Looking for fans + HS, help me out..

This is for my Ultra-D rig (sig).

1. I need a good aftermarket cooling solution but am lost as to what is top of the line right now. I am talking about air cooling. I know Thermalright is a good company and I wouldn't mind their HS, but is there some specific model that is preffered by overclockers due to its price/perfomance ratio (like the SK7 was for the XP!). With this HS I also need a fan, and would prefer at least a 80mm fan, although a 92mm or even 120mm would be prefferable. However, I don't want it to be a very tight fit, so I think 120mm is out.

2. Are there any case fans available which need the molex connector for power, but also come with a 3pin mobo connector to plug in and be able to monitor RPM?? The Ultra-D has 2 monitoring 3pin connectors so I might as well use them all, so far I am using only the CPU fan connector. Furthermore, is it possible to monitor the RPM of a fan with only the molex connector? Is there perhaps a splitter that I can buy which will connect to the molex connector of the fan, but then allow me to connect one split wire into molex for power and the other into the 3pin mobo? I would like to keep the P180 stock 120mm fans, I really like them.

3. Is there such a thing as a good 80mmx15mm fan? I need one of these to cool my video card (P180 case). I just don't see how much air a 15mm thick fan can push! If I want it to push air, will it have to go at 10k rpm or what? Any good fan with over 20cfm would do here, so if you have any opinions, please share.

An SI-120 will woop the crap out of a TT n e day .... Thermal right has got it down... took my P4 load temps from 60*c to 42*c on the same 120 mm fan at the same voltage! ALSO... dont wory about fit with the SI-120. i had VERY VERY little room on my Micro Atx mobo. There was a row of capacitators right about the retention bracket and a northwood cooler right below (when i mean right against it... thoes items were touching the retention bracket).... If you have a normal size mobo... with a normal size mid tower case... there will be NO PROBLEM with the SI-120... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I am using a Coolermaster 120mm Silent LED fan... it says 22db at 12 volts and it damn sure does that... its SOOO QUIET at 12 and inaudiable at 7.

Also another note about the SI-120 my friend got one after he saw the changes in temps on my system. He hooks it all up (same fan by the way) and hes gettin crazy temps on his Amd 64 3700. He even was able to take the fan off the HS and run the SI-120 "Passivly" and he was only getting temps about 5*c higher idle and about 7*c load OVER CLOCKED by the way from 2.2 to 2.7....

My vote SI-120 ALL THE WAY score 16651321 out of 10

As for fan... u can pop any 120 on here and it be a good preformer. (i will NEVER buy any other Heat Sink becides ThermalRight ones.... all the others are a waste of time and money)


Zalman make a cool lookin 80X80X15 mm fan

1) Thermalright XP-120 is a great heatsink, top notch and widely used by OCers. The Scythe Ninja is also one to consider, it's on par with the XP-120, and maybe even better then it in some areas. But the Ninja works great in the P180, due to a vertical type of heatsink, the top and rear exhaust fans in the P180 make airflow perfect for the Ninja.

2) Yate Loon D1SL-12
OR, a tad quieter and performs a bit lower the Yate Loons: NEXUS D12SL-12

3) PANAFLO FBA08T12L 80X15MM FAN 21.9CFM 23DBA
Most people I've seen, don't use that little VGA cooler thing in the P180, it usually blocks the video card and other things, but your results may vary.

This is a really great fan for an XP120 or an SI120. It has a moderate noise level, but can run on as little as 4 volts. The Delta 3 blades work quite well with heatsinks.

Thanx a lot guys, I will do some research now on what you recommended and it will be between the SI120 or the XP120, or even that Ninja one. I just have to make sure that once the fan/hs is installed, I'll still be able to use that side-fan video card cooler, cuz I really want to bring the video card temp down.

Thanx again.

hmm.. that fan you guys recommended is 38mm thick!! wow.. I don't know how that will fit, especially with the 15mm fan going into the vid-card cooler slot. But who knows, I may not even use that slot for vid-card cooling and will instead put the case fans on full power (right now they are all on medium, and I can't hear the case at all)..

I just wish there was a way to tell case temp, but it seems the Ultra-D doesn't have a case-temp sensor (mobo temp), just the CPU, PWMIC and chipset. This seems very odd to me, so if I am wrong, let me know.


EDIT: traditionally a "thicker" fan will be able to push more air right? Cuz the two 120mm fans you guys are recommending are quite different.

The first one is 25mm thick and pushes just short of 50cfm. The other one is 50% thicker and pushes double the air! Probably more RPM too tho.

So perhaps the best way to go would be to forget about the VGA cooler slot, and then get the thick 120mm fan with the SI120 heatsink. Yup, I think thats what I'll do.. What ya think?

EDIT2: wow, that Ninja hs looks wicked! You sure that thing fits on a Ultra-D with a 120mm fan? It looks huge!

The Yate Loon 120x25mm I recommended was for case fans, your CPU fan can be a 120x38, more air pushed that way.

