With the rising thermal load produced by processors, I'm finding it really hard to select a heat sink for an i7 processor I intend to buy. When I bought my 3800X2, the clear choice was the Zalman CNPS9500, it performed similarly to the rest of the market, looked bad-***, and wasn't too overpriced.
now we're getting into coolers that weigh anywhere from 700 to 1000g, and require push pull fan situations just to keep the CPU under 70 degrees Celsius when overclocking. Coolers are getting so big that getting solid copper units is ill advised due to load on the motherboard. (for example, the copper true is 1900g, almost twice the already heavy coolers, and for reference, my current CNPS9500 is 530g, and it's all copper) So, on to my question:
The heat sink market is a very confusing one, and unfortunately, no amount of reading reviews appears to be clearing it up for me. The heat sinks I've all seen reviewed show the coolers reviewed with the stock fans they are shipped with, and I am convinced these fans are not ideal as they are usually the manufacturer's in house unit. Two heat sinks I'm considering are the Noctua NH-U12P and the Thermalright True (black), both with a push-pull fan setups. The reviews I've read show these units with stock fans, and the Noctua won the round up. The true is a favourite amongst current generation overclockers, and I know it has to be for a reason. I know the Noctua is also held in high esteem and it performs well at it's price point, seemingly providing better value than the Thermalright.
Here's my questions:
Which heat sink works best after aftermarket fans are installed?
Also, with the increase in weight on upper grade heat sinks, have you all noticed any stress to the motherboard?
now we're getting into coolers that weigh anywhere from 700 to 1000g, and require push pull fan situations just to keep the CPU under 70 degrees Celsius when overclocking. Coolers are getting so big that getting solid copper units is ill advised due to load on the motherboard. (for example, the copper true is 1900g, almost twice the already heavy coolers, and for reference, my current CNPS9500 is 530g, and it's all copper) So, on to my question:
The heat sink market is a very confusing one, and unfortunately, no amount of reading reviews appears to be clearing it up for me. The heat sinks I've all seen reviewed show the coolers reviewed with the stock fans they are shipped with, and I am convinced these fans are not ideal as they are usually the manufacturer's in house unit. Two heat sinks I'm considering are the Noctua NH-U12P and the Thermalright True (black), both with a push-pull fan setups. The reviews I've read show these units with stock fans, and the Noctua won the round up. The true is a favourite amongst current generation overclockers, and I know it has to be for a reason. I know the Noctua is also held in high esteem and it performs well at it's price point, seemingly providing better value than the Thermalright.
Here's my questions:
Which heat sink works best after aftermarket fans are installed?
Also, with the increase in weight on upper grade heat sinks, have you all noticed any stress to the motherboard?