Long time lurker, first time poster, yada yada.

I've been on the lookout for a while for a cooler that will fit and work well with my Antec NSK2480B case, since the cooler everyone recommends (Scythe Mini Ninja) is out of production. I have a Silverstone NT01-E in it now (rotated to the direction of the case fans), which works OK but I'm really hoping I can find something a bit more beefy, with a view to upgrading to a more powerful processor in the near future.

So I stumbled across the Aywun mini-tower coolers, specifically the RADI V4 and V6. They are super-cheap, which makes one wonder, and the fact that the manufacturer doesn't state a recommended or maximum TDP doesn't inspire great confidence.

Nevertheless they seem to be about the right size and shape to fit that niche left by the Mini Ninja (although relatively lacking in depth). Can I get any opinions?

Ohoh... according to this link from Aywuns page jpg from a magazine 51.6 dBa counts as "surprisingly quiet".

the close up of the bottom scares me. it looks like the heat pipes are recessed into the base, so they can never touch the cpu!!?? (maybe its just a poor photo.)

http://www.aywun.com/productimages/A1-V6-3.png

These are old CPU coolers, the picture that "Pappnaas" linked to was taken on the 31st of January 2010, which does not look good as I have never heard of the manufacturer, let alone read a review.

I have the same case sat in my livingroom, I cant remember the CPU cooler in it, though I do know that there is a 95W CPU under it, and that stays cool and quiet.

What is the CPU that you have now.? And what are you looking to upgrade to.?


Andy

Currently I have a Silverstone NT01-E in the case, sitting on a Phenom II X4 840 (the "fake" Phenom), which is 95W TDP. The heatsink is being fed by a 120mm Slipstream case fan, PWM-controlled from the motherboard CPU fan header. This does an adequate job of cooling the processor but has to spin up to relatively high noise levels under extended load. This box is my main dev machine (I'm a programmer), so it's often pushing the processor hard for extended periods with me sitting next to it.

The build itself is aging, and I'm looking to move onto an Ivy Bridge based solution fairly soon, ideally at the high end of the market to accommodate the aforementioned regular compile jobs.

Should I give up on the notion of cooler-fed-by-case fan (go for something top-down)? Or just throw out the whole box and get a different case? It's frustrating, because I bought this case setup planning it as something I could reuse over multiple iterations of hardware.

Thanks for the input.

I'd replace the nitrogon with a big shuriken 2 or something in that range.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=189

On paper the nitrogon isn't recommended for a 95W TDP CPU, no wonder the fan has to ramp up.

I second that. Also make sure whatever you get has the appropriate mountings for the current AMD system as well as Socket 1155 and you can keep it.

I dont see that you would need to replace your case unless you add a high-power graphics card, just your CPU cooler, or perhaps just change the CPU fan control - there is a very real chance that its "over-cooling" and could be turned down a notch without reducing stability.

Also, make sure that there is adequate ventilation for all incoming and outgoing vents and that you should really have a second case fan if you dont already as the airflow in the case can be very easily impeded due to its unusual layout (e.g. not a straight through airflow design).


Andy

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. I guess I've been too focussed on utilising the case fan position explicitly for CPU cooling, when the products on the market don't really cater for that any more.