Hi all. New to forum and I've spent a couple of days looking around now that I"ve discovered it (due to finally being tired of my noisier-than-before computer). I want to get my system quieter (I swear is was almost dead-silent when I bought it and got noisier gradually -- or was it just I had previously been used to my vacuum-cleaner-PC?) and figured I'd start with the easiest components to replace before I try modding the case.

Note: I did see the thread "CPU cooler for Antec Solo" and this is very similar (though a Sonata III) but I didn't want to stomp all over gerry's thread though, so I started a new one.

System specs:
Antec Sonata III
PSU: Corsair AX750 (just installed)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz w/stock cooler
Seagate 500GB x 2 (RAID)
Seagate 750GB x 2 (RAID)
eVGA eGeForce 8600GT
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
4GB PC-6400 DDR2
Back case fan: stock Antec tricool (on "low")
Internal case fan: Kaze-Jyuni 500RPM

At this point, I have only replaced the stock power supply with the AX750 (thanks to reviews and topics here). By unplugging all the case fans and pulling out the video card, I've narrowed down the noisiest component to my CPU cooler (starts at a slow whine, then speeds up and has a constant whine; seems to be worse after blowing out what little dust there was with canned air).

So I've read through the forum stickys and searched for Sonata III mods and LGA775/Q6600 coolers until my head is swimming. I'm thinking of replacing the HSF, but it sounds like some advocate using all-in-one HSFs, some say to get a HS and add a separate fan, some go for HS only. Then there's push or pull fans.

Right now I have the front-mounted case fan (yes, I've read about the problem with the drive bays, but won't that fan still bring in some cool air?), and the back-mounted tricool as my air-flow path. Does it matter if I go push/pull HSF or passive HS?

My choices are limited to:
* Arctic Cooling
* Cooler Master
* CoolIT
* Corsair
* Evercool
* GELID
* Scythe
* Thermalright
* Zalman
(I removed some of the no-brainers)

I've read here some good things about the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ but it's only $30 compared to some Scythes at $45 -- is price an indicator of quality/noise, or is it because it's an older model?

This is not a gaming system, but I do software development. I'm frequently pushing my CPU to 100%, and it's on at least 12 hours per day; I do not want to underclock (because I need the performance). Cost is no concern, but quality and ease of installation are (not that I'm not hardware-installation experienced, I just don't have a lot of time right now and depend on my computer so cannot afford any glitches; I've never installed a proc or HS).

And forgive me if it's obvious and I missed it somewhere, but what's the general tool of choice for measuring system/component temperature?

Thanks in advance (and for good advice in the forum already),
0xtr

The Hyper 212+ has just a very high performance/price ratio (see reference/recommended heatsinks on the relevant section of the website). The GELID Tranquillo should be another heatsink with such a good ratio, but I mean it's untested (by SPCR).

Scythes often (not always) excels in fans quality (and very often sports horrible mountings): this means that often you have to dial those Scythe fans down far less than other ones or they give more CFMs for the same rpm (in both cases you have more cooling power at similar same noise levels), or you won't be likely (or will be likely the less) to have a swap fan with them.

Just an example. If we give a look at these SPCR charts:



we can't do any apple-to-apple comparison, as SPCR changed its testing platform twice in the last months and these tables refers to different setups but, thanks to the third chart, we still may do some reasonable guessworks: as example, at the 12dBA level, a very comfortable one, the second table shows how the Cooler Master stock fan performs far worse than the reference (Nexus) one.
On the contrary, the Scythe stock fan (first table) is about on par with the very same reference (Nexus) fan.

So is the CM far worse than the Mugen? If we give a look at the third table, it's just 3-4°C under the Mugen, and not 10°C, using the same reference (Nexus) fan.

Therefore, if you are going to buy a separated fan (like a Nexus), you may go for the 212+ and still spare some bucks, for a slight worse performance (but quite acceptable!).
Otherwise, going for the Mugen will give you better out-of-the-box results, without buying any separate fan.
But if a 54°C rise is still acceptable with reference to your needs, you may go for the 212+ again, without buying any separate fan (and sparing a lot more).
Or you may want the best performance you can afford and go for a Mugen and a Nexus fan. And so on.

Just as a side note, both 212+ and Mugen Rev. B have a good mounting mechanism.


Afaik, for an Intel system you may conveniently use either CoreTemp 0.99, or Open Hardware Monitor, and eventually SpeedFan.

