Air Coolers - Best?

[ZRock]

So I currently have an Arctic Cooling AC7 Freezer Pro Rev2. I'm looking for something... Better. I am currently running a 955BE OC'd to 3.5GHz and I'm running about 52*C under load.
Anyone have any recommendations for one around this size that would yield better performace as well as expected numbers I could see?

**Side question** To many people here and on OCN the Cogage arrow & Noctua D14 are the end all be all air coolers, yet on Frostytech, there are many coolers above these in their tests. Any thoughts on this?

 

[SMOKEU]

You should be able to get a higher overclock than that on your existing cooler. Keep it under 60°C and it will be fine.

It's quite hard to say which is the "best" cooler, because different sites will tell you different things.

Most CPU coolers are only for Intel platforms, although you can get AM3 mounting kits for many of them.

 

[GoD_tattoo]

I'd be interested in seeing those above a D-14 by more than say 3-5* celcius? I would be surprised to see any above it period. But I personally love my Megahalems. Best mount I've used.

 

[SMOKEU]

Megahalems needs a separate AM3 mounting kit if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[ZRock]

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2521&page=4

Ok so it is only by 1 degree. But still!'

**Edit** smoke i tried playing with the OC some more. I tried 3.8 at 1.4v, failed under prime95 after 30s. running 3.7 now at 1.4... idling at 45c

 

[Janus67]

Not worth it if you are hardly gaining anything. As SMOKEU said, if you are staying under 60C at load I can't see too much of a difference happening with an upgrade (effectively a side-grade).

 

[ZRock]

No no, I currently have an AC7Freezer Pro rev2... the noctua or that eclipse would be huge upgrades wouldn't they?
And under load at any OC over 3.6 my heat is out of control.

 

[ZRock]

Update, let the OC run overnight, sitting at 3.7ghz, idle temps around 40, prime95 sends it skyrocketing up to 59... ran for 5 minutes and didn't clear 59 so I think this may be the sweet spot for my current setup. You guys still don't think a better cooler would maybe alow me to clear 4ghz?

 

[SMOKEU]

You probably could get 4GHz with better cooling, but there are no guarantees you will be able to reach that speed. It's unlikely that you'll notice any difference between 3.7 and 4GHz in ordinary day to day use.

 

[TorqueRanger]

No no, I currently have an AC7Freezer Pro rev2... the noctua or that eclipse would be huge upgrades wouldn't they?
And under load at any OC over 3.6 my heat is out of control.

I run the eclipse and it get really good temp but it's a pain in the but to install with amd cpu...Also try using a better fan or use tx-4 thermal compound..