Looking for suggestions for heatsinks to review

b1lk1 · 03-21-2010, 09:32 AM

Hey guys, I am getting a list together of the parts I think people want to see tested and thought it would be very wise to ask our readers as to which ones they want to see. Please post you suggestions and comments as well. I am looking for as much feedback as possible here.

Optix · 03-21-2010, 10:02 AM

Prolimatech's Armageddon would be a good place to start since their Megahalem aka Megatron heatsink was the first new product to come close to and let alone beat a TRUE. Thermalright's Cogage Arrow and maybe Noctua's NH-D14 would be a good addition as well although the Noctua product has been out for a while now I believe. Oh, I almost forgot. Coolink's Corator too.

Now those are all $60+ heatsinks so what about something that most people can actually afford? There aren't too many mainstream heatsinks out there with really good performance let alone new offerings to the market segment.

You could always go with the good ol' Scythe Mugen 2. It has been out for a long time but gives great cooling at $36 depending on the online retailer you go through. Xigmatek released a refresh of their Dark Knight cooler with 1156/1366 compatibility right out of the box so that could be an option as is their Balder heatsink.

It's strange that companies like Zerotherm have been pretty much silent for the last year or so after release great coolers like their Nirvana.

Psi* · 03-21-2010, 06:24 PM

Maybe a unique-ness without too much complication could be including 2 different TIMs ... a common "garden variety" that many would use versus a metal alloy?

Add lapping, at the end of course with the "garden variety" TIM. And do this with 2 or more i7 920s for comparison to the metal alloy TIM. My expectation is that they would be similar ... although that is just a guess.

Just reading what is going on other forums, there is still a lot of noise about lapping. I wonder if a metal alloy might accomplish the same thing. And I have never seen any review including lapping ... certainly a PITA, I understand. I mention the i7 920 as it is current and can be had for ~$200 at the right places.

Simpler, would be just 2 or 3 i7s with the identical TIM & heatsink ... I don't assume that all i7s are made equal, but it seems that is a common assumption.

b1lk1 · 03-21-2010, 07:43 PM

Multiple TIMs would make things difficult. Same with lapping. I use one set type of TIM and lapping is just not done by the majority of users. I prefer to use the actual heatsink as they are pulled from the package.

As for methodology and CPU, we do realize that all are not equal, but they are all well within a small percentage of each other and the average user is likely to get close to our results with similar hardware.

We will be using the i5 platform as it is the more mainstream and most common to be used by the majority of readers. You are not going to see a large difference between a 4GHz i5 and 4GHz i7. I do not mean to state that they are the same, but we are talking less than 10-15% in total heat and I guarantee I will run my CPU hotter and longer than 99.99% of the world feels comfortable doing.

stars1 · 03-22-2010, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b1lk1

Multiple TIMs would make things difficult. Same with lapping. I use one set type of TIM and lapping is just not done by the majority of users. I prefer to use the PC Heatsinks as they are pulled from the package.

As for methodology and CPU, we do realize that all are not equal, but they are all well within a small percentage of each other and the average user is likely to get close to our results with similar hardware.

We will be using the i5 platform as it is the more mainstream and most common to be used by the majority of readers. You are not going to see a large difference between a 4GHz i5 and 4GHz i7. I do not mean to state that they are the same, but we are talking less than 10-15% in total heat and I guarantee I will run my CPU hotter and longer than 99.99% of the world feels comfortable doing.

I have a Replacement CPU Cooling Fan Heatsink for AMD 775. This CPU Fan Cooler works excellent in heat dissipation and extends the life and functionality of computer. Also It can keep my processor cool with optimal temperature and improve air flow for CPU.

b1lk1 · 03-22-2010, 11:28 PM

Keep the suggestions coming, I really want to wrap up a list within the next few days as it takes a bit of time to get everything in. Thanks for the input so far!

Optix · 03-24-2010, 12:22 PM

What about picking up a quality fan to use right across the board as well? There may be a bomb-diggity heatsink but the manufacturer chose to put a low CFM fan on it or just a plain crappy one and it is affecting performance.

eunoia · 03-24-2010, 06:11 PM

In the "top air" category, definitely the new Prolimatech. For us more "frugal" types, how about finding one of the new Intel stock ones that are shipping with the i7 980X? There's bound to be deals on those, I'm guessing a good percentage of those buyers will be giving these away. Does it compete with a Cooler Master Hyper 212?

Optix · 03-24-2010, 09:39 PM

Ooh, good call, Eunoia. I forgot about that.

b1lk1 · 03-28-2010, 07:52 AM

We don't test by classes, we just put a bunch together and make them go head to head. I have noted what has come our way so far, keep it coming!

PS: As for the fans, we like to use them as they come out of the box. If time permits, I wil be open to using one good fan for static testing, but that will exclude some models that come with un-replaceable fans.

Optix · 03-28-2010, 08:16 AM

Proprietary fans are of the debil!

b1lk1 · 03-28-2010, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optix

Proprietary fans are of the debil!

Some sure are, but Noctua uses some great fans and there are other companies that also use very good fans.

