Best Air Cooler for Clearing Memory

[DavidNJ]

Sandy Bridge Asus P8p67 Deluxe, Corsair Vengeance memory that is 2" (50mm) tall. The first stick (all 4 occupied) is 2.1" (53mm) from the centerline of the CPU.

What cooler clears this? The Noctua NH-D14 doesn't. The NH-C14 will IF only one fan is used. The Thermalright Silver Arrow would seem to be in the same boat as the Noctua NH-D14.

I'm guessing that at 5Ghz@1.4v power would be around 180w. 1.5v would be around 200w. I imagine I'll have it setup to run 4.6Ghz@1.35v, about 150w for performance runs: video rendering, etc.

What cooler do you run? What do you recommend?

Thanks,

David

[aslanwas]

Did i get that right, you need a CPU cooler, which should be compatible with your ram cooler ?

Than take the Prolimatech Armageddon CPU Cooler, very thin, but extreme cooling performance!

[JH_man]

Sadly that cooler have other compatibility problems, think because it is very wide. Look at reviews and homepage for more info.

To poster;
I have the same problems as your have, see my post history for my post on the Intel boards about new Sandy Bridge build. I have big problems deciding on a good cooler due to I am considering using 4 RAM sticks, and many good coolers do not fit with this.

I have spent alot of time on this subject, and sadly have not been able to fully wrap my head around it.

As it stands now I most likely will choose between the Zalman 9900 MAX or a 'water cooler' from Corsair, the H70. It may also look like the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ will be able to fit, I guess so but not 100% sure, seen too few pictures in the tests. The Hyper 212+ is getting good reviews, but is for example outperformed by Ultra 120, but pretty sure the Ultra 120 is bigger.

And on the other hand if the Ultra 120 do not interfer with the ram sticks, I may just use that one, since I already have that...but then again it may be that the mounting kits delivered with the Ultra 120 Extreme back in 2007 do not fit the 1155 socket...

jarle

[Hondacity]

thermalright archon ...beats the arrow

[Johnny87au]

archon> silver arrow> d14

[DavidNJ]

Both the Archon and the Armageddon are wide. The NH-D14 is 140mm, The Armageddon is 144mm, the Silver Arrow 147mm, the Archon is 155mm. Reviews of the Armageddon talk about northbridge cooler interference. With the Silver Arrow the concern seemed to be the fan clip touched the video card. With the Archon Thermalright talks about not using the first PCI x16 slot for a graphics card.

The Armageddon had comments about limited fan compatiblity. They are no selling it with a fan, and it is very inexpensive.

I had this problem in 2008. Then, the Kentsfield/Yorkfield era, I tried the then new Xigamtek cooler. It struggled in the mid 60s. Ultimately I bit the bullet and watercooled. First with a Swiftech kit that had the pump integrated with the heatsink, finally ending up with a DTek Fuzion, Thermochill 120.3, 3 Noctua PF12s, and the XSPC reservoir top on a DDC pump. Very quiet. Lots of cooling. However, plumming it was a bit tricky. I made my own case mount that has the radiator at 90° to the case in the back to keep the back panel exposed and airflow unhindered. The pump/reservoir is mounted on top of the radiator so fluid level can be quickly observed. And a Zalman fan controller in the front lets me keep everything adjusted.

However, that case is very tired. The case (CM690) really isn't designed for the PSU size and the SATA wiring is a bit messy. Unfortunately, there are no new mid/full tower cases with front USB 3 to the internal USB 3 header yet. Since I need to keep my current box going while I get the new one going (assembled, software installed), I wanted to try the latest aircooling and just be a bit less aggressive. My big gain is going to be the 16GB memory. Even the stock 3.8Ghz setup is probably effectively 50% faster. The difference between 4.2-4.5GHz on air and 5.0-5.2 on water probably isn't an issue. The voltages to get to 5+Ghz may not be healthiest for the chip anyway.

How abount a NH-C14 with one fan? The unit is horizontal. With two fans it seems to be in the top group yet only 145mm tall. Removing the bottom fan increases clearence to 65mm, which should clear the memory and most northbridge coolers. However, it is very asymentrical. The fins extend out 90mm past the centerline of the CPU, so it will cover the memory. That may be an advantage, forcing the airflow down on the memory. The disadvantage, with one fan on a 140x140x38mm fin area with 6 heatpipes, it shouldn't have the heat dissipation capability of a Archon, SilverArrow, or D14 with two fans.

[zalbard]

Horizontal units all perform pretty bad. Look at Venomous X, perhaps.

