Ninja v. SI-120 in a SLK3000B

Cooling Processors quietly

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warriorpoet
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Ninja v. SI-120 in a SLK3000B

Post by warriorpoet » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:05 pm

Given the location of the supplimentary intake, which cooler is the better option?

The Ninja seems to (slightly) outperform the XP-120 in a typical tower configuration, but I've seen no comparison with the new SI-120, nor have I seen them compared in a TAC case.

One thing that concerns me a bit about the Scythe is the lack of cooling for the minor bits surrounding the CPU socket. I'll be OCing this guy (of course), so I'd appreciate any extra cooling I can get.

mobo: ABIT AN8 Ultra
cpu: A64 3200+
case: SLK3800B (w/ smartpower 2.0 400w, until I get the S12 I really want for christmas)
video: Sapphire x800GTO2

Thanks

edit: I'll be using a nexus 120mm fan no matter which I use (dremel at the ready for the Thermalright)

mprezd
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Post by mprezd » Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:54 pm

Sorry to push in on your thread. I was going to post the same thing and easiest way for me to keep a tally on it would be to subscribe to the thread - so we now have at least 2 users with the same query

Irianta
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Post by Irianta » Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:34 pm

While this may not be exactly what you are looking for, overclockers.com has reviewed both the Ninja (linky) as well as the SI-120 (linky).

Both the Ninja and the SI-120 fared pretty good among the tested heatsinks.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:58 pm

Well, since there was no immediate response (and my wife's system took a premature dump), I decided to go with this spec:

mobo: Abit AN8 Ultra
cpu: Athlon64 3200+ (A6 stepping)
heatsink: Thermalright SI-120 w/ Nexus Real Quiet fan
case: Antec SLK3800B (w/400w SmartPower 2.0 PSU)

...and the shocker

video: Leadtek 6800GT

I found the latter for $220 on a refurb closeout at chiefvalue and couldn't resist...

Anyway, give me about 10 days or so, and I'll tell you how it goes. BTW, the heatsink/fan combo is "only" about $64 at jab-tech with shipping.

Happy shopping!

P.S. has anyone ever heard of an ASUS A78X-E Deluxe/Athlon XP 3000+ combo throttleing itself down to 644 mhz and disabling the 2nd level cache before? I didn't have the option to change anything in the BIOS after everything went weird on me, and it seemed a little odd. Oh well, guess I can't complain too loudly, my wife's getting a new comp out of this...

sun.moon
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Post by sun.moon » Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:13 pm

Hi,

I was wondering how the Nexus Real Quiet Fan fit on the Thermalright SI 120. I heard that the screw holes of the Nexus fan are closed all the way through the frame corners, meaning that there is no where the clips supplied by Thermalright fit to hold it onto the top of the heatsink.

Can you comment on your experience?

Thanks!

sun.moon
Posts: 174
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Post by sun.moon » Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:03 pm

Wrote too soon. Found this sticky. My question is answered. Thanks anyhow.

warriorpoet
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:56 am
Location: USA

Post by warriorpoet » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:01 pm

Sorry it took so long. I had to battle through a bad PSU (I hate SmartPowers...), a bad WinXP install and a finicky mobo to post this (yes, this is my first day fully stable).

Anywho, after my SP400 died I was suckered into purchasing one of those nifty Neo HE500 jobbies by the Best Buy guy, and although sorely tempted by that bling-tastic new Ultra PSU ( :P ), am happy with the purchase.

So how does the SI-120 work in my setup (see above for details)? In a word, flawlessly. I really could not be happier with it. Installation (all 12 times and counting) is a breeze; it's quiet and very effective. How effective? My CPU temperature hasn't passed 34C yet, even though it's OC'd 500 MHz (from 2 Ghz @ 1.4w to 2.5 Ghz @1.5w). Even better, the fan is blowing room-cold air directly onto the mobo power components/NB heatpipe radiator.

The only "difficulties" I've had with the SI-120 is that when it is installed, the CPU duct must be trimmed about 1" for clearance, something it was clearly designed for, and that it must be removed for northbridge cooler removal (see last paragraph).

With the Antec fan on low and the Nexus on 12v the loudest consistent noise in my case is the "quiet" GPU fan, and that only because of a nasty rattle that developed today, lucky me.

So what's next?

I'm looking for alternative cooling for the 6800GT, and considering the Thermalright V-1 (it'll match, how nifty...). I'm ordering a fanmate for the Nexus (real silent? hah!). But for sure, the #1 thing on my list is a new HDD. I simply cannot stand the gasoline-leafblower-on-maximum-overdrive sound that is the Diamondmax9.

One final note to others who are considering a similar setup, with the Abit Q-OTES boards in particular: make sure your passive heatpipe cooler is assembled correctly. My heatpiped northbridge cooler did not initially conduct heat to the radiator. When the cooler was disassembled, I found the thermal interface pad in the right place, but with the non-conductive blue plastic protective label (commonly used to protect thermal pads during shipment/storage) in place between the pad and the chipset. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy. But, as is usually the case, AS5 did the trick. :wink:

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