Which heatsink?

T

Trio

New Member
I'm stuck trying to pick which heatsink I should buy. So far these are what I've seen to be the best heatsinks:

Xigmatek Thors Hammer
Thermalright Ultra-120
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (for some reason, scored lower than 120)
Xigamatek Dark Night
Titan TTC-NK85TZ
Thermolab BAREM
Thermalright HR-10

I read that direct touch heat pipes are the best, and I'm also guessing that more heatpipes = better performance. Well, can someone help me decide? I've searched lots of benchmarks for these heatsinks, and they all vary A LOT. Thanks in advance for answering. I'm planning on cooling an overclocked Phenom II x3 920 with one of these heatsinks.
 
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Really depends on how much money you want to spend. The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is often regarded as the best heatsink available, but it also comes with a hefty price tag. Personally I would get the Xigamatek Dark Night.
 
I've owned an Ultra Extreme. Nice heatsinks, I had a friend who lapped one and that persuaded me to buy one.
 
Also, take a look at the Xigmatek Thors Hammer, better than the S1283, and why the xigmatek s1283 if not? Because it is the best price->performance cooler on the market, but if you wanna spend the money, go for the thors hammer, heatpipes for the heatpipes, nearly twice the fin density/thickness, and supports a push->pull config of fans.(I recommend using yate loon fans btw;))

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233032
 
Ooh, thanks Bomber, I'll add that to my list. I read a benchmark and a heatsink called Prolimatech Megahalems outperforms it. Anyone know about this heatsink?

What are your thoughts on the Cooler Master V10?
 
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waste of money, the only reason why it cools better is that 50 watt tec, which is really pointless, as it only kicks in on load, i would suggest a true varient, but you have to lap it, as the bases are always very poorly finished
 
just a noob said:
waste of money, the only reason why it cools better is that 50 watt tec, which is really pointless, as it only kicks in on load, i would suggest a true varient, but you have to lap it, as the bases are always very poorly finished
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75watt tec i think isnt it? Plus it draws off the power supply, and ends up making the interior of your case actually warmer because it creates even more heat itself and makes the psu run warmer because more load, so while ur cpu will be 2-3c lower the rest of your case will be warmer(gpu, mem, hdd's, etc) plus its insanely heavy. But the TRUE is also a nice cooler, but you need some high pressure fans while with the xigmatek you dont need quite a high pressure fan. As far as price->performance is concered i would vote still on the xigmateks.
 
bomberboysk said:
75watt tec i think isnt it? Plus it draws off the power supply, and ends up making the interior of your case actually warmer because it creates even more heat itself and makes the psu run warmer because more load, so while ur cpu will be 2-3c lower the rest of your case will be warmer(gpu, mem, hdd's, etc) plus its insanely heavy. But the TRUE is also a nice cooler, but you need some high pressure fans while with the xigmatek you dont need quite a high pressure fan. As far as price->performance is concered i would vote still on the xigmateks.
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Really? That's good to know. Alright, V10 is off my list. So far, I'm considering the Thors Hammer.

How popular is the Thermolab BAREM? I haven't heard of it until I looked through some websites. It didn't score one of the best scores on either websites, but it did seem like a good heatsink.

Also, would I get like a 10C lower temp if I lap the CPU and heatsink?

**Sorry, my grammar is sucking today.
 
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Trio said:
Really? That's good to know. Alright, V10 is off my list. So far, I'm considering the Thors Hammer.

How popular is the Thermolab BAREM? I haven't heard of it until I looked through some websites. It didn't score one of the best scores on either websites, but it did seem like a good heatsink.

Also, would I get like a 10C lower temp if I lap the CPU and heatsink?

**Sorry, my grammar is sucking today.
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For the xigmateks you dont need to lap as the surfaces are pretty good to begin with, with the TRUE if you lap both the cpu and heatsink you might get 3-4c lower temps(if im not mistaken).
 
assuming your cpu is really concave, and you heatsink is really convex, its possible, but i would expect drops of up to 5*C if you did it correctly, and had a pretty bad heatsink/cpu, otherwise its probably around 2/3*C, if you have the time, i would lap the heatsink/ processor
 
just a noob said:
assuming your cpu is really concave, and you heatsink is really convex, its possible, but i would expect drops of up to 5*C if you did it correctly, and had a pretty bad heatsink/cpu, otherwise its probably around 2/3*C, if you have the time, i would lap the heatsink/ processor
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I think you said that wrong, as if one is concave and one is convex they contact more than say, if they are both concave or both convex, which is where you worry about it though;)
 
Ok, I've decided! I'll get the Xigmatek Thors Hammer. I just have a few questions for anyone who owns this one.

Does it block the ram a lot? I took a look at this picture, and it does look like it:

24_thor_inp_small.jpg


This is my motherboard:

B450-2352-main.jpg


The socket is pretty close to the DIMMS (that is what a ram socket is called, right?). I can also set the heatsink vertically, but I think it might still block the ram. I'm just using 2 ram sticks, and I can switch it to the other two slots, but I'd resort not resort to that...
 
