Heatsinks for the Conroe Era

Cooling Processors quietly

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jmke
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Post by jmke » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:40 am

DaveLessnau wrote: Browsing through your list of reviews, it looks like most of them are on an AMD platform, some are Intel, some are open case, some are closed case.
all reviews I did since last year december were done in the same closed case with an AMD A64 system; in some cases the mosfet/PWM temp would be close to 80°C when only a minimum of airflow is present, going completely passive without paying attention to the mosfett area is not recommended.

or install large heatsink on them, or get a very silent slow spinning fan near them to create "some" airflow.

alibaba128
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Post by alibaba128 » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:30 pm

Interesting thread. I am building a new C2D system and I am myself looking for an efficient, quiet and lightweight HSF to cool a non-overclocked E6600 on an Abit AW9D-Max.

Those that looked promising to me so far :

Thermalright XP-120 : 370g (plus the 120mm fan's weight)

Thermalright XP-90 : 360g (plus the 92mm fan's weight)

Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu : 438g

Zalman CNPS8000 : 350g

Thermaltake Silent 775D : 382g


I was trying to find a way of comparing them; the Madshrimps link should be really handy for that.

Now, is the Intel C2D stock HSF really that bad in terms of cooling and sound levels?

pyogenes
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Post by pyogenes » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:46 am

alibaba128 wrote:Now, is the Intel C2D stock HSF really that bad in terms of cooling and sound levels?
Changing nothing but my heatsink to a Scythe Ninja, I reduced temps by over 10C (that's before the AS5 cured). Sound difference is only slight while idling. At full load - that's a whole different ballgame.

alibaba128
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Post by alibaba128 » Wed Nov 01, 2006 9:29 am

pyogenes wrote:
alibaba128 wrote:Now, is the Intel C2D stock HSF really that bad in terms of cooling and sound levels?
Changing nothing but my heatsink to a Scythe Ninja, I reduced temps by over 10C (that's before the AS5 cured). Sound difference is only slight while idling. At full load - that's a whole different ballgame.
Is the C2D HSF the same as the Prescott ones? If it's anything like the P4 520 I got at work, at full load this thing sounds like a friggin turboprop engine :?

alibaba128
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Post by alibaba128 » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:56 am

I finished assembling the new system. I finally went with the Zalman CNPS-7000B-AlCu. One thing to note, it's a very close fit on an Abit AW9D-Max because of the heatsink ; so much that I first thought it wouldn't fit, but it hopefully did.

The stock Intel C2D HSF looked a little different that the ones that used to come with Prescotts. It didn't look that bad, but I'm happy with the Zalman :D

mg2plus
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Post by mg2plus » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:36 am

I'm sorry, didn't have time to read the whole thread, but:

Wouldn't zalman heatsinks be adequate? The weight is within limits (<450g), they are rather quiet and blow towards motherboard. Both 7700 AlCu and 7000B AlCu will do (and, hopefully, quiet enough).

DaveLessnau
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Post by DaveLessnau » Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:26 pm

Well, I finally got around to building my new system with its Conroe processor (you can see my write-up of it at viewtopic.php?t=37017 ), and my temperatures are odd. After all the discussion earlier in the thread, I decided to go with the Thermalright SI-120 as a decent compromise between cooling ability and weight. Using the Speedfan 4.32 beta under Vista Ultimate RTM, my idle temperatures (with the machine having been on all day) are pretty stable as follows

Temp1: 39 degrees C
Temp2: 40 degrees C
Temp3 (Case Temp, I believe): 29 degrees C
Core0 Temp: 54 degrees C
Core1 Temp: 52 degrees C

This is pretty much what I've been seeing for the last several days. Unfortunately, I have no idea what Temp1 and Temp2 are. I'm wondering if they're what used to be what Speedfan reported as the CPU temperature. They're very stable and seem to stay about 10 degrees over the case temperature. The Core temperatures are also very stable and, at idle, stay about 25 degrees over the case temperature. The really odd thing is that when I ran the Prime95 CPU-area Torture Test for a while (only for about 5 minutes as a start), the only thing that happened was a couple of degrees increase in case temperature (and Temp1/2) and about a 5 degree increase in the Core temperatures.

