Weekend Open Forum: Do you use a custom cooler?

User Comments: 81

1. July 15, 2011 11:01 PM
   Guest said:

   My rig started out with the stock cooler on an AMD Phenom II 955BE. Forever it was at the stock speeds, then i became frisky and managed a slight overclock to bring it to 965 speeds. Here recently I replaced the stock heat sink with a Corsair H60, and WOW is it amazing. While at first I considered this a compromise since my RAM is literally touching the mounting bracket for the CPU, and I needed something small to replace the stock HSF, but I didn't want something that would be just the same performance. I however was completely and totally surprised with the cooling performance out of this little black square. I went from 55-60°C idle with a slight overclock of 3.4Ghz to 31-33°C idle with the CPU overclocked to 3.84Ghz. I cannot do anything but recommend this CPU cooler. It's also dead quiet compared to the stock HSF. I have this in a push/pull configuration with 2 Thermaltake Thunderblade's with 70ish CFM's. I love this cooler. I really do.

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2. July 15, 2011 11:05 PM
   

   Mikymjr said:

   I have one Asus Triton 75 in use on my main rig, cooling my AMD PhenomII X3 710 @ 2.99 GHz and an Asus Silent Knight (chrome) just waiting for a new build =)

   Reply
3. July 15, 2011 11:07 PM
   

   negroplasty said:

   Noctua NH-D14 for my i7 and LOVING it so far.

   Reply
4. July 15, 2011 11:12 PM
   oz1819 said:

   I am using a Corsair H50 to cool my AMD Phenom II x4 970. It's significantly better that the stock cooler, but i think high end air coolers of the same price could do as good or better of a job to cool my CPU. With my AC set at 74 degrees my CPU idles at 30 Celsius and gaming around 50. When i have my AC set at 78 idle is around 34 Celsius and gaming near 55. I do not recommend the H50 for a Phenom II X4.

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5. July 15, 2011 11:39 PM
   aspleme said:

   I've got the Sandy Bridge i5 2500. I don't overclock because I'm more interested in system stability than in raw power. Most applications don't use everything my processor can put out, and if they do... well, I can live with taking a little more time to encode video.

   As for interest in the rotating heat sink... it offers something that none of the current custom coolers can, a low profile with a low maintenance demand. For something even quieter and more efficient than the stock cooler, without the negatives of current custom coolers... I would definitely be interested. But I'd still rather run my hardware at default speeds and simply enhance cooling and efficiency rather than overclocking and needing extra cooling just to stay stable.

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6. July 15, 2011 11:58 PM
   Guest said:

   my old core i7 920 with a corsair H50 not the best but does the job

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7. July 16, 2011 12:08 AM
   madboyv1, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   I'm currently using a Prolimatech Samuel 17 to cool an i5 2500k. Partly because I'm using said processor in the Lian Li PC-Q08 and have VERY LITTLE clearance for a heatsink. Even the stock heatsink was pushing it, but I'm kinda glad I have that massive chunk of metal that dwarfs the motherboard.*

   *http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/madboyv1/DSC_3291.jpg

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8. July 16, 2011 2:11 AM
   Guest said:

   955 BE @4.0Ghz and Mugen 2 rev. B. 59 Celsius at full load.

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9. July 16, 2011 3:11 AM
   mosu said:

   almost from my first computer, I like them silent and slightly overclocked.

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10. July 16, 2011 3:54 AM
    Guest said:

    I've got a Core i5 750 overclocked to 3.6GHz with a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ cooler. It idles somewhere around 30C and i've never seen it hit past 65C under full load.

    Reply
11. July 16, 2011 4:32 AM
    Guest said:

    Zalman CNPS10x Flex ftw! Horrible mounting process on socket 1155/1156, but the cooling is good. It's really just a heatsink, so you can pair it up with whatever fan(s) you wish to use. It can have one on the front and one in the back. I went for a single low-rpm Akasa Apache fan, to keep my rig quiet. Actually, I got the same heatsink and fan in both my computers now.