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What kind of memory do you have? just its height should allow it to clean the ram, but if you are running say... That ocz memory with the 4" high heatpipe+heatsink then no, but if its standard height mem it should work.
 
bomberboysk said:
What kind of memory do you have? just its height should allow it to clean the ram, but if you are running say... That ocz memory with the 4" high heatpipe+heatsink then no, but if its standard height mem it should work.
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DDR2 G.Skill, 800mhz. I can't find the dimensions on newegg, but they should be less than 2 inches tall? Alright, thanks a lot bomber, and for the heatsink suggestion too.

Will a Thermalright HR-10 provide extra cooling for my CPU? It's a heatsink that attaches to the back of the mobo, onto the backplate. And a question about mosfets: if I OC, will I have to place a heatsink over the mosfets?
 
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Trio said:
DDR2 G.Skill, 800mhz. I can't find the dimensions on newegg, but they should be less than 2 inches tall? Alright, thanks a lot bomber, and for the heatsink suggestion too.

Will a Thermalright HR-10 provide extra cooling for my CPU? It's a heatsink that attaches to the back of the mobo, onto the backplate. And a question about mosfets: if I OC, will I have to place a heatsink over the mosfets?
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Shouldnt need an HR-10, those are just gimmicks imo. For your mosfets, i would just get a set of video card ramsinks to use as heatsinks, not necessarily required, but can help stabilize voltages if you overclock it really high. Plus as far as fans for your heatsink, i would go with yate loon fans(best for the price), can get those here:
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SH-12-High-Speed-pr-3771.html

or Ones that are a little slower/quieter:
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SM-12-Medium-Speed-pr-3770.html

Depening on your case, i would also recommend you change out whatever stock fans it has and getting some quality Yate-Loon fans;)
 
bomberboysk said:
Shouldnt need an HR-10, those are just gimmicks imo. For your mosfets, i would just get a set of video card ramsinks to use as heatsinks, not necessarily required, but can help stabilize voltages if you overclock it really high. Plus as far as fans for your heatsink, i would go with yate loon fans(best for the price), can get those here:
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SH-12-High-Speed-pr-3771.html

or Ones that are a little slower/quieter:
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SM-12-Medium-Speed-pr-3770.html

Depening on your case, i would also recommend you change out whatever stock fans it has and getting some quality Yate-Loon fans;)
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Like these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887017

A user here (Mitch) bought the same processor (phenom II x3 920) I'm planning on buying. He overclocked it by changing the multiplier

http://www.computerforum.com/149929-got-my-new-x3-720-a.html

Will I need the heatsinks to dissipate heat from the mosfets if I increase just the multiplier?

I was thinking of getting fans with LED, like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150066

It has a 79.9 CFM and 38 DBA. It isn't as good as that first Yate you posted though. But this Scythe fan his a higher CFM than the Yate, and a lower DBA (or about the same).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060


Really, I wish I could find an LED fan with high CFM. That would be my ideal fan for the new heatsink.
 
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Yeah, the slipstreams are good fans also, was just recommending the yate loons for the good price/performance, The led fans are alright, but if you want lighting in your case should prolly just go for something like a cathode or two inside. As far as ramsinks i would recommend something like these for mosfet cooling, as they are smaller and would fit better onto mosfets, as i said before though, its not required to cool the mosfets at stock or if overclocking, but it can help you acheive higher clocks(somewhat) by having a more stable voltage:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Enzotech-Forged-Copper-Low-profile-VGA-Memory-Heatsink-BCC9-pr-3978.html

About the question of multiplier, you are still gonna be drawing more voltage to run the processor at a higher speed, but even at stock speeds mosfet cooling can help keep voltages more stable under load.


For fans with led's, take a look here as jabtech mainly deals with cooling products/cases/soundproofing cases/etc:
http://www.jab-tech.com/home.php?cat=81&sort=price&sort_direction=0
 
Trio said:
AWESOME, thanks a lot bomber. Found this really high CFM LED fan on there

http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-1...rame-with-4-Blue-leds-High-Speed-pr-3824.html

The DBA is pretty high though. I'll have to think about getting an LED or high CFM fan I guess. Thanks for the help Bomber, and everyone else. Just one last question, how reliable is that website you posted, Bomber? jab-tech.com.
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Jab-tech is awesome, ive bought fans from them before and i plan on buying my watercooling supplies from them. To futher back this up here is a link to reseller ratings for them:
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Jab_Tech 9.63/10 lifetime rating and 10/10 6 month rating;)

THose yate-loon led fans are awesome, yate-loon fans cannot be beat as far as price to performance;)As far as fan noise goes, you could always hook them up to a fan controller or something;) Another great supplier is sidewindercomputers, but ive found jab-tech to be the cheapest when you include shipping and everything.
 
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