Undecided on passive CPU cooler

Parappaman · Post by **Parappaman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:53 am

Hello fellow silencers!

I just got my home machine a shiny new Q8200 CPU. I like to see things running as fast as they can so I overclocked it to 3,2 GHz on stock voltage. The only problem is that my passive OCZ Vindicator can't cope with the added heat it has to deal with (I used to have a much cooler E7200, which was running safely at around 60 degrees at 3,4 GHz) and tops at 75Â° under Linpack. Therefore, I'm in the market for a better cooler.

My local store has a shiny Coolermaster Z600 at a very reasonable price (34 â‚¬), which I really like in terms of performance/price ratio. But it also has the Megahalems in stock for 15â‚¬ more, so things get fuzzy. Should I hurt my pocket with the Prolimatech beast or will the huge Z600 suffice for my needs? Remember that I'll run either one passively, so I don't really care the Megahalems has the edge on push-pull configurations. And they both come with 1366 mounting kits, so they're both future-proofed.

Case is an Antec Mini P180, motherboard is a DFI P45 JR (I'm throwing this in the information bag as I don't know if there will be any clearance issue, the northbridge heatsink almost touches my Vindicator's heatpipes). Thanks!

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:40 am

If you want a fanless heatsink Z600 is the best followed by Scythe Ninja2 + Stabilizer.
Prolimatech is a beast which shine in high airflow and TDP.

Parappaman · Post by **Parappaman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:08 am

Hmmm, the Ninja 2 + Stabilizer combo will cost me about 10 â‚¬ more than the Prolimatech as I'll have to buy online, so the best choice is the Z600 then. Am I right?

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:03 pm

Take a look here (if Google translate fails you then you have some pictures

).
That guy is a good friend of mine and I trust his tests entirely.

Now pick one after your needs: you want best fanless performance and very good fanned performance then choose Z600 but if you want good fanless performance and the best cooler in high airflow and TDP then choose Prolimatech Megahalems.

Parappaman · Post by **Parappaman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:21 pm

Wow, I could have never imagined the Z600 looked so good in a passive comparison with the Megahalems!

Fine then, my choice is done: the Z600 is definitely the one I need

Thanks for the help!

nomoon · Post by **nomoon** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:04 pm

For what it's worth, I've made a post here where I make the case that not having a fan on the CPU heat sink isn't necessarily the quietest solution. A slow moving fan on the heat sink will allow you to slow down the case fans.

My system is in a modified P180. The CPU fan idles at 540 rpm, and the case fans run at 720 rpm. My case fans would have to run significantly faster without the CPU fan.

Parappaman · Post by **Parappaman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:31 pm

Hi, I did read your and others' comments on that topic, but I still won't use any CPU fan. The top giant fan on my P180 Mini is more than enough to cool down a passive heatsink, and I really won't go without it; also, the rear fan is undervolted at a fixed speed of around 700 rpm. Therefore, by not having a fan on the CPU cooler I still won't need to increase any case fan's speed.