P5B Deluxe WiFi & Best CPU Cooling

I have a P5B Deluxe WiFi motherboard and a E6600 CPU with stock cooler. I'm now starting to do some homework and looking for a better cooler. As most of you are aware, the P5B-Deluxe boards use passive cooling for the North and South Bridges. It appears they depend on the air being blown DOWN on the CPU by the CPU Fan.

Most of the more popular coolers these days are NOT designed to blow air down on the cpu, and I'm a little confused as to what to do. Do I buy like a Ultra 120 and blow the air toward the cases exhaust fan, or do I get something like the SI-128 and blow the air down on the cpu chip?

Can anyone make any specific recommendations for this motherboard/CPU combination?

What I think is the best way to go is to just get a quiet 120mm fan and position it to blow on the northbridge and the RAM. I can't take a pic to show...but I have a Tuniq Tower 120 on the CPU (Blowing toward the exhaust fan on the back of the case), and then I have a Yate Loon D12SL-12 suspended over the RAM and angled toward the northbridge.

But keep in mind that the E6600 doesn't require that high of FSB speeds to hit the max speeds you'll get on good air cooling. Probably around 3.6Ghz is a higher average that you'll hit, and with the E6600's multi, that's only 400Mhz FSB...which is not that high for this board. The temps should be fine with decent case airflow. And if you can do the 120mm fan thing (which is also good for the RAM cooling. which was my main reason for doing so) you should be just fine!

Does anyone have any recommendations on CPU heatsinks & fans that have worked well on the E6600 and the P5B-Deluxe?

Is the SI-128 any good?

I'll vote on the Tuniq....it's worked very well for me so far...temps are great.


EDIT: BTW, I noticed your sig, the Westinghouse monitor you have listed....shouldn't the resolution actually be 1920x1080?

Yep. 1920 x 1080p. Thanks. Fat fingers here!

I'll look into the Tuniq. It really looks big and I am a bit concerned with stress on motherboard in a tower. But I'll check it out.

I was wondering if anyone is using the ZALMAN CNPS9500. Its a bit lighter and pushes the hot air out the exhaust fan at the back of the case.

I'm going to have to do some more research. Maybe I can find a good place where they have compared several of them side by side.

My Si-120 (si-128 SHOULD be better) cools my e6400 to 57c at load while 1.4v being applied... this is in a relatively chill room of 18c... the e6400 is at 3.5Ghz (500x7)

I'm running a SI-128 on a E6400/P5B Deluxe and my load temps at 400X8 & 450x7 @ 1.375v are 52C-53C both cores as reported by core temp. Room temp is about 70F. The SI-128 would be a good choice but so would a Tuniq Tower or Ultra 120 with a 120mm fan blowing on the memory/NB area as another poster suggested.

Battle_Rattle said:

My Si-120 (si-128 SHOULD be better) cools my e6400 to 57c at load while 1.4v being applied... this is in a relatively chill room of 18c... the e6400 is at 3.5Ghz (500x7)

Click to expand...

How did you get 500x7? I'm topping out at 459x7. I get 1 long and 3 short beeps, which indicate a memory failure, but I've run my RAM (G.Skill DDR2 800 HZ) at 1000 4-4-4-10 & 1100 5-5-5-15 through 10 passes of Memtest86+ with no errors.

flyboy said:

Yep. 1920 x 1080p. Thanks. Fat fingers here!

I'll look into the Tuniq. It really looks big and I am a bit concerned with stress on motherboard in a tower. But I'll check it out.

I was wondering if anyone is using the ZALMAN CNPS9500. Its a bit lighter and pushes the hot air out the exhaust fan at the back of the case.

I'm going to have to do some more research. Maybe I can find a good place where they have compared several of them side by side.

Click to expand...

The Tuniq without a doubt gives the best performance. I had one on my P5W DH and it cooled GREAT, but I didn't like the looks so much. It took up too much room and blocked alot of my blingy lights. I don't think it put too much stress on the mobo, the backplate it comes with took care of that. It was a bit loud...not the fan so much as the air being pushed (and pulled) through the tightly spaced fins.

I am now using the Zalman CNPS9700. It is the LED version so I can have my bling I also had, at one time, a Zalman CNPS9500. I like the 9700 best of all, it has a fan speed controller that can be placed anywhere...not specifically designed for PCI slot like the Tuniq's. The 9500 has no fan speed controller. I have my controller affixed to the back of my case where I can easily reach it and have it set to about 1800rpm. I can barely hear it from my chair, and cannot hear it at all from the couch (approx 6ft away). The temps with the 9700 are about 2-3C higher than Tuniq. 9500 temps are about 4-6C above Tuniq.

My vote for decent performance, nice looks, near silence and an easily accessible controller goes to the Zalman CNPS9700LED.

For straight performance you have to go with Tuniq.

The Zalman 9500 is not worth getting now that the 9700 is available.

That's my 2 cents. I have had all three and I kept the 9700. Hope this helps.

-Jim

Is there enough air flow across the NB, SB and Memory when using the Zalman CNPS9700, or do you need another fan blowing across the board?

Just by looking act pictures, it looks like the fan might be low enough to provide enough air flow but not sure.

I certainly like the looks of the CNPS9700 better than some of the other tall towers.

flyboy said:

Does anyone have any recommendations on CPU heatsinks & fans that have worked well on the E6600 and the P5B-Deluxe?

Is the SI-128 any good?

Click to expand...

hi'
TT BTyphoon with a good 120mm on it, and it blows down to NB too


i686

Here's some Zalman pics.

1st a 9700 then a 9500

Here is the CM Hyper 6+ I used on my P4, now being used on the 775 e6600(P5B Deluxe). Makes the removable MOBO tray useless

CM-Hyper6+.jpg

Thanks folks. I have to admit, it's really nice seeing pictures of everyone's cooling solutions. Can anyone post pictures of SI-120, SI-128 or others ?

I'm sitting up here in Alaska and can't just drive over to a store and check things out. EVERYTHING is mail order, so these pictures really help!