Scythe Katana 3 + Scythe S-FLEX SFF92B Cooling Sempron 140

[johnniecache7]

Hello,

I'm building nice low power cheap computer and I'm going be using 45w AMD Sempron 140. I plan on overclocking this single core chip and I'm looking for equal quality cheap HSF. My case I'll using is the Coolermaster Elite 330 with two 120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 1,200 rpm fans for exhaust and intake,Power colour HD 4650 1GB DDR3 video card, WD Caviar Blue 500GB WD5000AAKS harddrive, Sparkle Power SPI ATX-400PN 400 watt PSU so nothing really hot inside the case.

I'm thinking buying the Scythe Katana 3 + 92mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF92B 1,500 rpm fan for cooling it, none the 120mm fan based HSF will fit inside the Coolermaster Elite 330. Will the Scythe Katana 3 + 92mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF92B 1,500 rpm fan cool the cpu efficiently under overclock or should I get the 92mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF92C 2,000 rpm fan instead. The Nexus 92mm fan is sleeve bearing fan so that's out the question for me since it die to quickly for me. I would like to keep the HSF noise under 30 dba. I'm going be doing a lot gaming, old school games and I'm guessing the combo I'm considering will blow the stock HSF away in temps.

[quest_for_silence]

none the 120mm fan based HSF will fit inside the Coolermaster Elite 330

I guess you might be wrong: if I haven't made any mistake, according to the user manual, the Elite 330 should accommodate any heatsink up to ~167mm (so currently "everything", I mean).

[johnniecache7]

Trust me they don't fit I've tryed some people get lucky but they don't fit in mine atleast. 167mm doesn't include motherboard spacing etc...

[ntavlas]

The cooler and fan combo you mentioned will easily cool your cpu. Now the s-flex series are excellent fans but why not use the one included with the katana? It`s more than decent and if you use automatic fan control you won`t be able to tell the difference, most of the time.

By the way, are you running your case fans at full speed? You could safely dial them down to say 800rpm.

[johnniecache7]

I prefer the S-flex's over the stock sleeve bearing PWM fan that going wearout really fast compared to 92mm S-flex. I don't consider the 23 dba of the 120mm S-flex's loud so there just fine at 1,200 rpm for my ears. Just wasn't sure about the 92mm at 1,500 rpm and pretty much thought 2,000 rpm 92mm would be far to loud.

[wouterr5]

If you enable PWM control and set it to 'silent' or something like that in your bios, the fan speed will never reach 2000 RPM... With a CPU like that and 1200 RPM casefans you could probably even run it fanless , my guess is that the Katana 3-fan won't have to spin faster than 1000 RPM, which will make it quite quieter than your casefans

[johnniecache7]

I like the idea of 1000 rpm fan PWM but I leave my system on 24/7 and stock fan is sleeve bearing will surely die in no time at all. I was thinking that 45w the Sempron 140 didn't need alot cooling why I choose the little guy over a dual core. I don't even mind the stock fan but since I'm upgrading might as well throw on the Katana 3+S-flex. The idea is build cheapest good quality slient,low power rig as possible the beastly gaming one is comming soon.

[ntavlas]

Indeed the fdbs on the sflex fare among the best, just felt a bit odd to see them mixed with budget components. But then you could save money in the long term by not having to replace them. It`s still possible that a good quality sleeve bearing fan will last long enough.

Will 1500rpm be enough? It should handle anything at stock voltage imo, including unlocking the second core. If you plan to go above ~1.35 volts you might want the extra headroom.

[johnniecache7]

The S-flex in Canada aren't so expensive 120mm guys are about $10.50 and the 92mm $12.45. I've heard bad things about the Scythe sleeve bearings fans they tend die within 6 months and the cost off sets the maintaince as you said. Once my systems are up and running I show them no mercy and they excepted to work hard. I'm using budget motherboard Gigabyte GA-M68MT-D3 and value Patriot 4GB DDR3 memory. I'm not even sure it supports voltage changes to be honest.