JohnJSal

Well, since one option is to buy the E8400 from TigerDirect without the fan/heatsink, I'm investigating aftermarket coolers. But what is the difference between a fan and a heatsink, and why does Newegg distinguish between "Fan & Heatsink" and "Heatsink Only"? Is it better to get one or the other? From what I can tell, you can have a heatsink without a fan, but you can't have a fan without a heatsink.

reddevil6

you are spot on you can have just a heat sink but you can not just have a fan.
now what is better i think they keep temps about the same for the same price, a heat sink an fan is much smaller as well.

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camel lips

You will want a fan for your heat sink.Most heat sinks out there come with a fan.

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Vizy93

And heatsink the the part that directly touched ur CPU on top. Most heatsinks have a fan blow the heat <off?> the heatsink. U would definetly want teh HSF <heatsinkfan> combo. THe zalmans and nirvanas are quite good.

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imsati

Vizy tapped on it, but for a bit more in-depth answer, the difference is passively-cooled vs. actively-cooled.

Heat-sinks (hunk of metal only) passively cool. All they do is absorb heat from the CPU and let it dissipate into the case. Because they rely on fans up to 10 inches away, they tend to be much larger to hold more heat. If you search for 'Dell heat sink' on Ebay, you;ll get a feel for just how large they are. (For example, the one in this link is about 6-7 inches tall and *heavy*: http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Dimension-C...ayphotohosting)

HSFs actively cool. They absorb heat from the CPU like a plain heat-sink does, but the fan on them not only blows the heat away, but also sucks cooler air onto the fins. Because they have more bang-for-the-buck cooling power, they are small compared to versions without fans. Really, HSFs are the standard for custom-built systems. The main reason all the pre-built companies go with plain heat-sinks is for noise reasons.

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JohnJSal

Thanks guys! It did appear that the plain HS on Newegg were quite large, and not that I know what I'm looking at, I realize that in all custom builds I've seen, it's been a HSF combo.

Think I might go with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, or perhaps the Zalman 9500A. They are both 92mm fans. Is that a normal size?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118223

I'm not crazy about the idea of having an LED when I won't even be able to see it in the P182.

hpi

Definitely get the Zalman, those things are kick ass!

Then get some of this stuff :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100008

And your set for nice low temps

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JohnJSal

Save $10: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16835100007

JohnJSal

Stupid question: does having your components constantly exposed to an LED have any effect on them, particularly if it's an enclosed space with no window? There's something off-putting about knowing there's a light on inside my case that I can't see. Is it possible to turn the LED off?

hpi

No it won't do any damage or mess with any components or anything. LED's are just little semi conducting diodes.

People have there cases full of LED's and it's used in so many applications now a days.

Doesn't matter if you don't see the LED light, you can see it when you open up your case .

Imo even though your not gonna see the little light you still got the performance that your gonna see in a temp program.

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Western digital 300gb hdd
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