Most silent i7 3820 cooler

[jomsjoms]

What is the top3 most silent cooler for an i7 3820 given the following:

1) CPU = i7 3820
2) Mboard = Asus P9x79 WS
3) Vcard = Gigabyte GTX 660ti 2GB (Is this the most silent 660ti? I heard asus is more silent but it has a lot of trouble so i opted for a gigabyte)
4) Corsair 850w Gold PSU
5) Will not overclock for now but if ever I will, it will only be a very mild overclock
6) The smaller the cooler, the better.
7) Case = Corsair 550D silent casing
8) Most important thing is SILENT fan
9) budget is below $100 but i think I dont need to spend as much because all I need is a silent cooler. Performance is not a priority since I won't overclock or if ever only a mild overclock
10) I don't think i like water cooling so I need an air cooler


Thanks

 

[ninjacore]

Are you okay with fan less coolers? If your case ventilation us good enough, you could probably get away with a passive (fan less) cooler. These are typically aimed at people who have all other fan less component, however, because the CPU cooler is likely to be drowned out anyway by the video card or power supply.

My Asus DCII card was very silent, but you will likely not notice too much of a difference as long as your gigabyte isn't a reference design card, so I wouldn't bother swapping in that dept.

Exactly what noise level are you comfortable with and what noise level do your other components run at? I know your PSU is quiet as I have the 750 version. How loud does your gigabyte card get?

 

[jomsjoms]

i really dont know because Im just still going to buy the components that Ive mentioned. I dont think I want a fanless CPU cooler. At least 1 fan with a compact heat sink will do since I won't overclock anyway.

What do you mean by my gigabyte being a reference card? If you can recommend me what silent 660ti vcard to buy then i'd be more than grateful as well.

=)

 

[ninjacore]

If you know you aren't gonna OC, then you can just get some low profile heatsink compatible with 120mm fans and im sure someone here with up to date fan knowledge can recommend the best quiet model fan.

For the GPU, since you don't own it yet, I would look at "660ti noise comparison" or something similar to get a better idea of the various levels. Reference cards have the stock, typically single fan cooling and are usually louder than the gigabyte, MSI, Asus... cards with dual/tri fan aftermarket coolers.

If you aren't stuck on nvidia, it might be worth it to also compare AMD's line in terms of noise performance. They use less power, so they don't have to work so hard to keep the GPU cool (less noise). Their price-performance ratio is also better at the moment. The 7950 or 7870 will be on par with (or better than) the 660ti

 

[jomsjoms]

Thanks ninja.

- What low profile heatsink with a good fan is the most quiet? I prefer to buy it outright and not have to install fans separately.

- I'm stuck with Nvidia's GPU since I will be using it on Adobe premiere which generally uses Nvidia's GPU only for enhanced processing (except for the top AMD which cost a lot)

 

[jomsjoms]

Anyone else?

 

[doyll]

CPU cooling any of the big twins will work very well passive or just idle the fans at 600-700rpm. If you use all PWM fans in case of similar rpm to CPU cooler fans you can run them all with CPU PWM signal using Gelid PWM splitter/splitters which use PSU molex for power. It runs rpm signal from CPU cooler fan to mobo and mobo sends PWM signal to maintain cooler fan rpm to all fans. As the molex supplies 12v from PSU to all fans there is no load on mobo. Mine idle at 700rpm @ 23-27c (silent) and full load 1100rpm @ 46-50c.. very quiet.

 

[ninjacore]

Thanks ninja.

- What low profile heatsink with a good fan is the most quiet? I prefer to buy it outright and not have to install fans separately.

- I'm stuck with Nvidia's GPU since I will be using it on Adobe premiere which generally uses Nvidia's GPU only for enhanced processing (except for the top AMD which cost a lot)

Sorry, I can't really recommend something fitting your description. I've only looked into the larger, tower style coolers.

