CPU Cooler Suggestions?

[canadaboy25]

Hey guys I have an AMD FX-8350 Processor on an Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 motherboard.

The cooler that came with the CPU just isn't paying the bills. I can have 3 gigs of memory used and 30% CPU utilization and my temperature will be up in the 70°C range. I know that is not off the charts hot but its hotter than I would like and I am willing to pay a bit extra to keep the heat down. The fans also go full throttle when it's that hot and it is really annoying to listen to them for no reason.

If anyone could suggest a cooler that would be bigger and fit my motherboard that would be great.

Watercooling isn't really an option because in don't have the time, nor patience to fool around with that.

Thanks

[ratdude747]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

What compound did you use? how much?

[brethin]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Remove the heat sink and clean it and the cpu. Then apply the thermal compound and reassemble. The type or brand of compound is not nearly as important as making sure you have used some and that the heat sink is flush (well seated) on the cpu.

Changing from generic compound to a high grade might net you a 3 degree temp change but a improper mount of the heat sink will cook your cpu.

With no load and proper cooling it should be around 55°C on the core and 60°C on the socket. 70°C is high with no load and tells me you heat sink is not flush on the cpu.

[canadaboy25]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

The CPU came with a nice thick square of even compound already on it.

The PC was built on valentines day this year

[ratdude747]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

The CPU came with a nice thick square of even compound already on it.

The PC was built on valentines day this year

Yuck. "Nice and THICK" is not NICE at all. I'd throw a small amount of AS5 on that, after cleaning with alcohol swabs. Just enough to coat the heat spreader on the CPU when the cooler is latched and nothing more is ideal.

[mariushm]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

I have FX-8320 (pretty much same thing) and I use a Zerotherm FZ-120 cooler with a Noctua silent fan installed instead of the original one.

The FZ-120 wasn't that expensive when it was new, maybe about $30.

The stock cooler is designed as a compromise between price, cooling capability and noise. It's noisy and not so capable, because it had to be cheap.

At 70c, the processor is probably already throttling itself down to lower frequencies when needed, so don't have to worry about damaging it. But it would help to install a better cooler.

As for thermal paste, the ideal application is a thin layer of paste. Best way is to clean both surfaces and put a drop of thermal paste in the center of the cpu, about the size of a pea. When you put the heatsink straight down on the cpu, the pea of paste will be flattened in all directions and therefore the paste will spread out by itself.

If you spread the paste in advance, you won't get an even spread, and as the heatsink goes down it could trap small molecules of air between the paste layer and the heatsink, which will cancel all the benefit of having paste in that spot.

[c_hegge]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Yuck. "Nice and THICK" is not NICE at all. I'd throw a small amount of AS5 on that, after cleaning with alcohol swabs. Just enough to coat the heat spreader on the CPU when the cooler is latched and nothing more is ideal.

It's not that thick. Just like on the Intel stock coolers, the TIM is pre-applied - it's just a fairly thin layer on the bottom of the cooler, and it usually works nearly as well as appropriate layer of AS5. The problem is that the AMD stock coolers just don't handle those 125W 8 core CPUs well.

OP: I'd suggest a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. They are very well priced for what they offer.

[canadaboy25]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

No it wasnt very thick i just meant there was sufficent surface coverage.

Like i said I'de prefer to pay a bit to keep it cooler

[rhomanski]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Mine has a six core socket 2011. The one they said was a server chip cut down. I used a dremel to cut holes for tubes and mounted a thermaltake water cooler outside the chassis. It had two holes for 120mm fans side by side. I just put the screws in the existing holes and put two sets of fans on it, pushpull. The thermaltake is maintenance free. No hassles. They were even on sale for about a hundred bucks recently. I think mine was about $130 when I bought it a year ago.

[Hondaman]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

I have the original BARAM heatsink from Korea on an 8-core AMD 8150 (it took a great deal of looking around to get the last couple of first-generation BARAM coolers available anywhere). You buy whatever 120mm fan (or two, for push-pull) that you want to use, fans are not included. The first generation BARAM, that I have, has a nickel base. The second generation had a copper base touching the CPU.

I used this computer to do protein folding a while back. I don't remember how hot it got, but it was not "hitting the limit". Don't quote me, but it might have hit 53-57 degrees C maximum. For a very high "torture-testing" CPU load level.

(The factory-included heatsink is a compromise IIRC - size, cost, noise and effectiveness under lighter "business" use. It is very easy to get a far better cooler, although the "bridge" chips and the caps near the VRM won't be cooled as well by modern CPU coolers.)

[canadaboy25]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

I'd suggest a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. They are very well priced for what they offer.

Thanks I bought that one and I am very, very happy with it! It even fit in my case! Now my highest temp is around 50°C which is a slight improvement over the 90°C that it was hitting at half load before.

Thanks for showing me that cooler!

[c_hegge]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Yeah. I have one in my current main rig now, and I can't fault it. My 3770K barely gets warm with it.

[SuperDuty]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

I have the Hyper 212 Evo as well on my Phenom II X4 965 @3.6Ghz and it's barely over 60°C in full charge, 57°C with an additional fan.
I know it could be better but my cable management isn't the best so airflow could be improved with a newer case (I have a huge but old Chiefter Dragon tower). The very hot GTX480 underneath doesn't help either.

[canadaboy25]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Yeah I have the Cooler Master N600 and it allows you to run almost all of your cables behind the motherboard. So my case is pretty neat, I only have a couple of sata and power cables running out in the open. Along with one IDE cable for my soundblaster card.

I guess the stock coolers just can't handle a 125W CPU

[SuperDuty]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

Actually the stock cooler isn't bad at all for what it is. It wouldn't even need to be replaced if there was a way to install a larger, quieter fan. I did have an improvement with the Hyper 212 Evo but it wasn't huge (the Phenom II X4 965 is 125W as well and it's the same IHS).

Here's an interesting topic : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2300800

I'd say, start by changing the thermal compound and see what you get. I'm sure you'll get a serious improvement.

[stj]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

anybody tried changing the paste under the cpu cap/heatspreader ??
i dont mean can it be done, it can - i mean any noticable improvement?

[SuperDuty]

Re: CPU Cooler Suggestions?

From what I've found, the 125W AMD processor have the heat spreader soldered to the CPU die. So there's no reason to replace it, ever.
But I've seen people change the thermal paste on intel CPUs with a slight improvement.