Big Heatsinks

[shadow]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I like the optical drives below eye level when the case is on the desk.

Yes that is advisable. The number of stories I have read about discs shattering in drives. Man if a piece got into your eye....your eye would be gone! Scary shit with what can happen with optical drives.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Big Heatsinks

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'll probably OC it, and I'm going to look at those cases with the PSU on the bottom. I'll let you guys know once I take a look on Newegg.

[Fizzycapola]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I read those Noctua sinks are currently the best.

Although the Thermoelectric cooler last year (forgot name) I think still beats it.

Important to remember most of these large coolers either won't fit or won't fit well in most PC's, don't know why they don't test them first before manufacturing them, they used to.

[Fizzycapola]

Re: Big Heatsinks

Interesting to see how your chosen CPU sink also has a significant effect on MB temps. You can see the top performing Noctua leaves motherboard at 58oC whilst the Gigabyte G-Power Pro 2 leaves MB at a reassuring 29oC.

Reference:
https://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/...power-2-pro/4/
www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/cpu-coolers/

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Big Heatsinks

It's not just the fan though, it's the fan and heatsink together.
-
A heatsink with more surface area for the fan to blow air through/on will give better cooling than one with less while using the same fan.

More surface area usually means more fins.
More fins means more cuts and that usually means thinner fins.

A 'stock' Intel cooler for up to 2.8GHz 'looks' identical to one for 3.2GHz
(Pulled #'s outta' my arse, take the idea, not the actual numbers.)
- Look identical until you look at the fins.
2.8 has fewer and thicker fins.
3.2 has more fins but thinner because to get more fins they have to make more cuts in the same size/shape block of aluminum stock.

.

[ratdude747]

Re: Big Heatsinks

another thing to be careful of is that stuff besides dust gets caught in fan sometimes as well. I have a Powmax Bio II case that has a 120mm intake, 90mm side exhaust, and a 120mm exhaust in back. what happened once was I opened up a box that had too many packing peanuts in it, and they got scattered when the bottom of the box broke. come 2 weeks later when I was checking my 4 hard drives, I found about... say 7 of those dudes, a piece of a Butterfinger wrapper and a thick layer of dust clogging the intake. in fact, there was a 3"x1.5" hole where all the cables for the front USB and sound cables went, and a few more peanuts ended up there.

maybe I should flip the side fan, bu every week or 2, be sure to clean the filter or grate by the fan. remember too much dust can also kill a fan if it gets in the motor, so be sure to keep it all clean.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Big Heatsinks

Yes that is advisable. The number of stories I have read about discs shattering in drives. Man if a piece got into your eye....your eye would be gone! Scary shit with what can happen with optical drives.

Actually what I meant was I'm too lazy to sit up straight so I can see what I'm doing when I put the disk in the tray.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Big Heatsinks

another thing to be careful of is that stuff besides dust gets caught in fan sometimes as well. I have a Powmax Bio II case that has a 120mm intake, 90mm side exhaust, and a 120mm exhaust in back. what happened once was I opened up a box that had too many packing peanuts in it, and they got scattered when the bottom of the box broke. come 2 weeks later when I was checking my 4 hard drives, I found about... say 7 of those dudes, a piece of a Butterfinger wrapper and a thick layer of dust clogging the intake. in fact, there was a 3"x1.5" hole where all the cables for the front USB and sound cables went, and a few more peanuts ended up there.

maybe I should flip the side fan, bu every week or 2, be sure to clean the filter or grate by the fan. remember too much dust can also kill a fan if it gets in the motor, so be sure to keep it all clean.

If you manage your fans such that you have more air going in than out you will slightly pressurize the case.
- This is good.
It keeps you from sucking dirt/dust into your optical drives, floppy drive, and card reader (if you have one).
-
To do that you have to have more blow than the PSU can suck. - Ahem...
.

[Grimuls]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I disagree with the notion that many of then Large coolers out there are just "bells n whistles"
I'll acknowledge READILY that a lot of them are. But in all my years of overclocking, the number of coolers that have been SMALLER, yet more efficient in dissipating heat have certainly been less than has the inverse.

For your proc, there's a nice list of choices.

The TT Tower is good.
Pretty quite, and a GREAT cooler (you arent cooling, so it will be exceptional in your case)

http://www.tuniq.com.tw/Cooler%20Info/Tower-120.htm

There's the scythe that has been mentioned.

And recently. There's this one:

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_pa..._t_copper.html
Its a bit pricey, but these things give close to WATER COOLING results.

