Which of this low-profile coolers is the quietest?

Cooling Processors quietly

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javitxi
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Which of this low-profile coolers is the quietest?

Post by javitxi » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:57 am

Hi!

I'm building a quiet HTPC, and surfing for hours on the Internet I've come across with these coolers (someones I've already know about them):

Notice that all the fans are 4-pin PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), I'm not planning to overclock the CPU and the CPU to cool would be an Intel e5xxx (200/300/400) (with 2 or 4gb DDR2 @800)

Artic Cooling Freezer 7 LP 53mm height
Hyper HFC-10828-C2 Full copper (it's best than aluminium), 28mm height
Nexus LOW-7000 R2 70mm height
Silverstone NT07-775 37mm height
Scythe BIG Shuriken (lower than Shuriken Rev B, and probably better than Rev B) 58mm height

Which one do you think would be the quietest one?
I'm aware that Nexus/Schyte/Noctua fans are the best ones in airflow, noise and quality, but Silverstone is another best quality mark on cooling CPU parts. Artic Cooling has not so bad heatsinks&fans, but I don't know nothing about Hyper, but the heatsink is full copper

Which one do you think would be the coolest one at moderate noise levels?

Which do you think would be the best program to regulate the rpm of these 4-pin PWM fans?

I'm open to any suggestion. Thanks for your replies,

Javier

makutaku
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Post by makutaku » Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:49 pm

I am also looking for a quiet low profile heatsink/fan for my HTPC. Is there anything more silent than the Scythe Big Shuriken ?

Mats
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Post by Mats » Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:22 pm


makutaku
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Post by makutaku » Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:27 pm

Thanks! How could I have missed that! :D

Riffer
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Post by Riffer » Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:39 am

I will add that, in my experience, the Big Shiruken is quieter than the Nexus Low straight out of the box, but replacement of the Nexus fan with a Yate Loon will result in a quieter combo with better cooling than the Big Shiruken.

boost
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Post by boost » Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:04 am

Please provide some details like temps, RPM of the fan, CPU and case.

Shobai
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Post by Shobai » Sun Jan 10, 2010 1:37 pm

i've found the Big Shuriken to be good - got speedfan setup to keep the fan running nice and slow most of the time, and it's nice and quiet. it'd probably benefit from higher airflow if you can fit a thicker, quiet fan on it, but otherwise i'm quite impressed.

javitxi
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Post by javitxi » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:17 am

Many thanks for your replies :)

Shobai & anyone, do you know any ohter program like speed fan that can regulate a pwm fan on ZOTAC GF9300-I-E 9300 WIFI?

The only idea I've come across is to regulate it like a 3pin fan, but, instead of putting any resistor or using the 5V or 7V little trick from the molex connector, I'm thinking on the 1.25-25V adjustable regulator, using chip LM317. I've done it few times with 3pin fans and it worked very well.
Last edited by javitxi on Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

xan_user
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Post by xan_user » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:38 am

javitxi wrote:anyone, do you know any ohter program like speed fan that can regulate a pwm fan on ZOTAC GF9300-I-E 9300 WIFI?
not yet....

it does have some bios fan control options that do an ok job of controlling the cpu header.

Shobai
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Post by Shobai » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:34 pm

zalman's fanmate 2 regulators can be had for $5AU or less, have you looked into them at all? as much as i love DIY, sometimes it's just less time consuming to grab something premade. i've got one that came with a CNPS8800, have been trying to convince myself i don't need more!

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Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by dyexexcinee » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:50 am

around 30db will be acceptable. My Zalman fans make a racket, even with the motherboard controlling the fan speed. I do like the looks of the Silverstone fn 121 fan. I am going to get a fan controller oneday in the near future, I saw one for 65 and it has an LED screen, its the only one which will fit in my case since I lost all of my drive rail brackets thanks to moving

javitxi
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Re: Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by javitxi » Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:59 am

dyexexcinee wrote:around 30db will be acceptable. My Zalman fans make a racket, even with the motherboard controlling the fan speed. I do like the looks of the Silverstone fn 121 fan. I am going to get a fan controller oneday in the near future, I saw one for 65 and it has an LED screen, its the only one which will fit in my case since I lost all of my drive rail brackets thanks to moving
The goal is to have good temperatures with less noise with less possible hardware (good cool, quiet and as cheap as possible). I think around 20-22dB will be ok if you are going to have the Pc close to you (like in my case). Hope to have the components soon to make a review of the whole system with Big Shuriken in, altough I haven't any chamber or microphone to record properly the noise I'll try to figure out like recording a video.