I'd think the XP-120 with a 120x38 should fit fine on your Ultra-D in a P180, look around and search for pictures of the Ultra-D with a XP-120, that would generally be the best performing heatsink, or at least a tad better then the SI-120.

darksparkz said:

The Yate Loon 120x25mm I recommended was for case fans, your CPU fan can be a 120x38, more air pushed that way.

I'd think the XP-120 with a 120x38 should fit fine on your Ultra-D in a P180, look around and search for pictures of the Ultra-D with a XP-120, that would generally be the best performing heatsink, or at least a tad better then the SI-120.

Click to expand...

It will fit according to this (select amd heatsink, then xp-120 then click on the amd link to show motherboard compatability) but you will lose access to your first pci-e slot.

or just read this quote fr om that page

'....LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D First PCI-e slot blocked by Heatpiples''

I have the same case and am looking for a cooling solution too. I can't se me running two gfx cards so the other pci-e slot should do me just fine (I hope)

heres the Scythe Ninja in a P180: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article251-page5.html

Its perfect for push/pull configurations to optimize cooling.

The Ninja is very intimidating, I am just not sure about that one. Besides, where does the 120mm fan go, and how thick can it be? I would prefer a 38mm thickness for serious air pushing, like 80cfm.

I'd think the XP-120 with a 120x38 should fit fine on your Ultra-D in a P180, look around and search for pictures of the Ultra-D with a XP-120, that would generally be the best performing heatsink, or at least a tad better then the SI-120.

Click to expand...

Now I am confused. ThermalRight says that the SI120 is an improvement over the XP120, and the SI120 is also more expensive in any store (slightly), so why would you say the XP120 is better?

What can the pci-e slot that will be blocked be used for? Its the only pci-e 4x slot on the board cuz the other is a pci-e 1x, so if I will need it in the near future I may have to go for the XP90c but I really want top of the line cooling (btw, the XP90c is more expensive then the XP120, whats the deal here, again?!)

Thanx again guys and I hope you can answer the above inquiries.

Ah, I see the 15mm fan is apparently for the P180 duct. Don't bother. Pretty much everyone agrees that the VGA duct is useless. From what I can tell, due to the placement of the fan vs. the rear wall of the duct there isn't enough pressure for it to put out it's rated CFM. I experimented by trying a fan in and outside of the duct. Outside it pushed a LOT of air. Inside, barely any.

Yep, not many people use that VGA cooler.

The XP-120 is better because its heatpipes are closer and there are more heatpipes. Maybe in some reviews you'd see the SI-120 being a bit better then the XP-120, but the general thumb of rule is that the XP-120 should be better then the XP-120. I'm not too sure they advertise the SI-120 to be better, but maybe its because they don't want an image of old products outperforming new products. The SI-120 was designed in mind to fit pretty much all motherboards, because the XP-120 had clearance issues on some motherboards.

The XP-90C is better then the XP-120. The XP-90C is made of completely copper, so the material is more expensive then aluminum used in the XP-120 and SI-120. The XP-90C performs better then the XP-120, but the XP-120 uses a 120mm fan over the 90 or 92mm in the XP-90C. 120mm fans push more air at lower noise then the 92mm fans. The 120mm fans are also large enough to help cool your other components, such as ram or mosfeats.

So definitely top of the line would be XP-90C, maybe the Scythe Ninja as well. But in terms of best performance/noise, the XP-120 is the best.

Ok, thanx for the info then. I'll decide between the XP90c and the XP120 then. Who knows, perhaps there are some kick-*** 92mm fans out there, maybe even one with 38mm thickness and thus thick blades.

Now for one more question. Do any of these CPU fans come with a 3pin connector or do they all need molex connectors and straight to the PSU? The reason I ask is because I really want to be able to monitor the RPM of the fan. I don't mind if the fan comes with both connectors, the molex for power, and the 3pin only for RPM monitoring.

So, does anyone know if there is a 92mm fan that is also 38mm thick? Or at least thicker then 25mm?

Is there anyone here that would choose the XP90c over the XP120 if space is not an issue, meaning its all about performance? Wouldn't a 92mm fan also blow some air on the components close to the CPU, such as the PWMIC chip?


EDIT: one more thing guys, what do I do with the holes at the back where the VGA cooler should be ijn the P180? If the duct is not installed, then there is an open grill in the back where air can come in/out. Won't that interfere with proper air flow? Should I just tape some plastic or whatever on it?

Just use some electrical tape to cover the VGA holes, that's what I did.

The Nexus/Yate Loon fans include both 3 and 4 pin connectors. Both include rpm monitoring.

http://sidewindercomputers.com/de92ff1.html

I left the VGA holes alone as I felt my video card would need a good exit for some fresh air. I only taped up the holes around the PSU as recommended by a few websites I've seen, I doubt the VGA holes do that much of a difference. But then the only way to see if it does, is test it and see what kind of increase/decrease you get.