Cooling Socket 775 Air Cooler for under £40

OK, I will be purchasing an Intel E8400 and a DFI Lanparty Motherboard hopefully next week.
I'm going to be heavily overclocking the CPU, 4GHz is an easy target with some good aircooling. The obvious choice would be the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (out of stock at Scan ) with a couple of good fans, would you recommend something else that is maybe just as good. The are all the different Thermalright coolers: 1, 2, 3.
Or maybe the ZEROtherm Nirvana which performed well in Bit-Tech's tests, or the Zalman CNPS9700 which seem popular with people, is there a difference between that and the nVidia one?
How about a Scythe Infinity (with a better fan) or an Asus Arctic Square or Silent Knight
Or could I just be happy with an AC Freezer 7 Pro

OK, well thats me jabbering on for ages, giving you loads of links, I obviously want value for money but I want a very effective cooling before I possible take the plunge to water.

TIA

 

If you're going to really push the CPU, you really should be getting the Ultra 120, however the 90 with a 120mm fan on is also a good option.

The scythe infinity struggles a bit with overclocked Intels, I would only recommend the Scythe for cooler, AMD processors.

Here is a page from FrostyTech that gives you a good idea of how they all stand up against each other.

 

My mate just got one of these monsters Seemed to work well on his quad core machine.

 

FYI if you're planning on getting the DFI LT X38-T2R LanParty board there is (small) issue with fitting the Ultra 120 (+fan) as in some configurations it touches the NorthBridge heatsink. No big problem, you just have to mount in a different configuration. I think the Ultra 90 is fine though. I'm not sure if this problem exists with the other DFI boards.

 

P35 board, it looks as if there is ample space but if not then oh well, I will orientate it another way .

I was thinking of the Tuniq, reason I didn't put it down was because Scan dont stock it. On OCUK for £32 though so I will look at some reviews.

 

Yeah i forgot about the Tuniq Tower, the thing gets some brilliant reviews, although isn't it slightly bigger than the Ultra120 extreme, therefore being even more of an issue with fitment on that motherboard...

 

i used to use Zalman 9500LED, but was hugely disappointed, switched to the best: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and never looked back.

for a penryn dual core, AC Freezer 7 Pro should be enough, afterall it's only dual core.

 

for serious overclocking? Not from what I've seen.
I think I may get the Tuniq Tower then will replace the fan later on. If I really don't like it then the 120Extreme will be on order but I can't see it not doing what I will be expecting.

 

It's not the size, it's.... Oh wait where was I going with this.. Oh yes. It's not the just the size of the cooler, it's the shape of the heatpipes and the space between the base and the first fins. I think Zalman is already riding on the brand and the 9700 is already somewhat outdated and has never been superb. Asus coolers are rubbish, Nirvana looks too funky to be designed purely for performance (damn did I just say that) and Arctic Cooling, while being a bargain, may not be up to the task anymore.

For performance I'd maybe get the 120 Xtreme from somewhere, but the Tuniq Tower isn't a bad choice either. I don't have experience of either of these, but afaik the Tuniq comes close in performance despite it's cheaper.

 

The Tuniq Tower is on my list for the next PC. Maybe if a few of us ask, there's a chance scan will stock it?

edit:
Done

 

The Scythe Ninja is very close behind the Ultra120 Extreme and at £29 inc fan much cheaper. But it's a recommended move to spend an extra £4 and use the Thermalright backplate kit with it if you move your case around a lot. Plus SPCR found it gave lower temps when bolted down.

 

hmmm, I like the cheapness, and the review you linked is very persuasive (in a simple way) if it works as well (or nearly as well) then I may just have to, a fan upgrade wont be too hard. I will read some more reviews then may order it!

 

the ultra 120 back plate is a must, the basic 775 mount dosen't provide enough mount pressure, and some are about 1/8 of an inch away, many early versions required owners to use pennies to fill the gap. (note pennies were cleaned and lapped until smooth, to create perfect copper discs)

i would stay clear of thermalright, there great coolers dont get me wrong, but far to much hassle when you get a bad one, quality control isn't there best ability! iv even seen an empty heatpipe get though there quality control!

 

You might check out FrostyTech's comparisons here:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

There are some names on their top ten list no one has mentioned as yet.

 

the Xigmatek looks rather tasty for its price, thanks for the link Scirocco

 

Agreed, an interesting read, cheers Scirocco.
Seems the Xigmatek is tops for cooling, not sure about the plastic push pins though. Think I'll probably sacrifice a few degrees of cooling and go with the solid fixing back plate and neat internal mounted fan of the Tuniq.

 

Or then you could get the Thermalright's bolt-thru kit for the Xigmatek?

 

That had crossed my mind.

With the Tuniq, the first fins start at 55mm from the board. With the Xigmatek it's 40mm. Not sure if that's an issue with the IP35 pro board I intend to get, but it may be on future builds.

 

Yeah the Pro seems to have higher heatsink for the NB than my IP35. On IP35 the HDT-S1283 can be mounted "vertically", but not sideways, and seeing the Pro's other HS is as high as the mosfet sink... Get Tuniq.