New low powered system - can I passively cool the CPU?

[pedro]

I'm building myself a low powered system to do web surfing, word processing, watching movies, playing tunes, etc.

Here are the bits I want to get:

Mobo - Asus M2NPV-VM
CPU - AMD X2 3600+
RAM - GeIL GX22GB6400UDC
HDD - WD 800AAJS
DVD - Samsung SH-W183
Case - Antec P150

I'd like to put a Thermalright Ultra-120 on the CPU. What I want to know is: Can I just put the heatsink on and not worry about strapping on a 120 mm fan? I won't be overclocking or anything like that but the computer will be running pretty much 24/7. It won't be computing all that time but it will rarely be switched off. It won't be doing any F@H or anything either.

The Antec P150 has a three speed 120 mm fan as a rear exhaust. I'll have this set to 'medium' I would say. Will that fan suffice to get the airflow over the cooler required?

Has anyone on here run the Ultra-120 passively?

Also, the motherboard has some ugly, very large capacitors very close to the CPU. Anyone had any issues installing after market coolers on this board, particularly the Ultra-120?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Pedro.

[Max Slowik]

It's safe to say most people here like the Scythe Ninja better for passive cooling. I have, like, three of them. . .

Tall caps aren't even an issue, because the heatsink is very straight and narrow at the base.

[ck8-04]

I'm running my U120X passive on an E6700. Everything is just peachy and I game about 6 hours a day. The only two fans in my system are the Corsair PSU fan and the rear Tri-Cool set to low. My case is an Antec Solo which is the exact same thing as the P150. I could most likely get away with an even lower speed exhaust fan, but the system is quiet enough as it is. You don't have to and shouldn't set the fan to medium. It would be overkill. In fact, I think you could get away without a rear exhaust fan.

[Atmosper]

I agree with ck8-04. You would probably be able to do without an exhaust fan. Anyways, I find the tri-cools to intrusive even at "low". A Nexus will provide ample cooling and will be practically silent.

[pedro]

Great replies people.

I'm really surprised that you can cool an E6700 passively ck8-04! Gives me a lot of confidence about cooling a X2 3600+ passively, that's for sure.

I agree that the Tri-Cools are quite noisy. I have a Antec P150 at the moment and the Tri-Cool is set to 'low' and it's not too bad - I don't demand silence - but it's still fairly noisy at this setting. At 'high' or 'medium' it's unbearable.

I've heard good things about the Scythe S-FLEX 120 mm fans. Do you think it would be possible to attach one of these to my Antec P150 in place of the Tri-Cool that's curently there?

I know these fans come with 3/4 pin attachments. What does this mean? Also, as an exhaust fan would the 800 RPM be sufficient if I were to go with the Scythe fan? Or should I get a 1200 or 1600 RPM?

Thanks again people. I love this forum because you get good answers and quick from people who have 'been there, done that'. I appreciate it.

[crispyfish]

Tall caps aren't even an issue, because the heatsink is very straight and narrow at the base.

That's not true in all cases. My Ninja touches a couple caps on my K8NGM2-FID. Fortunately the caps appear to be insulated and I haven't had any stability problems.

[kater]

If I can cool my slightly OC'ed X2 3800+ you will sure be able to do the same with your CPU. My rear fan spins so slow I can follow its blades - you really don't have to set your Tricools to medium. S-Flex 1200 seems like the best of both worlds - you will most likely want to run it at <1000 RPM as it can be quite loud (for SPCR standards) otherwise. Ultra 120 and Ninja will most probably work very much the same, so get either one. You might want to get Ultra Extreme with additional heatpipes - awesome cooler.

[Max Slowik]

That's not true in all cases. My Ninja touches a couple caps on my K8NGM2-FID. Fortunately the caps appear to be insulated and I haven't had any stability problems.

I follow. I still haven't stuck a Ninja to a board and have it be incompatible , though I've touched the clips on the old revision Ninja up against a couple of parts. I know there are boards out there,

It's not like chrome is conductive, yeah. . .<shifts eyes>. . .

Back to the OP, I do think you should look around for a better motherboard. I have nothing against ASUS or NVIDIA, it's that the MCP61 chipset is pretty long in the tooth.

