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Best air cooling for RAM w/ heat spreader?

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stetchkov

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I was looking into the Noctua, Phanteks, and Silver Arrow but have read so many reviews of these never fitting due to their RAM having heat spreaders. I just realized I ordered the G.Skill Sniper 2133 (4x4GB) and they have heat spreaders.

As I plan to overclock my 2600k, I want the best one for overclocking from what I can conclude the Silver Arrow wins by a grain of salt over the Noctua. Anyway any advice would help trumendously.

Currently I have a 5-6 year old Zalman along with my old GPU that I recently replaced.

Hear is a picture of my set up, have not installed the new CPU, MOBO, or RAM yet as it will arrive Monday.
6335472955_0dd27ea259_b.jpg
Thermaltake Level 10 GT by Daniel Michael, on Flickr

PS: Would an Corsair H100i fit in my TT Level 10 GT case?
 
Last edited:
Nice and clean too! Very clean for as old a build as it is.

I believe G.Skill Sniper is 42mm tall.

Bad news:
Silver Arrow SB-E bottom fins are 31.9/39/46mm above heatsink/cpu face. You can add 4-6mm for face above mobo but still not enough to clear lowest fin IF it is over RAM.

Good news:
There are a bunch of coolers with in 2-3c of each other and SA SB-E is arguable at the top. Thing is SA SB-E has TY-140 series fans which are better than most others.. and are cheaper than most others as well.

Right now you can buy DeepCool Assassin (Alpenfohn K2) for $39.95.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=33412

If Assassin isn't good enough for you add some TY-141 (74cfm 1300rpm) or even better TY-143 (130cfm 2500rpm) fans are $12.99 each.

A friend put TY-140 fans on his K2 (Assassin) and temps are 5c better than stock fans were. But that's in no way a comparison review. ;)
 
Water cooling would be another option correct? I mean the Antec Kuehler 920, Corsair H100i, or a custom built one. The only issue would be space in the case and not so much the space between RAM and Cooler.

So for RAM with heat spreaders one of the best if not best would be SA SB E?

If water cooling is a better option (disregarding the cons such as leaks and maintenance) then I should go for this instead as it'll always be better than air, but what about noise? I head water cooling is louder anyway of making it quieter?

PS: thanks for the compliment. Currently I have E8400 and 4GB RAM with my 670 FTW. The 2600k is in box in dining room and the new mobo and ram are sitting at UPS waiting to be delivered.
 
Yes but the closed loop systems are not better than the best air cooled and have lots more to go wrong.

Corsair has had lots of problems .. and still are.

I will stay with air until water is competitive both in price and life.
 
The H100i is pretty good, but head over to the WC forum and read about Swiftechs new one going to be released at CES next week. Lots of us pros think it's a really nice AIO/Custom setup. Very promising.

Only big watercooling gives adavantages. All the other ones are promises if you want to overclock, be quiet and be cool. Downfall to good watercooling is the cost.
 
I don't agree Conumdrum. It may be pretty a good cooler but the quality control is marginal at best. First deliveries were plagued with problems. New buyers are already having pump failures. Way too many reported problems and issues to be classed "pretty good." Similar problems with H80i.

I will be extremely surprised if Swiftech's new release has anything like problems Corsair is having.
 
doyll said:
I don't agree Conumdrum. It may be pretty a good cooler but the quality control is marginal at best. First deliveries were plagued with problems. New buyers are already having pump failures. Way too many reported problems and issues to be classed "pretty good." Similar problems with H80i.

I will be extremely surprised if Swiftech's new release has anything like problems Corsair is having.
Click to expand...


I tend to agree, but the H100i is the top of the cheap AIO units, but the Kraken by NZXT ( on our WC subforum looks pretty good, I forgot to mention it. But it lists more than the new Swiftech one, but not released till Febuary anyway.
 
My ThermalTake PRO is great. The only complaint I have had at all with my TT PRO cooler is the slightly wonky retainer assembly, which once assembled the first time works great and I have had no problems the multiple times I have swapped CPUs/ mobos etc. TTs have better hoses than the Corsair units. Really thick rubber that cannot kink like the plastic Corsair ones. Not a big deal though, it really comes down to which one is on sale when you need to buy.
 
I guess good = dependable in my book. Being the "top of the cheap" is only that and has nothing to do with how good they are. Some are DOA and others last only a few days, weeks, months.

I don't know of a single air cooler that has this kind of failure rate. In fact when was the last time you heard of an air cooler failing? Their fans may fail on rare occasion but that's all I've see.

:D
 
Black C5 Z06 said:
It has a thin side and a thick side. If you put the thin side towards your ram, you should be good to go.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220047
Click to expand...

That sure looks cool, but if you are dropping $75 on a cooler it might as well be a W/C IMO. I paid $73 for this TT PRO($100 regular I think) and the lesser TT unit is about $70 regular price. It isn't just that a W/C keeps your CPU cooler, in my case the biggest benefit was that my GPUs started breathing cool air and I can now clock the bahjebiz out em without thermal crashes that I used to get running an air cooler. There is also the space and clearance issue, and W/C wins bigtime in those categories compared to any aircooler I am aware of.
 
G.SKILL Sniper Series is 42mm.
Only Silver Stone SB-E has bottom fins that will not fit over it.

But remember if they front fan is 140mm you will need 182mm motherboard to side cover. ;)

Here's a list I made for cooler size comparison (Width x Depth x Height looking from front of case with motherboard laying flat)
K2 . . . . . .= . . . . 8x 6mm pipes 140x128x158mm 146x154x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm PWM fans 43.2mm*
D14 . . . . .= . . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x130x160mm 140x158x160mm w/ only 2011 has PWM fans 44mm*
TC14 . . . . .= . . . 5x 8mm pipes 140x134x160mm 140x159x171mm w/fans, PWM adaptor included 40-45mm*
Silver Arrow . = . 4x 8mm pipes 147x123x160mm 151x149x160mm w/Fans 40.87mm*
SA SB-E . . . .= . . 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 170x130x170mm w/ 140mm & 150mm PWM fans 31.9/39/46mm**
SA SB-E Extreme 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 155x130x165mm w/fans Reason it's smaller is 140mm fan vs 150mm fan.
HE01 . . . . .= . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x119c160mm w/ 140x38mm PWM fan
Dark Rock Pro .= 7x 6mm pipes 133x124x166mm 133x149x166mm w/ 120mm & 135mm PWM fans
*cooler base to fins.
**fins are at 3 different levels
 
Size of motherboard doesn't make any difference.

You have all the measurements given to you in my last post. Will the Silver Arrow SB-E fit over your RAM?

Best deal right now is DeepCool Assassin for $39.99
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=33412

It's as good as NH-D14 (not DH14) and half the price. It's name in the rest of the world is Alpenfohn K2. Look at the reviews and you will see just how good it is.
 
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