Best air cooling?

[Stoneyguy]

The Zalman 9700 has worked just fine for me. Only for large cases though as this thing is huge.

[sm0ke]

Recommend the Freezer 7 Pro.

It's cheap; you can get it for under $30, nothing comes close at this price/performance range. Very easy install, no need to remove motherboard. Extremely quiet. Even if you lower the RPM, it will still outperform the stock cooler from Intel. Also, fan can be controlled with SpeedFan. Comes with TIM pre-applied. 6 year warranty.

i will have to second that.
i am not running a c2d but rather the p4d (830) from 3.0ghz to 3.3
and it is performing soo well.
I am at 43C right now, and it keeps cool under load.
It was like 17£ over here which is pretty cheap, and the noise levels are minimal.
Not sure about C2D's though. they may need a better solution for oc'ing.

[Xion X2]

Tuniq cools a little better than the Freezer 7 but is also much more expensive.

A little better? Try a LOT better. The heatsink on the Tuniq is over twice the size of the Freezer 7, and it has over twice the fins on it.

It is a much better cooler, overall and worth the extra 20-25$.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/coolers/tuniq-tower120/image005.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/tuniq-tower120_8.html

[Amuro]

A little better? Try a LOT better. The heatsink on the Tuniq is over twice the size of the Freezer 7, and it has over twice the fins on it.

It is a much better cooler, overall and worth the extra 20-25$.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/coolers/tuniq-tower120/image005.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/tuniq-tower120_8.html
I doubt it's a lot better. Take a look at this latest AnandTech review:
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2906&p=5

With the Freezer 7 Pro and my x6800 at stock speeds, I idle around 19-21C, and load around 30.

[Xion X2]

Different testbeds. You have no idea what kind of airflow was in the case in that review you found. A better way to tell if there's a major difference is to take a group of coolers from the same testbed like that review I posted earlier. The Freezer 7 Pro is in the same class of coolers as the Big Typhoon, Ninja, etc.. and they all fall behind the Tuniq anywhere from 7-9C, which is exactly what I've experienced as well.

I used to own a Freezer 64, which is very similar to the Freezer 7 if not identical, and it could barely keep my X2 4400+ under 65C Prime load and that processor ran very cool.

Here's someone I found who got a 5C drop going from a Freezer 64 to a Tuniq:

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?p=2364060#post2364060

There's just no comparison; it's way out in front. The Tuniq has over twice the amount of fins on it that normal HSF's usually have. The only air cooler that can really come close to it is the Zalman 9700.

And you need to measure your load temps w/ a program like Prime, not just games. That'll tell you how effective a cooler really is. If you don't plan on overclocking, though, then I guess that part doesn't matter as much. Stick with what you have, because it's sufficient.

[Amuro]

Well, I have my x6800 @ 3.4ghz and I barely notice an increase in idle and load temps from when running at stock speeds. Maybe my CM stacker case fans and the zalman STG1 super thermal grease helped, I don't know. Yeah maybe the Tuniq 120 has twice the amount of fins, but it's also twice as expensive, and a pain to install too... hell, the Big Typhoon, Ninja, etc are all at least twice as expensive as the Freezer 7.

[ONER]

I love my TR Ultra 120. Has anyone else gave it try?

[Xion X2]

Yeah maybe the Tuniq 120 has twice the amount of fins, but it's also twice as expensive, and a pain to install too... hell, the Big Typhoon, Ninja, etc are all at least twice as expensive as the Freezer 7.

Well, yeah, but that's the world of PC modding, isn't it? Watercooling's not exactly a walk in the park, either, but people do it for the results that you get.

And a 7-9C drop in processor temps is worth an extra 25-30$ for me and a half hour to take a motherboard out of a case and put it back in. I've seen the Tuniq sell as cheap as 49$, which isn't that bad at all.

I mean, really.. what is 25-30$ extra when you've already spent 1100$ on graphics cards and $1000 on a processor, anyway?

[CaptNKILL]

Different testbeds. You have no idea what kind of airflow was in the case in that review you found. A better way to tell if there's a major difference is to take a group of coolers from the same testbed like that review I posted earlier. The Freezer 7 Pro is in the same class of coolers as the Big Typhoon, Ninja, etc.. and they all fall behind the Tuniq anywhere from 7-9C, which is exactly what I've experienced as well.

I used to own a Freezer 64, which is very similar to the Freezer 7 if not identical, and it could barely keep my X2 4400+ under 65C Prime load and that processor ran very cool.

Here's someone I found who got a 5C drop going from a Freezer 64 to a Tuniq:

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?p=2364060#post2364060

There's just no comparison; it's way out in front. The Tuniq has over twice the amount of fins on it that normal HSF's usually have. The only air cooler that can really come close to it is the Zalman 9700.

And you need to measure your load temps w/ a program like Prime, not just games. That'll tell you how effective a cooler really is. If you don't plan on overclocking, though, then I guess that part doesn't matter as much. Stick with what you have, because it's sufficient.
For what its worth, the Freezer 7 is a "tower" style heatsink (the fan is vertical), the Freezer 64 is a standard flat heatsink. I think that has a pretty dramatic effect on its cooling abilities in most systems.

Its also relatively cheap compared to the $50-60 premium you spend on a Tuniq Tower, Thermalright Ultra 120 or Zalman 9700.

Its kind of crazy thinking of spending half the price of a CPU just to cool it.

... but I've done it before. :o

I've been thinking of just getting the most universal heatsink possible (compatible with 775, 939, AM2, etc...) and keeping it for a while. All that money spent on cooling adds up after a while.

[Amuro]

I did not pay $1000 for for my CPU. I paid $785 + $45 for shipping from ebay.

Check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-2-Extreme-X6800-Proc-LGA-775-New-Retail_W0QQitemZ110080669987QQihZ001QQcategoryZ367 4QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I mean this guy is great! The x6800 is only $755 now, and he had the qx6700's at $905 last time I checked.