690 boards are more power efficient and have much better onboard video, and will heavily outperform:

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/38 ... 0+Chipset/

That's not the only 690 board I have and I can say that 10% improvement over MCP61 is conservative; newer BIOS revisions on that very board have added performance and some overclocking. . .though not underclocking. I understand Biostar has a rip-snorting 690 board with underclocking.

The whole while using less power, I mean. . .

If you do decide to go 690, don't get one with a tall chipset heatsink that's directly below the CPU socket. It will interfere with the CPU heatsink.

[pedro]

Back to the OP, I do think you should look around for a better motherboard. I have nothing against ASUS or NVIDIA, it's that the MCP61 chipset is pretty long in the tooth.

690 boards are more power efficient and have much better onboard video, and will heavily outperform:

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/38 ... 0+Chipset/

That's not the only 690 board I have and I can say that 10% improvement over MCP61 is conservative; newer BIOS revisions on that very board have added performance and some overclocking. . .though not underclocking. I understand Biostar has a rip-snorting 690 board with underclocking.

Thanks Max Slowik (& other posters).

Yeah, I've been looking with some interest at these AMD chipsets. They seem quite nice. I have to say tho' that I wish the IGP on these things had just a little more beef. (I say this in the knowledge that the 690 chipsets do have more muscle than the NVIDIA 6150 ones.)

I'd like to say once more that these posts have been all very helpful.

[Tainek]

I'm building myself a low powered system to do web surfing, word processing, watching movies, playing tunes, etc.

Here are the bits I want to get:

Mobo - Asus M2NPV-VM
CPU - AMD X2 3600+
RAM - GeIL GX22GB6400UDC
HDD - WD 800AAJS
DVD - Samsung SH-W183
Case - Antec P150

I'd like to put a Thermalright Ultra-120 on the CPU. What I want to know is: Can I just put the heatsink on and not worry about strapping on a 120 mm fan? I won't be overclocking or anything like that but the computer will be running pretty much 24/7. It won't be computing all that time but it will rarely be switched off. It won't be doing any F@H or anything either.

The Antec P150 has a three speed 120 mm fan as a rear exhaust. I'll have this set to 'medium' I would say. Will that fan suffice to get the airflow over the cooler required?

Has anyone on here run the Ultra-120 passively?

Also, the motherboard has some ugly, very large capacitors very close to the CPU. Anyone had any issues installing after market coolers on this board, particularly the Ultra-120?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Pedro.

im building a system with the 3600-35W on friday (on time delivery permitting)

im also planning to cool passivly, having just one 20(17)CM fan cooling the entire case (M-ATX)

it'll be underclocked and undervolted, so i'll start with the stock cooler before moving onto aftermarkets (AMD is usually pretty good with stock HSF, so i might not need the upgrade)

i'll be sure to let you know

[pedro]

im building a system with the 3600-35W on friday (on time delivery permitting)

im also planning to cool passivly, having just one 20(17)CM fan cooling the entire case (M-ATX)

it'll be underclocked and undervolted, so i'll start with the stock cooler before moving onto aftermarkets (AMD is usually pretty good with stock HSF, so i might not need the upgrade)

i'll be sure to let you know

Cheers. I'll be looking forward to seeing how it turns out for you.

[kaange]

If you want to passively cool the CPU, why not go for the ThermalRight HR-01 since it was designed for this? It comes with a duct that can connect the case exhaust fan with the heatsink so that all the exhaust air flows through the heatsink (basically acting as a heatsink fan.

Low rather than Medium on the TriCool should be enough for your specs (Medium is rather noisy).

[Tainek]

im building a system with the 3600-35W on friday (on time delivery permitting)

im also planning to cool passivly, having just one 20(17)CM fan cooling the entire case (M-ATX)

it'll be underclocked and undervolted, so i'll start with the stock cooler before moving onto aftermarkets (AMD is usually pretty good with stock HSF, so i might not need the upgrade)

i'll be sure to let you know

Cheers. I'll be looking forward to seeing how it turns out for you.

with stock heatsink, one 20(17) CM fan cooling the whole system (No other fans) its 28C at idle, about 40 at load, not bad for stock and one fan

[pedro]

with stock heatsink, one 20(17) CM fan cooling the whole system (No other fans) its 28C at idle, about 40 at load, not bad for stock and one fan

Where did you get a 20 cm fan and what case are you using? Good temps there.