Tharic-Nar · 03-28-2010, 10:57 AM

Anything that uses a standard sleeve bearing gets put on my blacklist, they're great for a couple weeks and then for no reason they start to whine, wobble, rattle and just generally fail in the most unpleasant manor possible. I don't think i've had a sleeve fan last more than 6 months.... and i've had a lot. 10k hours at 25C.... 25 degrees, what a joke.

Dual ball bearing is a minimum for me, but my preference is either FD's (Fluid Dynamic) or Ceramic, yet to have any of those fail.

One thing i wouldn't mind trying is building a custom cooler. I've got a mini-fridge with a TEC (peltier) in it that can cause massive amounts of ice to build up on the inside, i'm just wondering if it can sustain that chill when bolted to a 200 watt heating element. I've seen TEC's in some very expensive coolers and all they do is make a lot of noise since the manufacturers are so conservative with the power (i know, TEC's can go below freezing, condensation, water, frying electricals, etc). TEC's are cheap, but if they can get a CPU down to about 12C, it'll probably be worth it.... just wonder how to go about it, but thats for another time (The whole time delay to reach the cool temps is a concern).

Kougar · 03-29-2010, 06:14 PM

I'll give another vote for the Noctua NH-D14. It's the best performing cooler I have seen to date, and it comes close enough to my watercooling loop that once my CPU situation is resolved, I plan to do plenty of load testing... The Noctua is amazing in both performance and installation.

Tharic-Nar, If you plan to build your own TEC then just make sure you can cool the reverse side of the peltier... it must be capable of cooling the pelt's own heat in addition to the heat the pelt absorbs from the CPU. If they get too hot they not only lose efficiency but also performance.

I almost built one myself as there are some very interesting DIY modders out there that have guides, but the problem is they are extremely power inefficient, take a great deal of work, and for the cost of 24/7 use it would be cheaper to buy a cascade or sub-zero system that delivers much better performance anyway. I elected to stick with non-chilled watercooling instead. A peltier is not a cooler, all it does is require an even more powerful cooler be attached to the hot side that can handle the pelts own heat along with the CPU's heat load. A real 200W pelt + 200W CPU would mean 400W of heat you'd need to cool... most pelts greatly overestimate the wattage rating though from what I've seen. Honestly I'd recommend something like this instead: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/97...2_AM2_AM3.html

b1lk1 · 03-29-2010, 06:22 PM

We have the NH-D14 on the way. As for the rest I am still compiling a list so keep em coming.

03-21-2010, 09:32 AM	#1
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	Looking for suggestions for heatsinks to review Hey guys, I am getting a list together of the parts I think people want to see tested and thought it would be very wise to ask our readers as to which ones they want to see. Please post you suggestions and comments as well. I am looking for as much feedback as possible here. __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

03-21-2010, 10:02 AM	#2
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	Prolimatech's Armageddon would be a good place to start since their Megahalem aka Megatron heatsink was the first new product to come close to and let alone beat a TRUE. Thermalright's Cogage Arrow and maybe Noctua's NH-D14 would be a good addition as well although the Noctua product has been out for a while now I believe. Oh, I almost forgot. Coolink's Corator too. Now those are all $60+ heatsinks so what about something that most people can actually afford? There aren't too many mainstream heatsinks out there with really good performance let alone new offerings to the market segment. You could always go with the good ol' Scythe Mugen 2. It has been out for a long time but gives great cooling at $36 depending on the online retailer you go through. Xigmatek released a refresh of their Dark Knight cooler with 1156/1366 compatibility right out of the box so that could be an option as is their Balder heatsink. It's strange that companies like Zerotherm have been pretty much silent for the last year or so after release great coolers like their Nirvana. Last edited by Optix; 03-21-2010 at 10:11 AM.

03-21-2010, 06:24 PM	#3
Psi* Tech Monkey Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Westport, CT Posts: 766	Maybe a unique-ness without too much complication could be including 2 different TIMs ... a common "garden variety" that many would use versus a metal alloy? Add lapping, at the end of course with the "garden variety" TIM. And do this with 2 or more i7 920s for comparison to the metal alloy TIM. My expectation is that they would be similar ... although that is just a guess. Just reading what is going on other forums, there is still a lot of noise about lapping. I wonder if a metal alloy might accomplish the same thing. And I have never seen any review including lapping ... certainly a PITA, I understand. I mention the i7 920 as it is current and can be had for ~$200 at the right places. Simpler, would be just 2 or 3 i7s with the identical TIM & heatsink ... I don't assume that all i7s are made equal, but it seems that is a common assumption. __________________ Win 7 64 bit, ASUS P6X58D Premium i7-990 @ 4.5 GHz 24 GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR NVIDIA Tesla M2090 + NVS 290, Seasonic X750 Swiftech Apogee XT block, Indigo Extreme TIM Swiftech MCR220-QP Radiator, Eheim 1040 pump, 1/2" ID Tubing