[DavidNJ]

The NH-C14 is unique, with signicantly (10-15mm) more space under the cooler, enough to mount a 20mm fan and still have 38mm. Or leave it off and have 65mm.

The Venomous X and Xigamatek Aegir are possibilities. However, at 63mm and 66mm respectively, they would only fit with the fan on back of the cooler. Therotically, the Venomous X's 63mm width would put a 20mm fan right against the memory and fit. However, with fit tolerances in the 1mm, it seems like an awfully expensive test.

This is how my last system ended up being water cooled...in the end, the water was less aggrevation, as long as the video card was left off the loop.

[DavidNJ]

Another option is to do the water cooling less aggressively than I did last time. The XSPC Rasa 750 kit (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/xsra750rswak.html) includes their resevoir/pump that fits in a two bay slot, the Rasa block which has 1155/1156/1366 mounting and none of the air cooling space requirements two 120mm fans, and a rather small 121x35x277mm radiator. Other hoses and fittings are included but apparently not a biocide solution to mix with the water. At $130, it is not much more expensive than the air cooling and solves the MB clearence issues.

The $64k question is where a radiator would fit in a case; the gotcha of many WC setups is were the radiator goes. The CM690 case of my current system has a design for putting it on the bottom that eliminates the disk drive bays (not good), or one on the top that is so close to the MB that I rejected it before (it also seems to need 1/2 fans, at least on the original CM690. The CM690 II apparently fits 20mm tall fans on top, but restricts the top radiator to 29.6mm. The only radiator that does that is the HWLabs Stealth GTS240. However, that radiator is often critized because its 30fpi fin count restricts air flow.

[ragnarok95]

Seems like C14P is for me then. Im using the same vengaence and have been wondering which HS is better for me. Doesn't matter if C14P can only mount one fan for me. Can't wait to get mine this weekend!

[DavidNJ]

I should have it together tomorrow...just a lot happening...I'll take some pictures.

[DavidNJ]

Pictures coming. The NH-C14 easily clears the memory (about 10-15mm) and extends the full length of the memory; that is, it overhangs all 4 sticks with the fan blowing down on them.

[Johnny87au]

Pictures coming. The NH-C14 easily clears the memory (about 10-15mm) and extends the full length of the memory; that is, it overhangs all 4 sticks with the fan blowing down on them.

the megahalems fit with push/pull..

[JH_man]

Pictures coming. The NH-C14 easily clears the memory (about 10-15mm) and extends the full length of the memory; that is, it overhangs all 4 sticks with the fan blowing down on them.

Thanks for the info! Getting close to ordering my rig. More or less only thing that stops me from getting the C14 is due to some people states the C14 is not good when trying to OC (for exampl the 2600K to 4.6 ghz or above). But I love the fact that the C14 cools the memory and the MB components.

Right now myself I am looking at the Thermalright Archon...

jarle

[DavidNJ]

It depends on what you want to do. What are using that last 1/2 Ghz for? Is your bottleneck really CPU speed or is it the video card, memory, storage access speed, network speed, control resolution, screen resolution, etc.?

If you want a fast reliable OC you should be on water. If you want a quiet PC you on water also, IMHO. Net, water gets more heat away from the chip faster, cools the chips factory HS/cover more evenly, has much more thermal capacitance, has much more air/fin cooling area, and puts the fins in a location where they get better airflow. Less noise because you need less airflow for cooling and don't need intense airflow to respond to sudden thermal changes.

An XSPC Rasa 750 kit with RS240 radiator is $130. You would need another $10 in parts. Some cases, such as the Coolermaster CM690 II fit the radiator internally without a problem. That case should fit that kit without any brackets.

Now if you want more performance the parts would run $100-200 more. Then do you want to add a circuit for the GPU; adding a GPU waterblock will void the video card warranty. However, a GTX570-580 are over 350w peak, double the CPU.

Net, if you want above 4.5GHz on a regular basis you should be on water or refrigeration. If you want to set a 6GHz record, you should be on liquid nitrogen.

The NH-C14 is a high capacity cooler that clears and cools 50mm tall memory, the VRM, and the northbridge while only being 135mm tall and narrower than the board edge or first slot; you can access the middle board screws with the HSF installed. It should handle 130-150w CPUs in most conditions (I doubt it would handle 150w outdoors on a 105F day).

[DavidNJ]

This thread needs a picture: Noctua NH-C14 with one fan on Asus P8P67 with Corsair Vengence.