So, at the "old" platform testing, the best was Big Shuriken followed close by Nexus 7000. What would the results be at the new platform? Well, Mike says on the article that for CPUs TDP 65W the results are valid, but I would like to know how far these tiny heatsinks could go in the new 1366 platform (when possible)

jhatfie
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Post by jhatfie » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:18 am

I have a Scythe Big Shuriken cooling my Athlon II X3 running at 3.2Ghz at stock voltage. I replaced the stock fan with a Gelid PWM 120mm fan that tops out at 56cfm @ 1500rpm. It runs as quiet as the included fan as far as I can tell and cools to the tune of about 5c better at load. Overall I am pleased with the temperature performance and noise levels in my HTPC.

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Re: Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by MikeC » Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:31 pm

javitxi wrote:So, at the "old" platform testing, the best was Big Shuriken followed close by Nexus 7000. What would the results be at the new platform? Well, Mike says on the article that for CPUs TDP 65W the results are valid, but I would like to know how far these tiny heatsinks could go in the new 1366 platform (when possible)
There's no point. None of them would do well with an i7. My guess is even w/ the fan at full speed, they woud struggle.

I've done extensive power testing of new CPUs from AMD and Intel and very few of them actually exceed the 86W measured at the AUX12V socket of our Pentium D 950. The exceptions are the 125W TDP PhenomIIs and the i7s. We'll be putting together an update of Power Distribution within Six PCs soon.

javitxi
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Re: Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by javitxi » Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:16 pm

MikeC wrote:There's no point. None of them would do well with an i7. My guess is even w/ the fan at full speed, they woud struggle.
I've done extensive power testing of new CPUs from AMD and Intel and very few of them actually exceed the 86W measured at the AUX12V socket of our Pentium D 950. The exceptions are the 125W TDP PhenomIIs and the i7s
So then, what's the point that Scythe makes Big Shuriken and others like Big Shuriken compatible with 1366 socket? Because i-7 8xx are 1156 socket as well as i-5s and i-3s, and also Big Shuriken is compatible with 1156 socket. So I agree with you Mike, common sense claims for bigger and better performance heatsinks in order to have lower temperatures in top CPUs; although the results of NH-C12P and Kabuto made me willing to see how a little heatsink could handle a i7 -although at full speed.

thought-offtopic (What's the point then using a socket -1156- for almost all the new CPUs you release and have an exclusive socket -1366- for your top performers? Make Pc users to spend money in a 1156 for a later upgrade to 1366 if the user wants to play hard?)

Thanks for your upgrade power-consumption chart (as you say on the new test platform article, i-7 965 draw power from 12, 5 and 3,3V line), and for your reply :)

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Re: Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by MikeC » Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:31 pm

javitxi wrote:So then, what's the point that Scythe makes Big Shuriken and others like Big Shuriken compatible with 1366 socket? Because i-7 8xx are 1156 socket as well as i-5s and i-3s, and also Big Shuriken is compatible with 1156 socket.
They will work with <100W processors, but with i7-920 or faster, forget it. Scythe is putting the same Intel pin mounting set on all their HS -- it's a universal fit 775, 1156, 1366. Cheaper to fit them all with the same one.
So I agree with you Mike, common sense claims for bigger and better performance heatsinks in order to have lower temperatures in top CPUs; although the results of NH-C12P and Kabuto made me willing to see how a little heatsink could handle a i7 -although at full speed.
NH-C12P and Kabuto are NOT small!! In fact they are quite big.

javitxi
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Re: Which of this low profile coolers is the quietest

Post by javitxi » Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:05 pm

MikeC wrote:NH-C12P and Kabuto are NOT small!! In fact they are quite big.
Yes you have reason Mike, but as you can see and remember (problems with Tacnes 0dB fan) I'm a NH-C12P user, and yes undoubtly they are quite big than the original stock cooler, but well... when you compare this class to tower like, they seem to me a 'litlle tiny' :lol:

Anyway, what I really wanted to express is my desire to see the performance over the heatsinks that blow air into the motherboard (sorry, I don't know the name to this class of heatsinks in English), and the ones I know (most of them from reviews) of this class are mainly Kabuto, my Noctua, Silverstone NT-06, Thermalright AXP-140,-12X-90, and low-profile ones. Then as you have sayed Mark, the low-profile ones could not handle the temperatures although they were at full speed. So evereything is ok :) Thanks!

PS: I can remember a review of on a NH-C12P that they used it on a mATX HTPC and put the fan on the rear or exhaust and the temperatures were ok => for this I put on my mind this heatsink on the low-profile ones, although its height

baconandeggs
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Post by baconandeggs » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:17 am

would the regular 100mm shuriken be comparable to the big shuriken? theres no point in upgrading right?

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