Best/Quietest NB cooler?

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Lord09

Member

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Joined

May 17, 2003

• Aug 18, 2003

• #1

Hello all,

I'd rather not get a NB waterblock since they're pretty expensive, so I'm looking for a cheap and relatively quiet HSF solution? Any recommendations?

How's the Thermaltake Tiger ? I normally hate thermaltake stuff, but I've heard mixed reviews about it. How's the fan noise?

I'm open to other suggestions, but like to spend < $15.

Also, how critical is SB cooling?

Thanks all..

Dan

 

CGR

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Joined

Jan 4, 2001

Location

Lower NY

• Aug 18, 2003

• #2

You really dont need much more than passive cooling on the NB. A nice size stock AMD or Intel HS will do the job nicely.

When thinking of cooling thing of it like this:

If its warm to the touch, cool it. The applies to system/video memory,nb/sb,mosfets(get kinda hot) etc etc.

 

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Gautam

Senior Benchmark Addict

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Joined

Feb 4, 2003

Location

SF Bay Area

• Aug 18, 2003

• #3

I'd just buy some cheapo aluminum heatsink, epoxy it on and run it passive. I'm passively cooling the northbridge with an AMD stock heatsink, without any problems whatsoever. SB cooling does help in some cases, but generally only to help already extreme fsb's get more extreme.

 

L337 M33P

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Joined

Jun 5, 2003

Location

TEH INTERNETS

• Aug 18, 2003

• #4

If you have an nForce 2 board and you run higher than 400FSB, you may need to cool the SB as it can get quite hot. I say just stick a fan on the current NB cooler if it gets hot.

 

C

cherryp00t

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Joined

Apr 14, 2003

Location

Brooklyn

• Aug 18, 2003

• #5

the zalman passive heatsinks are as quiet as they get.. though sticking a fan on it would greatly improve performance

 

S

Since87

Member

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Joined

Jul 30, 2002

Location

Indiana

• Aug 18, 2003

• #6

Lord09 said:

How's the Thermaltake Tiger ? I normally hate thermaltake stuff, but I've heard mixed reviews about it. How's the fan noise?

Click to expand...

The fan is quiet on mine. Hope it stays that way.

The base needed serious lapping though. It comes with thermal tape on the bottom. I removed that, and it was like a moonscape underneath. (Deep saw marks.)

I started lapping with 100 grit, and spent a fair amount of time lapping with 100 grit, before moving on.

 

Sterculus

Member

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Joined

Dec 18, 2002

Location

Seattle

• Aug 18, 2003

• #7

I've got a Vantec Iceberq that runs nice and quiet. However, if you took one of the Zalman coolers and attached a quiet fan (or a higher powered fan 7 volted) it would probably outperform any of the other coolers that you could buy. I would recommend doing that, as it isn't too expensive and should cool very well.