03-21-2010, 07:43 PM	#4
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	Multiple TIMs would make things difficult. Same with lapping. I use one set type of TIM and lapping is just not done by the majority of users. I prefer to use the actual heatsink as they are pulled from the package. As for methodology and CPU, we do realize that all are not equal, but they are all well within a small percentage of each other and the average user is likely to get close to our results with similar hardware. We will be using the i5 platform as it is the more mainstream and most common to be used by the majority of readers. You are not going to see a large difference between a 4GHz i5 and 4GHz i7. I do not mean to state that they are the same, but we are talking less than 10-15% in total heat and I guarantee I will run my CPU hotter and longer than 99.99% of the world feels comfortable doing. __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

03-22-2010, 11:28 PM	#6
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	Keep the suggestions coming, I really want to wrap up a list within the next few days as it takes a bit of time to get everything in. Thanks for the input so far! __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

03-24-2010, 12:22 PM	#7
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	What about picking up a quality fan to use right across the board as well? There may be a bomb-diggity heatsink but the manufacturer chose to put a low CFM fan on it or just a plain crappy one and it is affecting performance.

03-24-2010, 06:11 PM	#8
eunoia Partition Master Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Outside Poker Flat Posts: 305	In the "top air" category, definitely the new Prolimatech. For us more "frugal" types, how about finding one of the new Intel stock ones that are shipping with the i7 980X? There's bound to be deals on those, I'm guessing a good percentage of those buyers will be giving these away. Does it compete with a Cooler Master Hyper 212? Last edited by eunoia; 03-24-2010 at 06:14 PM.

03-24-2010, 09:39 PM	#9
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	Ooh, good call, Eunoia. I forgot about that.

03-28-2010, 07:52 AM	#10
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	We don't test by classes, we just put a bunch together and make them go head to head. I have noted what has come our way so far, keep it coming! PS: As for the fans, we like to use them as they come out of the box. If time permits, I wil be open to using one good fan for static testing, but that will exclude some models that come with un-replaceable fans. __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

03-28-2010, 08:16 AM	#11
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	Proprietary fans are of the debil!

03-28-2010, 10:57 AM	#13
Tharic-Nar Techgage Staff Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,152	Anything that uses a standard sleeve bearing gets put on my blacklist, they're great for a couple weeks and then for no reason they start to whine, wobble, rattle and just generally fail in the most unpleasant manor possible. I don't think i've had a sleeve fan last more than 6 months.... and i've had a lot. 10k hours at 25C.... 25 degrees, what a joke. Dual ball bearing is a minimum for me, but my preference is either FD's (Fluid Dynamic) or Ceramic, yet to have any of those fail. One thing i wouldn't mind trying is building a custom cooler. I've got a mini-fridge with a TEC (peltier) in it that can cause massive amounts of ice to build up on the inside, i'm just wondering if it can sustain that chill when bolted to a 200 watt heating element. I've seen TEC's in some very expensive coolers and all they do is make a lot of noise since the manufacturers are so conservative with the power (i know, TEC's can go below freezing, condensation, water, frying electricals, etc). TEC's are cheap, but if they can get a CPU down to about 12C, it'll probably be worth it.... just wonder how to go about it, but thats for another time (The whole time delay to reach the cool temps is a concern). Last edited by Tharic-Nar; 03-28-2010 at 10:59 AM.

03-29-2010, 06:14 PM	#14
Kougar Techgage Staff Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 2,643	I'll give another vote for the Noctua NH-D14. It's the best performing cooler I have seen to date, and it comes close enough to my watercooling loop that once my CPU situation is resolved, I plan to do plenty of load testing... The Noctua is amazing in both performance and installation. Tharic-Nar, If you plan to build your own TEC then just make sure you can cool the reverse side of the peltier... it must be capable of cooling the pelt's own heat in addition to the heat the pelt absorbs from the CPU. If they get too hot they not only lose efficiency but also performance. I almost built one myself as there are some very interesting DIY modders out there that have guides, but the problem is they are extremely power inefficient, take a great deal of work, and for the cost of 24/7 use it would be cheaper to buy a cascade or sub-zero system that delivers much better performance anyway. I elected to stick with non-chilled watercooling instead. A peltier is not a cooler, all it does is require an even more powerful cooler be attached to the hot side that can handle the pelts own heat along with the CPU's heat load. A real 200W pelt + 200W CPU would mean 400W of heat you'd need to cool... most pelts greatly overestimate the wattage rating though from what I've seen. Honestly I'd recommend something like this instead: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/97...2_AM2_AM3.html __________________ Core i7 4770k Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H Crucial Ballistix Sport LP 1600MHz 32GB EVGA GTX 480 HydroCopper FTW ASUS Xonar DX Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB \| Windows 7 64-bit Apogee XT + MCP655 & Thermochill Triple 140mm Radiator Corsair AX1200 PSU \| Cooler Master HAF-X

03-29-2010, 06:22 PM	#15
b1lk1 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 821	We have the NH-D14 on the way. As for the rest I am still compiling a list so keep em coming. __________________ Oldschool PC: Intel E6300/Nouctua NH-9U w/dual 92mm Panaflos XFX 680i LT Patriot PC2-6400 2X2GB LL 2 X BFG 8800GTX in SLI Enermax Revolution 620W PSU ASUS 24X DVD/Seagate 250GB SATA 2/THermaltake A90/Windows 7 Ultimate 64

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