Thanks Luca, I really appreciate the comprehensive response.
I had briefly looked through some of the reference charts/graphs/lists, and got a little overwhelmed in deciphering them. (I guess I shouldn't try to do that at midnight.) But thanks for clarifying them and for the input.

In the recommended post on heat sinks is the warning "Tall tower (or high rise) heatsinks with fans that blow air parallel to the motherboard rather than down at it are more likely to cause VRM component cooling problems". Do I have to worry about this with the Gigabyte board and the Mugen? Is there a recommended "side" to mount the fan on the HS? Or does it then come down to the back case fan drawing out enough air?

...so much to learn and so little time.

As a sidenote to the choice between the 212+ and the Mugen.. The Mugen's push-pull configuration was simply excellent according to SPCR's review.

You should read the reviews, they're very informative.

Thanks for the nudge; sometimes I forget the obvious.
Going off to read those reviews now...

I did some reading and found "Smallish LGA775 Heatsink Roundup - Part 2" interesting.

Now I know the downside of many of the superior HSFs: you have to remove the motherboard from the case to mount the HSF. I'd really like to avoid doing that (time and I never like moving the components around unnecessarily, to avoid physical wear on the motherboard) ... and the review mentioned replacing the fan of the stock Intel heatsink. I might give this a try as "trying the easiest thing first". Looks like by adding a Scythe (locally available; Nexus isn't) I can get decent acoustics and a small boost in cooling. Since cooling isn't an issue for me (non gamer, but I will be doing some temp. recordings) I could even step the speed down for less noise. Does this sound like a decent solution? (I'm guessing it must be, otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned in the review.)

If not, what other HSFs would be installable without removing the motherboard from the case? From the recommended list, it doesn't look like there are many (or they say something like "difficult to install" etc. which makes me shy away.)

Looks to me like it's all those harddrives,stock cooler,Tri cool fan. Why not ditch the raid buy 3TB,2TB WB green and for the OS SSD or 500GB harddrive like the WD5000AAKS. I would swap all the current fans for Scythe S-flex 800,1200rpm/Nexus and for the CPU cooler Thermalright HR-02 if you can get to fit inside the Sonata.

Thanks for the ideas. It's RAID1 because I cannot afford a harddrive failure, so I'll be keeping the RAID.

Yeah, what you suggest would be nice. I know I'll be doing something similar when I get my next PC, but for now I'm taking the piecemeal approach. I work on my PC so can't afford much downtime. I am going to replace the tricool and definitely the stock cooler. The cooler is what's making the most noise right now, and not just air but whine -- it's driving me nuts now because it got worse after I cleaned it. I'm doing some temp readings with SpeedFan now so I get an idea if I have to worry about extra cooling, or only about noise.

If you need keep the raid then switch your harddrives, Seagate drives are loud as hell. Try Samsung F3,F4,500GB WD5000AAKS or Raid WD Greens those known as quiet harddrives but anyway you slice it that number of drivers is going be noisy. You could try a different case like the Factual Design R3 XL that heavly noise dampped.The Sonata III really isn't the case for a raid settup.If The Thermalright HR-02 can't cool your CPU quietly nothing will people use it cool the i7s passively.

For the case fan you should buy a slipstream 1200 rpm instead of a S-flex. Cheaper & higher CFM at an acceptable CFM (read: virtually silent). If you do not have a fan controller, then buy a cheap Zalman Fanmate and scroll it down as far as possible to achieve ~ 5 V.

You could perhaps read the review of the Slipstream, which should be as good as SPCR's Nexus reference fan.

Hey, thanks kuzzia.
I was busily reading up on fans today and narrowed it down to either the Slipstream SY1225SL12L or the SY1225SL12M with Fanmates. I was collecting all my facts and data first before my next post, but thanks for the confirmation that maybe I'm on the right track!

Speedfan shows my CPU temp at 16-39C during a "regular" day. That sounds really low to me, from what I've been reading here. Then again, that's with the stock Intel HSF running at 2071 RPM (according to SpeedFan).

