Recommended Heatsinks from Silent PC Review

Sidney · 12th February 2006, 16:58

CPU heatsinks are usually packaged and marketed with a fan, which explains the rise of the moniker HSF, heatsink fan. Most hardware web sites test the HSF as an integrated unit. For SPCR, this is not an ideal way to do things, mainly because almost all fans supplied with HS are too loud. If we had to test and use them in stock form, we would recommend less than 1% of all the HSF on the market.

Sidney · 12th February 2006, 17:01

Needless to say the lower the voltage to the fan, the lower the RPM and lower the CFM = lower the noise level, in an orderly manner.

Yes, no fan = no noise (from nothing)

jmke · 12th February 2006, 17:08

not much to add here, only that AC freezer series deserves a higher ranking;

Sidney · 12th February 2006, 17:18

I do ......

Quote:

Motherboard makers generally assume a certain level of "spillover" airflow from the heatsink fan across the voltage regulator module (VRM) components that are placed around the CPU socket. These components include capacitors, power transistors and inductors (coils). When the CPU fan speed is reduced to minimal levels in order to achieve low noise, cooling for the CPU may be perfectly adequate with a good heatsink, but the VRM components may be prone to overheating, which can impair electrical efficiency and reduce component life.

Tall tower (or high rise) heatsinks with fans that blow air parallel to the motherboard rather than down at it are more likely to cause VRM component cooling problems — even when the fan is not run at minimal speed, bcause the airflow is sometimes blocked by the fins from reaching the sufrace of the motherboard. When the fans on such heatsinks are slowed to minimum speed, VRM cooling can suffer quite a bit.

Users should be aware of this potential issue and ensure some additional airflow from at least one case exhaust fan in most systems. The quality, efficiency and intrinsic cooling of VRMs varies substantially from motherboard to motherboard, however.

After consideration of this fine print, there is more than one angle where the "best" is not enough. (robbing Peter to pay Paul)

jmke · 12th February 2006, 17:33

Quote:

Tall tower (or high rise) heatsinks with fans that blow air parallel to the motherboard rather than down at it are more likely to cause VRM component cooling problems — even when the fan is not run at minimal speed, bcause the airflow is sometimes blocked by the fins from reaching the sufrace of the motherboard. When the fans on such heatsinks are slowed to minimum speed, VRM cooling can suffer quite a bit.

how about some TECH data to back up that statement. In a case with 120mm rear exhaust I can tell you that Ninja gives better PWM temps than SI-120 when both use the same 120mm fan.

12th February 2006, 17:46

Quote:

Originally posted by jmke
not much to add here, only that AC freezer series deserves a higher ranking;

I think price wasn't a factor in this rating but even then I doubt the Zalman offerings should be rated higher than the Freezers, simply because fan quality matters.

12th February 2006, 16:58	#1
Sidney Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15,738	Recommended Heatsinks from Silent PC Review CPU heatsinks are usually packaged and marketed with a fan, which explains the rise of the moniker HSF, heatsink fan. Most hardware web sites test the HSF as an integrated unit. For SPCR, this is not an ideal way to do things, mainly because almost all fans supplied with HS are too loud. If we had to test and use them in stock form, we would recommend less than 1% of all the HSF on the market. __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

12th February 2006, 17:01	#2
Sidney Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15,738	Needless to say the lower the voltage to the fan, the lower the RPM and lower the CFM = lower the noise level, in an orderly manner. Yes, no fan = no noise (from nothing) __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

12th February 2006, 17:08	#3
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,021	not much to add here, only that AC freezer series deserves a higher ranking; __________________

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
RIP Keith Suppe , Liquid3D	jmke	WebNews	16	7th September 2009 12:16
Gigabyte 9800GT 1GB Silent Cell Review	jmke	WebNews	0	23rd July 2009 15:05
NZXT Whisper Classic Series Silent Tower Review	jmke	WebNews	0	29th December 2008 08:46
Glacialtech Igloo 7312 Silent E Heatsink Review	Massman	WebNews	0	24th September 2008 20:52
Glacialtech Igloo 5063 Cu Silent E Heatsink Review	jmke	WebNews	0	30th August 2008 09:23
ASUS Silent Knight II Heatsink Review	jmke	WebNews	0	13th March 2008 20:23
Glacialtech Igloo 5610 Silent Heatsink Review	Sidney	WebNews	0	11th December 2007 00:00
GlacialTech Igloo 5710 Silent and PWM Heatsinks Review	jmke	WebNews	0	13th November 2007 08:24
Thermaltake Silent 775 Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 heatsink review	Da_BoKa	WebNews	0	30th November 2004 12:56