The width of your case is actually half and inch wider than mine (Antec 300), so I would imagine you can fit just about any cooler you want in there. I squeezed a 140mm tall TRUE into mine with about 1/2 mm to spare, so you should be good.

The idea to get a good tower cooler and run it with either no fan or a fan at low RPMs is a good one. Look into the low RPM yate loon fans or use a controller/app or BIOS, as suggested to control the fan speed.

There are lots of 212 + and EVOs floating around in various classifieds and eBay (and new from newegg for cheap). One of those should be fine for you. Just run the fan at low RPMs or grab a new, specifically "quiet" fan and run that.

You'll have to attach the fan that the cooler comes with anyway in most cases, so you won't be saving yourself any work by buying one, "fan inclusive" unit.

Also, watch out on the "low profile" HSF options as they are much more likely to block ram slots than the tower style coolers.

 

[doyll]

Phanteks PH-TC14PE, Silver Arrow SB-E, NH-D14 all fit.

Found a Hardocp.com review of 550D with Silver Arrow SB-E audio, but not sure if it's okay to post links??

You have PM jomsjoms

 

[jomsjoms]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm just hesitant to use big coolers since I am going to use the Gskill ripjaws Z 1600 RAM and ive read that theyr a bit large. The cooler might hit the RAM given that I will be using it on an Asus Asus P9x79 WS and a Corsair 550D casing.

You think this will work?

 

[Boulard83]

Im running a PH-TC14PE on my 3820, hooked to my Lamptron FC5 fan controller and the Fans are nearly silent. It can handle my gentle 4.2ghz OC. Im at 50-55°c while gaming and 30-35 idle. Room is ~25°c. Fully loaded with linpack stresstest im at 60-65 °c.

 

[Heater]

NH-D14 is amazing as well with fans on low. Can handle my 2500k at 5.1ghz 1.51v temps in mid 70s.

 

[doyll]

How tall is Gskill ripjaws Z 1600 RAM?

You can see how cooler fits and how quiet it is even at full load. The key to quiet is having a enough cooling capacity to cool without having to run crazy / noisy fan speeds. I know where a couple of SA SB-E Extreme coolers are. They are same SA SB-E but with TY-143 fans that put out 130cfm @ 2500rpm and 43dBA. Extrme out perform Corsair H100 by 6c at 2500rpm and is 1dBA louder than H100. But if you run the fans at 1300rpm they are same dBA as stock SA SB-E.

If you want to see / hear SA SB-E Extreme vs SA SB-e vs H100 it's on youtube "Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E vs. Corsair H100 vs. Silver Arrow SB-E Extrem"

i7 3820 @4.75GHz
Temperature is delta.

H100 . . . . . . . . 41c 2500rpm. . . . . . . . 55dBA 2
SA SB-E . . . . . . 42c 1000rpm & 1300rpm 38dBA TY-150 & TY-141
SA SB-E Extreme 34c 2500rpm. . . . . . . . 56dBA 2x TY-143

you have pm

 

[doyll]

NH-D14 is amazing as well with fans on low. Can handle my 2500k at 5.1ghz 1.51v temps in mid 70s.

NH-D14 is good cooler. Too bad only the 2011 comes with PWM fans.

 

[Heater]

I know right? Sucks. But with the resistor added in it still does great and is damn quiet.

 

[doyll]

I'm just a sucker for PWM control

You've got some nice systems in your sig.

 

[Heater]

Thank you. I have an issue when new tech comes out I am required to try it then sell them. The selling never comes...

 

[doyll]

LOL I try to buy used so all of my stuff is old tech.

EDIT: Just noticed where you live. My son graduated from HS there in 1997.

Got stuck there for month one week with Xmas blizzard shut everything down.

 

[Knufire]

Why the 3820 over the 3770K?

 

[jomsjoms]

what do you mean by "NH-D14 is good cooler. Too bad only the 2011 comes with PWM fans."

I am using an LGA 2011 chipset motherboard right (Asus P9x79 WS)? So I will have PWM when i buy the NH-D14?