Hi all

need help on my htpc, I just bought a i3 sandybridge 3.3ghz 65w cpu and wanted to know which is better at cooling and sound levels between the Scythe Shuriken BIG Quiet Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile.

also would i benifit over the stock i3 cpu cooler as i have not built it yet would the above HS be more quiet and better at cooling ?

or is there better Hs out thee that i have missed.

i have not decided on a case yet but it prop be a
Silverstone LC16B-MR Black or
Zalman HD501 or a
Lian-Li PC-C33B

or would i get away with a bigger better heat sink for these type of cases

thanks

anyone ?

The Big is better but simply too big for quite a few of the smaller cases. It's also a chore to mount since it's hard to reach under the fins. If the case has a bit of extra space for a higher cooler I'd look hard for alternatives. Decide on a case so you'll know what can fit.

Scythe heat sinks with push pins are a pain to install.
All of these cases are pretty tall and the optical drives don't overlap the CPU area. A mid size tower heat sink like the Xigmatek HDT-SD964 should fit.
The Silverstone and Zalman have fan grill next to the CPU area and exhaust fans behind it.
The Lian Li only has exhaust fans, but it's the only one with some kind of hard drive decoupling, but It#s probably not too effective on the slim aluminum panels.
If you use quiet fans and decent fan controls 3.5" HDD will easily be the loudest part in your HTPC.

The Samuel 17 is a good substitute for the Big Scythe Shurekin if that is an issue for you.