    The i7-2600K idles at 25-33c across all cores. My old i7-860 idles at ~25c on all cores. I dunno why core #3 on my i7-2600K always seems to run 8c hotter than core #0. I first thought I must have really messed up the application of cooling paste, so I redid it and it's still the same. I'm guessing it's just the architecture of the CPU, or core priority or something. I read the temps with HWMonitor from CPUID.

    Anyone else having similar temp differences on their i7-2600K cores?

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12. July 16, 2011 4:34 AM
    r8bwp said:

    i7 2600k @4.5 alpenfohn matterhorn, no problems here,

    Have more heat from the ka2 560 ti oc, plays most games at 60 fps no problems but runs around 70c even with its two fans and not overclocked

    Reply
13. July 16, 2011 4:52 AM
    

    Mizzou said:

    I have a box full of OEM coolers that have never been used, save them in case I wind up selling the processor. Zalman, Noctua, Corsair, Swiftech, etc. - anything but stock.

    Reply
14. July 16, 2011 5:12 AM
    ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    Stock cooler.

    Reply
15. July 16, 2011 5:16 AM
    

    Benny26, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    Nothing to flaunt here for me either. I keep meaning to step it up and do a complete rig out with all the latest stuff, but i'm just always bloody working or doing something else.

    Then again, I would say that i'm not 'bursting' to get a new set up with a custom cooler, my little E3200 does everything i ask of it without breaking any sweats.

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16. July 16, 2011 5:23 AM
    

    yowanvista said:

    Cooler Master V6GT

    Reply
17. July 16, 2011 5:25 AM
    

    red1776, Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe, said:

    I have a shelf full of OEM HS/F's as well. My ten year old daughter was in the shop last week and started looking at the shelf of old motherboards. Being the artistic soul she is, made the observation that they look like "tiny cityscapes" a couple hours later she turned an AM2+ DFI 790 FX M2RS into a rather nifty diorama, and lit it with some LED's.

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18. July 16, 2011 5:29 AM
    fpsgamerJR62 said:

    I use a Cooler Master V8 with my Phenom II X4 955 BE. Processor is currently running at stock clocks but I plan to overclock it to around 4 Ghz while waiting for Bulldozer to arrive. I hope the V8 is up to the task.

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19. July 16, 2011 5:31 AM
    hahahanoobs said:

    CPU:

    First: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro

    Second: OCZ Vendetta 2

    Current: Zalman Flex

    Stock cooling is for suckers.

    Reply
20. July 16, 2011 5:34 AM
    

    red1776, Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe, said:

    I use a Cooler Master V8 with my Phenom II X4 955 BE. Processor is currently running at stock clocks but I plan to overclock it to around 4 Ghz while waiting for Bulldozer to arrive. I hope the V8 is up to the task.

    Unless you live near the equator with no air conditioning fps, The V-8 will cope nicely with a 4.0Ghz OC on a 955. i had a V8 on an Phenom II x6 @ 4.2 with additional Voltage and it handled it nicely.

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21. July 16, 2011 6:53 AM
    

    Tekkaraiden said:

    Not since my Athlon Xp 3200 (areo 7 plus). The size and weight of most aftermarket coolers have made me worry that they'll damage the motherboard.

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22. July 16, 2011 7:18 AM
    

    Mizzou said:

    Not since my Athlon Xp 3200 (areo 7 plus). The size and weight of most aftermarket coolers have made me worry that they'll damage the motherboard.

    I was also initially concerned about the weight of some of the aftermarket coolers but many of the higher end units have mounting systems that replace the stock brackets. At one point was running a Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 with dual fans on my X58 system, wasn't a problem and can see no evidence of it warping the motherboard.

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23. July 16, 2011 7:28 AM
    Guest said:

    For my latest build I used the stock cooler that comes with the i7-2600k, with no immediate plans to overclock yet. However, the fan nose was irritating me, so within a week, I upgraded to a zalman 120mm CPU cooler. Fan runs slow and silent.

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24. July 16, 2011 8:06 AM
    colinf said:

    955be @ 3.6

    corsair H70

    the stock that came with my phenom wasn't that bad tbh

    Reply
25. July 16, 2011 8:10 AM
    tonylukac said:

    I don't overclock so I use the stock cooler. I'd like to hear of horror stories of leaky water coolers.

    Reply

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