Please help me select a good HSF and Fan system

I’ve now selected a case along with all my other hardware and it’s time to figure out how I’m going to keep it cool. My case is the Chenbro PC-61166 X-Pider, which is receiving great reviews and can even handle a 3Ghz+ P4. I’m going to pair it with an Antec 430w TruePower PSU.

http://www.chenbro.com.tw/product/product.jsp?p=1&s=102 (Click on the scroll bar at the top right to choose my case)

This case can handle 1 120mm fan in the rear and 1 92mm fan in the front. Will two quality fans + a quality HSF be enough to keep my system cool? The general consensus from reviews across the internet seems to be yes. Now, onto choosing fans. Nothing too exorbitant and noisy, just something that will ensure stability and the possibility of overclocking. It was tough to find reviews of more current fans and HSFs.

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/fans/pc_toys_fans/index.htm

These 2 fans are basically identical, but the Thermomax is thermally activated. This seems like it could be a double-edged sort of feature: no energy will be wasted, but if the temperature sensor is damaged, the fan could spin too slowly.

I don’t really know which type of fans to purchase as intake and which to purchase as exhaust either. Here is a list of some of the fans I’ve heard of:

·Thermaltake Volcano
·Coolermaster Aero “Blower”
·Antec Smartfan
·Vantec Tornado
·PCToys Thermomax
·PCToys Stealth Pro
·JMC, Panaflo, and Sunon as found at http://www.coolcases.com

Basically, I want fans and a HSF that will keep my system running perfectly cool without sounding like a lawnmower. I really know nothing about the installment of fans and heatsinks. Do I need to purchase grill guards for each of these components? Should I install an extra fan mount in the top of the case?

Ahhh here we go...

One front and one back case fan will probably be enough, especially if they are 92+120mm fans with a decent amount of airflow.

The stock Intel HSF is considered to be pretty good but if you want some better cooling there is always the Thermalright SLK-800U - big *** copper heatsink that ain't too pricey. A Thermaltake smartfan II should go nicely with it as it has temperature and manual speed control, plus does both quiet and uber loud.

Other than that the case fans look fine.

Energy? Wasted? If you worry about that run Folding@home - use your CPU cycles to simulate protein formation.

What sorta heatsink are you going to get? The better the HS the less cfm you need (and therefore less noise) to cool it to the same temp as a inefficient HS with a high speed fan.
For a good HSF combo I recommend the big and heavy slk-800u as mentioned above paired off with a YS-Tech 80mm adjustable fan (http://www.svc.com/new48ys804pi.html)

Grills should be used on fans mounted on the case itself, so that you don't accidently lose any fingers. Plus they look much better with a grill than with just the bare fan.

if you are runing a p4 setup get the zalma cnps7000-cu, it is big and quite and it cools great,

if you are on an xp setup get the cnps6000-cu it is smaller but it cools almost as well.

SK-7 > CNPS6000, but he's using a P4 system.

I still need to select the HSF. Sorry by the way, I forgot to include my planned specs:

AMD 2500+ Barton 333mhz
Abit NF7-S Rev 2.0
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB
1024MB Corsair XMS PC3200
Radeon 9800 Non-Pro 128mb
Lite On 48x24x48 CD-RW / 16x DVD Combo Drive
Chenbro PC-61166 "X-Pider"

I recommend any of the SLK line by thermalright with a 80mm fan with at least 40cfm. If you plan to overclock then an adjustable fan would be a good choice.
I have a similar setup: NF7-S with a 1700+ Tbred and I use a SLk-800u with a YS-tech 80mm Adjustable fan.

Welcome to the Forums eqmassa!

I highly recommend the SLK-800 and this Evercool aluminum 120mm fan. It is quiet, pushes a lot of air and is extremely quiet when 7volt modded.


Your question, "This case can handle 1 120mm fan in the rear and 1 92mm fan in the front. Will two quality fans + a quality HSF be enough to keep my system cool?" Answer: yes. You may even want to consider trying the 120mm as an intake, duct it to your HSF and exhaust with your PSU and front 92mm.

Thanks for the advice. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I really need a Heatsink. I'm not going to OC for at least a month. If I need one though to keep my PC running very cool and my hardware performing optimally, I'll definitely get the SK7.

Also, it seems like some of these fans may be a bit too much. Tornados, Panaflo Axials, and Sunon fans are all really loud, most likely too loud for now. I probably won't OC until games call for it. Antec Smartfans seem like they'd be good, but I worry that if the temperature sensor was faulty, my system would fry.

Bleh this fan choosing is becoming far more complicated than I thought it would be. Ever Cool fans seem like the best value so far but I haven't found a review on them. Papst seem like the best product but are a little pricey. Sigh, what to do. All I want is a nice, cool, relatively quiet, optimized system.

try looking into vantec stealth fans. They are pretty cheap and provide average cooling for very low noise. Here is a review on them. http://www.geekswithpcs.com/article.php?id=5

You could always just get a fan that pushes out a decent amount of CFM, then hook it up to a rheobus and lower the voltage until the fan is at an acceptable DB level.

BTW, earliar on you were wondering if you should a HSF or not. It's actually mandotory whether you're OC'ing or not.. You're cpu will burn up in less than 10 seconds!

1oNe I think he meant if he should get a heatsink over the stock one. That said I just wanted to chirp in with the Vantec Aeroflow as a nice reasonably quiet unit with quite good cooling.

Yes, I was asking if it would be okay if I would only use my stock HSF (the retail package of the Barton 2500 with a HSF and fan is only $5 extra) instead of a more high quality one like the SK-7.

The stock HSF will do fine if you aren't planning to OC, but as soon as you do you need better cooling.

SLK-900U if you a prepared to lap and sound like a jet fighter, CNPS7000Cu if you are not.