They're cheaper ones like the orb for example.
Most of the enthusiast ones come with adjustable fan speeds.
And you can lapp and get ever better temps.

When you're ready for a build list do tell ^_^

[gdement]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I haven't messed with heatsinks very much, but whenever I've tried to compare performance of them, it always ends up as you'd expect - the heavier heatsink works better.
There may be exceptions, but they seem rare. For a lighter heatsink to outperform a heavier one, the people who designed the heavy one would have to be incompetent.

[370forlife]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I use a Rosewill RCX-Z940-SL. Only cost 15 bucks, is light, but very tall, and the nice part is that its not wider than a stock cooler, so it clears all graphics cards, ram, chipset coolers, etc... Keeps my 5000+ at 22C idle, 32C full load, thats in a room that is usually about 20C.

[bgavin]

Re: Big Heatsinks

I've done a lot of research on the big sinks and maintain a database of performance characteristics. At first blush, one would think a higher fin density results in move heat removal... but it really depends upon the head pressure in the fan. The slow fans and/or low head pressure devices don't fare well with high fin density. You get around this with a muscular or fast running fan, and then have the noise problems.

With Prescott processors, one has to deal with the increased heat. I always use down drafter coolers, due to VRM overheating problems. This is in the Intel spec, which is why I was surprised with the plethora of side drafters. Then again, the side drafters are really optimal for high TDP processors or OC'ed boxes. The VRM suffers.

Case design is one of the critical functions that is overlooked. The quality free flow cases such as the Antec Solo or P182 really make a significant different. Especially with a high BTU graphics card. Those damn things are worse then the CPUs...

I run a lot of fans in my boxes, but replug the molex pins from 12v to the 5v side of the connector. This runs the fan at half speed, and dead silent. They last longer also. If you have the option, run large diameter fans at slow RPM for long life and low noise.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Big Heatsinks

Heat transfer rate is affected by both mass flow rate (of the air) and the surface area of the heatsink exposed to the air flow.

Mass of the heatsink doesn't mean much unless the mass is used to create more surface area.
-
There is a limit to how much heat air will pull off a surface so more fins won't (might not) do any good if the heat doesn't get to ALL the fins. In a poor design the extra fins might not actually be acting as heat transfer area.
-
Referring to my goofy little drawing.
In those designs where the center of the block is thicker to the fins what the designer is doing getting the heat to the outer fins too by keeping the distance (yellow lines) from the CPU (red) approximately the same as (or at least closer to what) it is to the center fins.
- Designs with a copper core probably use this shape for the core for the same reason.

...

Running fans at 1/2 speed will reduce cooling capacity by 1/2.
[Heat Transfer Rate] = [Mass Flow Rate] x [The rest of the equation]

- About fans what matters for heat transfer the fan's 'mass flow rate'.
Mass flow rate is volumetric flow rate adjusted for the density of the air.
Many things affect the volumetric flow rate:
RPM, diameter, number of vanes (blades), pitch (angle) of blades, how thick the fan is.

Colder case air means air is more dense (there is more 'mass' of air in the given volume) and so the given volume can carry more heat away with it.

.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Big Heatsinks

Opps

[370forlife]

Re: Big Heatsinks

With Prescott processors, one has to deal with the increased heat. I always use down drafter coolers, due to VRM overheating problems... really optimal for high TDP processors or OC'ed boxes. The VRM suffers.

That why there should be a cooler on the VRM. My Tpower has a fanless heatsink on the chipset that has a heatpipe that connects to a large heatsink on the VRM. That VRM heatsink in right under the rear fan, so it sucks out the hot air from that. You can even get it with the cooler harbor, which is a fan and heatsink that sticks up right in front of the rear fan. If you are using a side draft heatsink, you have to make sure you are getting the right motherboard, too...otherwise, as you said, the VRM suffers.

[bgavin]

Re: Big Heatsinks

After spending a lifetime at IBM, I know full well what heat did to mainframe components... VRM isn't any different. The systems I build are definitely designed with cooling in mind. Cool first, quiet second, performance last. I use an IR temp sensor to measure board components. Using the Zipang cooler, they never get above 40C.

If I need to go faster, I use a faster processor. Or... disable a bunch of the Windows eye-candy services, and pick up zillions of free cycles.

My current favorite is the Zipang cooler with a Red Scorpion 140mm fan at 1100 rpm. Sitting on an E8400, it keeps temps in the mid-20C range. We get torrid summers here, but the house is always air conditioned to no more than 23C (I have exotic pets). I'm eagerly awaiting the Thermalright AXP-140 that is announced but not yet available. It is also a 140mm fan and down-draft arrangement.