Best heatsink under 115mm tall for HTPC ?

[makutaku]

I am upgrading an old HTPC to support HD recording and playback. The case is a SilverStone LC13, in which most of the modern heatsinks don't fit.

I plan to purchase the following parts:
• CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz
• Motherboard: Foxconn A7GM-S 780G Micro ATX

I don't intend to play any games on it, but it will be intensively used for commercial detection and encoding, so I will consider some minor overclocking if possible.

After spending a long time searching for the best heatsink for this system, I found some candidates:
• Scythe Shuriken
• Scythe Andy Samurai Master (a slimmer 120mm is probably needed)
• CoolerMaster GeminII
• Arctic Cooling Alpine 7
• Scythe Ninja Mini (fits, but fan is not 120mm)
• Aerocool Dominator
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon
• Thermalright SI-128

But there's no clear cut winner to make my choice easier. Considering that I am looking for a heatsink ...

• that is under 115mm tall;
• that's is efficient in low airflow condition to allow some overclocking;
• that can accept a silent 120mm fan that's strong enough;
• and that's under $60 dollars;

What heatsink would the SPCR community recommend me, and why?

[xan_user]

How on gods green earth are you going to fit a 120mm fan in a space only big enough for a 115mm HS? Shave 5mm off the fan shroud?

FYI. you can put a 120 mm on a mini ninja -If you get creative...

[Aris]

How on gods green earth are you going to fit a 120mm fan in a space only big enough for a 115mm HS? Shave 5mm off the fan shroud?

FYI. you can put a 120 mm on a mini ninja -If you get creative...

I think he means to put a 120mm fan blowing down through a heatsink.

Obviously a 120mm fan isnt going to fit blowing across a tower heatsink in that case.

[thejamppa]

• Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 is more than enough for 45W AMD.... 45W AMD's run cool so minor overclocking won't be a problem for Alpine 7 that is designed for 89W CPU's...

[makutaku]

How on gods green earth are you going to fit a 120mm fan in a space only big enough for a 115mm HS? Shave 5mm off the fan shroud?

Tower heatsinks are so ubiquitous today that my request may sound irrational!

I expect to use a 120mm blowing top down, adding at most 25mm on the height of the heatsink.

FYI. you can put a 120 mm on a mini ninja -If you get creative...

This is nice to know. I think it's doable. I am wondering though, if that's the best way to go. Is the mini-ninja really that good?

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 is more than enough for 45W AMD.... 45W AMD's run cool so minor overclocking won't be a problem for Alpine 7 that is designed for 89W CPU's...

I am sure Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 would be the most economic solution. However, I am afraid it won't give me much room to play, specially during the summer months or when dust accumulates.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

You might want to check out the Scythe heatsink used in the Anitec system just reviewed?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article885-page2.html

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/0 ... etail.html

[Mats]

• Thermalright SI-128

There's also the Thermalright SI-128 SE (Silent Edition), which is an even better cooler, especially with a low speed fan.

[Namheul]

I cool a 4200+ passively with a mini ninja.

Only have the 120mm fan above in PSU, and 120mm rear exhaust fan at 600rpm.