Best air cooling?

[Aphot]

Whats the best air CPU cooler out there?

I was thinking about going with water cooling, but its kinda expensive.

[lee63]

Whats the best air CPU cooler out there?

I was thinking about going with water cooling, but its kinda expensive.Can't go wrong with the Zalman 9700 (lee63)

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5933/3511801902hr1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Roadhog]

Can't go wrong with the Zalman 9700 (lee63)

qft (nana2) :captnkill:

[jAkUp]

Yea, the 9700 is very good. From a cooling and noise level standpoint.

[JoKeRr]

Rachel McAadams FTW!!

[Spartan 117]

yeah, that would be it, but its a little pricy, but worth it :)

[john19055]

I have the Zalman CNPS9500 and it cools my Core 2 Duo E6600 great ,I would have got the 9700 but it was just a hair to big.My cpu is idleing at 21c.

[Bearclaw]

Can't go wrong with the Zalman 9700 (lee63)

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5933/3511801902hr1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
I have been looking at that. I might get it. Although, with my current air setup (Ya, it's the air conditioner. I made a thread on it a while back, haha.) I think I am good for a while but I might still get it.

[Bearclaw]

I have the Zalman CNPS9500 and it cools my Core 2 Duo E6600 great ,I would have got the 9700 but it was just a hair to big.My cpu is idleing at 21c.
How big is it?

[john19055]

the Zalman 9500 is 85m L x112m W x 125m H and the 9700 is 90m L x 124m W x 142m H

[robertonumeruno]

While it IS huge, I have a buddy that has this THING and he holds a 25-35% OC on his FX-62. It's a 'Vigor Gaming something something'... Here's a pic:

[walterman]

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=326&type=expert&pid=4

I've the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. Inside my case, it keeps my overclocked X2 very happy (Idle 25ºC, Load 37ºC). A shame that i can't rise the vcore more.

[Dazz]

Thermalright Ultra 120, you can fir your choice of 120mm fan to it so you have good performance + silent or excellent performance but abit noisy.

Some people have it hooked up with a Delta 120mm 5000rpm which pushes 150CFM's @ 50dBA mind you, but keeps CPU's very cool and out pases most water cooling setup, But at the expense of noise. But 1700rp gives the best cooling to noise.

[spoop]

I'd go with the CNPS9700 or Tuniq Tower 120, which I believe is the best you can get.

[Amuro]

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.

[walterman]

This review should help too:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/zalman-scythe_10.html

[grey_1]

I've got my cnps9500 back on now (cracked frikken H20 block) and I forgot what a performer this is, 21c idle, not sure of load, haven't tested.

[Mr_LoL]

Also consider the Scythe coolers that anand use to test their cpus.

[hirantha]

anyone seen CNPS9700 NT ? I believe its the same design as 9700?

[SH0DAN]

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.


Another vote for the above cooler,and sometimes it can be had for under 20,if you hunt around! Its sister,the 64 Pro wpm is also a very good cooler for ocing.

[tacos4me]

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.

The Freezer 7 is great for its price, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're shooting for more than 3.2GHz on a Core 2. Yes, it's much better than the stock Intel heatsink, but it's still no Tuniq 120.

[Blacklash]

Freezer 7 Pro is fine if you don't need much more than 1.4v for your OC. 3.2GHz on stock voltage is nothing for this HSF. One thing I do like about it is you don't need to remove your motherboard to mount it. It is also easy to remove and very easy to mount. It uses the same style pushpins as the stock HSF and doesn't have metal clips that may strike caps around your CPU socket. It is also smaller than some of the huge towers and weighs less.

When approaching 1.5v and up @ 3.6GHz+ I'd probably want some of the other HSFs named in this thread, like the Tuniq Tower 120 or Zalman 9700 etc. If you are doing 3.8GHz and using voltage around 1.55v I'd probably look into water, or maybe try a Tuniq Tower 120 with an "open air" set up or "tech station style". Additional fans around it should make it doable.

All the CD2s I have tried haven't needed additional voltage until moving above 3.2GHz and not serious increases til after 3.6GHz. I have yet to try a CD2 that didn't need "too much" voltage for 3.7GHz on air. Some people have lucked out with E6600s that will do 3.8GHz with 1.425v and less. Not me. This chip needs 1.55v for 3.7GHz, 1.60v for 3.8GHz and a full 1.65v for 3.9-4.0GHz.

[lee63]

I'm gonna try the Tuniq Tower this weekend, Ive heard nothing but good about this HS, I will post results later (lee63)

[Xion X2]

Tuniq's the best I've seen yet. I've used the Freezer Pro that Malficar mentioned.. although it was on my AMD X2. But it kept it under 60C under full Prime95 load.

And I have a buddy who used the Scythe Infinity on his E6400 Allendale. But again, I've never seen anything cool like the Tuniq does (on air). From what I saw between that and the Infinity, which is supposed to be a good cooler from what I've read/heard, there was at least an 8-10C difference which really surprised me.

My friend w/ the Tuniq has an Allendale he's clocked to 3.6gHz @ 1.4V and the Tuniq held his temps under Prime95 load to < 60C. I think he topped out at 58.

That's about as good as you get unless you go water.

[Amuro]

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