P180 + noctua D14

Cooling Processors quietly

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ddr
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P180 + noctua D14

Post by ddr » Thu Sep 02, 2010 6:09 pm

is the D14 the best noctua cpu cooler there is? from what i understand, noctua's have the best noise/performance ratio

my i7-860 in a P180 runs at low 30's C idle at 50% fan from some zalman i got as a gift, 'cept it's blocking my ram slots so I wanted to swap it out.

i take it the P180 should accommodate any of the noctua's?

danimal
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Post by danimal » Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:25 pm

it should, but there are better and quieter air coolers out now than the d14.

you'll probably need low-profile ram to run 'em, tho.

ddr
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Post by ddr » Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:38 pm

I'm not completely stuck to noctua's, i'm just going down SPCR's list of recommened heatsinks.

I'm don't mind spending a little more $, but I want the best fan cpu heatsink in terms of noise/performance ratio such that I can use the remaining two ram slots.

thnx for the reply!

AZBrandon
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Post by AZBrandon » Thu Sep 02, 2010 9:18 pm

I'm running a D14 in my P180 with an occasionally overclocked/overvolted AMD 1090T. I picked it because it's already a 125 watt rated chip and obviously even more than that when overclocked and overvolted. It's a nice cooler, but yeah - there's similar performing options that are both smaller and quieter. Your chip shouldn't require anywhere NEAR as much cooling, even overclocked. I'd use something smaller for your chip.

ddr
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Post by ddr » Thu Sep 02, 2010 10:07 pm

maybe i've been babying it for no reason ....

i haven't overclocked it yet but what are good idle temps for an i7-860?

it's just so hard to pick from that list, and the p180 has the space to accommodate almost anything.

before i read the above reply, i was looking at the H70 thinking it may be even quieter than my original D14 proposal :twisted:

fumino
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Post by fumino » Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:48 am

ddr wrote:before i read the above reply, i was looking at the H70 thinking it may be even quieter than my original D14 proposal :twisted:
nope. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wudrjolzWJY

if you want something smaller than the d14, i'd say get the noctua nh-u12p se2

its still way up there on the charts, and you get two really good fans with it, you could even use one to replace a case fan.

Lensman
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Post by Lensman » Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:51 am

I've done a couple of builds lately and ended up using the D14 for my i7-860. Noctua had to be the easiest mounting system I've ever had the pleasure to deal with. It was simply amazing.

I subsequently did another build with a Scythe Mugen 2, which is an amazing deal at $40 including a nice quiet PWM fan. The downside: I felt I needed 3 hands to mount it.

The other 2 coolers I think are mandatory for you to research are the $62 Prolimatech Megahalems and the new $70-$80 Thermalright HR-02. Neither comes with a fan.

ddr
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Post by ddr » Fri Sep 03, 2010 4:45 pm

so back to the D14, countless reviews of how great it is and the great input from above ...

I don't quite understand the diagram for mounting the heatsink in terms of ram clearance. did you guys find that it was a problem to use ram with regular height?

i could just get 2x4gb and forget about all this but i'd rather use up the two extra slots and spend the money on a better cooler that i can utilize later on

Parappaman
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Post by Parappaman » Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:38 am

Just get standard height modules (avoid things like Corsair Dominators, OCZ HPCs, G.Skill PI and so on) and you'll be fine.

danimal
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Post by danimal » Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:40 am

ddr wrote:I'm not completely stuck to noctua's, i'm just going down SPCR's list of recommened heatsinks.
remember that spcr only tests cpu coolers at stock frequencies these days, so you should ignore the temp numbers... what you get out of the reviews is fan noise measurements, which is valuable information.

i'm in the middle of installing the silver arrow cooler, it apparently cools better, and has quieter fans, than the d14... they are 140mm pwm fans, while the d14 has only one 140mm fan, and i think that it's not pwm:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... row_5.html

ddr
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Post by ddr » Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:09 pm

how's the silver arrow?

i can't find it anywhere. you must have early access :o

ArvinOnoda
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Post by ArvinOnoda » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:59 am

I am running D14 too and so far, I had no problem with over locking it.

danimal
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Post by danimal » Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:12 pm

the silver arrow rocks... frozencpu.com has it, and they ship to canada, but it's probably not cheap... i got it here, but i'm not sure if they ship to canada?:
http://www.svc.com/silverarrow.html

ghettojiggalo
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Post by ghettojiggalo » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:19 pm

theres a few heatsinks in the upper echelon of performance with the d14, silver arrow, silver arrow's twin brother Cocage something arrow, thermalright hr-02, They're all $70+ usd. Here's a review on hr-02 vs. d14 (fanless + fans)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... -hr02.html

i am actually running the d14 fanless on a q9450 stock, temps are higher than the reviews but i have a completely fanless setup.

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