Deciding soon for skt 478 heatsink. Help needed

Ok i came down to the quietest and cheapest heatsinks i could compare noise vs performace vs price

1.)xp-90 w/32cfm fan (so it will be quiet)
2.) Arctic Freezer 4

which one do you think will cool my prescott better? I want to save as much as possible.Thank you for replying

I'd go with the XP-90 myself, at least you have the option of changing fans easily.

XP-120 should also be considered.

Alright thanks

yeah xp 90 or 120 if you got space but you might want to get a fan with at least 50Cfm

the problem is i want quiet, like under 25 dba or mayb 30dba, depends if i can muffle up my case or something, i might mod my case during spring

If you can mount XP-120, it would be great, when used with some quiet fan, like GlacialTech (<40cfm, but you won't hear it). If it won't fit - I'd rather consider a Freezer, perhaps XP-90.

Ducting a heatsink is also a good way to have good temps at low noise. Ducts can also be done in the way they muffle some noise.

my mobo fits the xp-120 but i dunt wanna spend the money for it. If i buy some plastic and cut it up it might muffle it up, but i narrowed my choices down to the freezer and the xp-90.

i heard the freezer disrupts airflow, its either u blow the air down towards the video card or up to the psu, i need to buy one saw or something to cut the top of my case to install a fan if im going to get a freezer because its gonna cause some major air flow problems.

Airflow isn't just for airflow. There's no point in having much airflow in case, when it's not used for cooling. With Freezer, fan-on-bottom configuration is usually betther than fan-on-top, as PSU pulls some more air. You'd only need if your graphics card won't be close to fan. That may appear if for example you have Zalman heatpipe cooler. It makes CPU cooling a bit worse, but on the otehr hand improves graphics card cooling. Other good (for some bad) thing with Freezer is that it's got no enclosure for fins - so some part of case airflow will go horizontally through it.

xp120

d94 said:

xp120

Click to expand...

We both know that it's very good, but some can't afford it. Me too - price here is around $90, converting to USD. Not everyone can get it for reasonable price.

Helius,

I am a newbie in hardware / cooling matters but I can give my oppinion as I have read these topics day 'n' nite for a week or so as I just bought a new cooler

Heard XP-90 is really good and if you can you should prolly buy that.
As I see from your sig your CPU is not overclocked, if you don't want to overclock it a Freezer4 should really do it.

I just got a Freezer4 for my 3 GHz Prescott and it is working fine. Dropped my temps - compared to the stock cooler - like:
CPU idle: 40-45, was: 49-53
CPU stress: 49-55, was: 68-69

I have the feeling that temps vary more now with this cooler but anyway you can notice a big change and the fan's noise is like the stock was at idle, perhaps even a bit more silent. Another problem I had with stock cooler was when stressing CPU fan was @ 4800 RPM and that is really noisy and was annoying so I couldn't run SETI@home during nite, or was annoying when I was playing gamez (CSS, WoW).

So overally I consider the Freezer4 a huge success for me, although if you need some decent OC you might consider the XP-90 but then you'll need a good fan == noisy.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:
The fan blows air towards the rear of the case. I think this is good as above the cooler there is the PSU fan and at the rear of the case there is a 80mm exhaust fan also. Thinking of perhaps - somehow - mounting a 120mm one there... not sure yet.. Im not good with this kind of work so perhaps I'll just ruin my case But it was like $20 anyway.

Also anyone any idea if I should put an intake fan over my CPU? Asking as the Freezer4 is a bit special with the side fan so I am not sure if I can/should put a fan / duct over the CPU (I mean its HS).

Your reply is very valuable, but can you guarntee me this cooler is SILENT, like the computer has its cover off and you can sleep right beside your computer? because thats what I got, and I hope I can sleep with this baby on.

Just to throw my two pennies in; I just went and bought THIS an awesome Thermaltake heatsink (with a 90mm fan on one side) and it brought my temps down from 75°C (with stock 478 Intel heatsink/fan combo) to 40°C full load! Thought that might confuse ya some more...lol.

PS:

I have 7 case fans, 2 PCI fans, GPU fan, and CPU fan..total of about 10Db at the most! Fan controllers work wonders. Look into CoolDrive's for the nicer ones...lol

you'd want a 92mm fan that pushes atleast 45-50 CFM for half-decent performance with an XP-90, sidewindercomputers.com has some nice 92mm panaflos that would do pretty good on the XP-90


but i also highly recommend the arctic cooling freezer - have only heard good about it - nothing bad yet

I got a Freezer 4, and its really great. I mounted it with the fan blowing towards the back without a problem...was that bad? Anyway, temps are good, its on my dads machine and he doesnt erally care about temps, just noise. But it is dead quiet, the PSU fans are the noisest part of his case. So if you want silence and decent cooling, get the Freezer 4. the Thermalrights will give you better cooling, no doubt, but at the expense of noise. Up to you.

EDIT: btw, the Freezer 4 is only $20 at www.directron.com, great deal.

man u guys.. i just wanna gif u a hug for throwing in ure 2 cents! btw sneaky... i dunt like tt products its either ginormous or it sucks a lot of big balls! IMVHO

well, since you are looking for silent, the Zalman 7000cu is a GREAT cooler... i believe it is cheaper than the XP-90, and it is absolutely SILENT... If you go to lots of lans and such, get the 7000AlCu (aluminum fins, copper cored), and if you don't really move your computer, get the 7000Cu (its heavier, and there is a SLIGHT risk it might rip out your socket... though i wouldn't worry... solid copper)...

then you can also get a better fan, but the supplied fan is fine...Zalman is KNOWN for quiet cooling... and since you live in the US, you won't have a hard time finding it... it just might not fit your mobo/case... check the mobo compatibility list at the zalman webpage.

heres a link to the fan mod for the zalman, if you do decide to get it and mod a better fan:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=366208