Now I have some new questions:
1) I'm pretty sure the HSF is much noisier than when I first got the case (~2.5 years ago, and I recall noticing you could barely hear the case). If the fan speed is determined by how much heat is coming out of the Q6600, could this mean the thermal compound is breaking down or the heat sink itself is getting clogged (dust)? Though I keep the system pretty clean, but if that could be why the fan is running faster than when first installed (I'm guessing here, I have no data) then I'm thinking that just replacing the fan with a Slipstream (leaving the stock HS) might not do the trick? (Does that make sense?)

2) Why use a hardware controller (Fanmate or the various DIY mods) instead of just using SpeedFan?

More probably that not, fatigue: after more than two years it may show those noisy sign of aging. However, Intel thermal paste is also not so good, if you change the heatsink you could drop at least a couple of degree using a fresh, high performance paste. Even a better mountings than pushpins (i.e. sort of spring loaded bolt-thru kit) may spare at least a couple of degree further.


It isn't straightforward to do so: that fan is smaller and do not use standard mountings.


Really there is no reason until either Speedfan isn't able to control your motherboard's fan headers, or you just run out of any free software-controlled fan header. If that happens, in my opinion a Scythe Kaze Server is the fan controller to go for (but you need a free 5,25 external bay to place it): maybe there are better ones around, but I know no other one at that price.

of course, Speedfan is a better option in that situation. my bad.

So there's no inherent downside to using Speedfan over a hardware controller of some kind? ie. it's not harder on the components?

Interesting: I discovered that in my bios, the HSF was set to full speed instead of variable, and so was running over 2000 RPM. I changed it to variable and now it's running at a much quieter 1380 RPM. Still noisy, yes, but thankfully *much* quieter (got rid of the whine).

I've looked through the forums, the articles, the reviews/recommendations, and cross-ref'd with a couple of websites (local supplier and in-Canada supplier) to determine I don't have much choice. I either: bite the bullet and get a decent HSF and take the mobo out to install it; or, live with the stock cooler. It looks like the fan is just held on by 4 clips; I didn't try it out yet, but I'm thinking it could be easily removed and then I could strap on a 120mm Scythe (available local). I might try that first, before going full-blown new HSF. But then I'm worried about disturbing the heat paste. Then if I have to redo the paste and clip the HSF back in, it sounds like (from what I've read) it's best to do it with the mobo out of the case, in which case I might as well get a new HSF like the Mugen.

New question: If I do try just replacing the fan on the stock HS, do I have it blow up or down? It sounds like down is better because it forces air past a lot more components, but then won't it be fighting with the back case fan which isn't that far away?

I picked up some good deals way back in December and finally might have time to do the installation.

- Cooler Master Hyper 212+
- Scythe Slipstream PWM adjustable
- Arctic Silver Arcticlean
- Arctic Cooling MX-4

So I've read through on how to remove the old HSF, prep. the HS and the processor, apply the TIM, etc. and I'm getting prepped to do this when I can afford some downtime.

One question I had was that the Arcticlean usage notes say to remove the processor from the motherboard. Is this necessary? I'm guessing it's a matter of being careful, or is it strongly recommended?

It is recommended.

Long story short (or sort of): before reapply the TIM you should have precisely to clean the heatspreader, that is to say you have to remove the old TIM while not spreading that sort of mud (made by old TIM mixed with the cleaner) onto anything nearby the heatspreader itself (which is nearly impossible with the CPU inserted in its socket): moreover with an LGA775 CPU you can't bend any pin.

AFAIK you can also reapply the TIM without cleaning the heatspreader, but first of all you would have wasted the Arctic Clean, and above all you likely might have temperature problems (and have to redo everything).

Thanks, Luca. How tricky is it to remove and reinsert the proc? I've heard people not liking to do so with the LGA775.

I think you should take it (a bit more) easy, after all you are a mighty Tyrannosaur... aren't you?

Well, give a read to this guide, it would look like enough comprehensive: IMO it's almost a snap, or so about, if you aren't in a hurry and shallow.

More like the T-Rex from Toy Story! Or maybe a brontosaurus. The last time I installed a processor in a motherboard it was an 8086: fewer pins, not as scary.

No, I'm only concerned about figuring everything out ahead of time because it's my work PC and I don't have a backup. Well, I do have my Win98 PC so I can at least surf to get myself out of a mess (and it's so quiet now!).

I've read through that guide (thanks for the link -- though I should learn to search before I ask, as I found it too shortly after my last post) and it does look straightforward. I guess I'm old enough to be cynical when things sound easy.

Thanks for the patience and advice.
tr