Regardless, as I've seen in other posts about Core temperatures on Conroe, they don't seem to tie in well with those thermal constants arrived at here. For instance, the Thermalright SI-120 has a thermal constant of 0.47 degrees C/W. At a maximum load of 65W, I should see

65W x .47 degrees C/W = 30.55 or about 31 degrees C

increase over case temperature at load (which is about what I saw with my short test). But, at idle, and assuming a 20.4W load (per the article at http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/low_e/5.shtml ), I should see

20.4W x .47 degrees C/W =9.59 or about 10 degrees C

increase over case temperature (again, at idle). I don't. I consistently see an increase of 25 degrees. If my wild guess at Temp1 and/or Temp2 being the old CPU temperature, then at idle, I do get that 10 degree increase. But, my load temperature is way off.

I have to play with this some more to try to figure things out. But, I thought I'd just add my results to this thread I started all that time ago.

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:13 pm

I don't have a conroe and I don't know which of these are 775 compatible but I noticed you haven't mastered tables on SPCR and I thought I'd show you a table that is relevant to this discussion.

The "Code" button combined with use of notepad (or similar text editor) will allow you to line up text relatively consistently.

Heatsinks Compared at ~20 dBA@1m

Note the prices are based on buying in the US and assume the cheapest low speed 92mm or 120mm fan I could specify when searching prices and are then rounded to a $5 point. Very rough math that would change for those with spare fans laying around or those in other countries. In other words the prices are barely more than useless.

Even though the prices I filled in are based as specified above; the noise, voltage, °C/W MP are taken straight from the SPCR reviews.

Code: Select all

Heatsink/Fan                             Noise Fan V  °C Rise °C/W MP Weight
Thermalright XP-90, Nexus 92      ($35)  20   12      22+     0.29   ~460  (360+fan)

Thermalright XP-120, Nexus 120    ($45)  20    9      27      0.27    493* (370+fan)
Thermalright SI-120, Nexus 120    ($50)  20    9      ??      0.??    523* (400+fan)
Thermalright SI-128, Nexus 120    ($55)  20    9      ??      0.??    633* (510+fan)

Scythe Ninja, Nexus 120           ($50)  20    9      22      0.22    788* (665+fan)
Thermalright Ultra-120, Nexus 120 ($55)  20    9      19      0.19    868* (745+fan)
Scythe Infinity                   ($60)  20    9      **      0.**    960
+ The XP-90 was tested on a different platform than those units that have a 1 to .1 comparison. It might be 29°C rise if on the same setup.

** The Scythe Infinity was tested on a different platform as well. At this noise level it did not do as well as the Ninja or the Ultra-120. It may outperform those units at higher noise levels.

* http://www.nexustek.nl/120mmcasefan.htm lists the Nexus 120mm fan at 123g
http://www.nexustek.nl/92mmcasefan.htm lists 98.5g
http://www.nexustek.nl/80mmcasefan.htm lists 85g

Keep in mind other fans may way significantly more than the Nexus fans listed here.

Finally I haven't seen a single aftermarket heatsink I'd want to consider that isn't in that table. Though there is a certain AMD stock cooler that is a good deal when you find it in the $10 to $15 range.

Generally speaking the stock heatsinks used with retail processors are as good or better than the average $20 heatsink. Once you get over $25 you might as well get an aluminum XP-90...

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:38 pm

mg2plus wrote:Wouldn't zalman heatsinks be adequate? The weight is within limits (<450g), they are rather quiet and blow towards motherboard. Both 7700 AlCu and 7000B AlCu will do (and, hopefully, quiet enough).
Adequate I'm sure they would be. Though the 7700 is a bit heavier than you thought.

Would they be a good value? Would they be a good option for a truly quiet PC?

These numbers are from SPCR reviews and the manufacturers data (for weight only). They are close, but not directly comparable results to the table in my previous post.

Code: Select all

Heatsink/Fan                             Noise Fan V  °C Rise °C/W MP Weight
Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu              ($25) ??    ?      ??      ?.??    438
Scythe Mine with stock 100 fan     ($45) 19    7      28      0.35    560
Scythe Mine with Nexus 120         ($50) 19    7      27      0.34    >560?
Zalman CNPS-9500 LED, Stock Fan    ($60) 22    5      18      0.23    530
Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu               ($35) 22    5      25      0.32    600
Assuming I read the SPCR reviews correctly the XP-90 beats the under $40 crowd and your favorite Thermalright or Scythe 120mm fan based HS in the previous post beats the over $40 crowd.

I'm more than willing to listen if anybody thinks I've misunderstood.

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