FANless , the XP-120 should not be at the top of the list, the Tower heatsinks handle that much better due to the larger surface area

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:16 am

jmke wrote:I know MikeC will disagree with me, fact is though that <30dBA readings are only possible in soundproof chamber, carpeting may help, but it's never going to make the ambient noise at 14dBA. I know he will be kicking me soon for saying this:) .

Well, MikeC has some fairly sophisticated measuring equipment, showcased in his tour of the SPCR labs. Seeing as how he's able to measure his shuttle at 16db, I'm willing to accept that his room is AT LEAST that quiet. If it wasn't, the background noise is what would be detected by the sound equipment instead of the lower noise generated by the computer/fans/whatever.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:22 am

jmke wrote:if you want to go FANless , the XP-120 should not be at the top of the list, the Tower heatsinks handle that much better due to the larger surface area

I'm not after a fanless setup. I'm just trying to use the case airflow optimally.

If i use this in the P180, a fan will probably not be needed, but that's just a bonus.

jmke · Post by **jmke** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:24 am

well.. if VIA used a certified anechoic chamber to measure their EPIA M10000 system (to one which is dead quiet) at 25dBA; then I would think twice to say that the Shuttle system would be ~16dBA.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/downloads/whit ... atters.pdf

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:36 am

Perhaps it depends on how far away from the source of the sound the microphone was placed?

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:57 am

jmke wrote:[...]their EPIA M10000 system (to one which is dead quiet)

Actually that one isn't dead quiet at all. It has a horrible 40mm fan on the CPU cooler. There are several threads on this forum with questions how to make it more quiet. Also the fact that they did use an anechoic chamber doesn't mean that they needed one to reach this measurement.

Some posts above you state that "fact is though that <30dBA readings are only possible in soundproof chamber". None of the links you provide in that post contain any evidence for that statement. Looking at the VIA whitepaper from your last post, it would seem you can't hear someone whispering at 5' (20 dBA @ 1m) in your bedroom, since the background noise is twice as loud as that. Actually according to you, the background noise in your bedroom is louder than the fan on the Epia. I can tell you my bedroom is a lot quieter than that fan.

I think you are not measuring the background noise from your bedroom, but the lower limit of the soundmeter you are using.