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Roundup of Eight Horizontal CPU Coolers
ThinSkin writes "ExtremeTech has done a roundup of eight sideways-gusting CPU coolers under fifty bucks to see if they can keep an overclocked Athlon FX-60 from welding itself to the motherboard. In addition to temperature testing, much emphasis was placed on noise reduction, which with some coolers can be improved by adjusting fan speed or even removing the fan from the cooler."
Silicone gaskets over hard disk mounting screws, speed variable fan power supplies like the newer Antec SmartPower 2.0s, 120 MM fans in place of 60 or 80 MM fans which can do more CFMs at slower RPMs. For starts.
Find another place to put it, or find a bigger place to live. Why exactly is it under your bed? Why not put it the furthest spot from your bed?
dude you reduce power to the cpu, underclock and pull out the fans...
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The testers decided to set every fan to maximum. Unsurprisingly then, the biggest, gruntiest fan had the best cooling while being 'too loud'. The winning fans were basically the ones with a lower maximum.
I have a suggestion for the testers: Next time you're trying to compromise between noise and temperature, don't turn every fan on to maximum. Instead, decide a set temperature and measure noise levels when the CPU reaches that temperature.
I know they talk about the weight of some of these behemoths, and they touch on how they are backed well (backing plates) but these things are huge, and put alot of stress on the Mainboard.
I have the Hyper 6, if I were to ever travel with my box I would take it off. Right now it is sitting comfortabley but driving, moving this thing might crack the mainboard around the CPU.
They should institute a "wiggle test" to see how much wiggling it takes to break the mainboard when one of these monsters is connected.
Looking at the temperature graphs, I think the bigger message from the testing is that it isn't necessary to spend the extra cash on buying non-stock cooling. You can even get away with non-stock cooling if you're overclocking.
/noise in the computer is the video card, not the processor. Currently my AMD 3500+ (overclocked from 2.2->2.6ghz on stock cooling) is running at 37C while my gpu at non 3d is running at 57C and will approach 87C when using graphically intensive applications. Typically gpu coolers are built thinly...so in order to make up for the smaller room to work with cooling wise, the fans are run at very high rpm. This also makes the video card the noisiest thing in the machine.
Rather than spending cash on changing the stock cooling, consumers would be better off spending that $50 on getting better ventilation for their case since recently, the biggest producer of heat
By the way, if you're looking for a good place for help on building a computer, I find that the steam hardware forums are the best place to get help.
Steam Hardware Forums
Your alpha probably didn't draw nearly as much power as a newer pentium based system. I'm guessing your Alpha used 50-100W, while a current dual xeon server requires about 300W+ while active. Other than that, I mostly agree with you.
The cheapo Dell desktops are much quieter than most comparable DIY systems. This is because they use several temp controlled 120mm fans spinning slowly and have gigantic heat sinks sitting near the fans (the CPU heat sink is a heat pipe cube about 4" on each side). Most of the DIY cases I've seen only come with mounting holes for noisier 80mm fans, and it's expensive to buy quiet cpu fans and gpu coolers.
The cheapo Dell desktops are much quieter than most comparable DIY systems. This is because they use several temp controlled 120mm fans spinning slowly and have gigantic heat sinks sitting near the fans (the CPU heat sink is a heat pipe cube about 4" on each side). Most of the DIY cases I've seen only come with mounting holes for noisier 80mm fans, and it's expensive to buy quiet cpu fans and gpu coolers.
Many newer DIY cases are coming standard with 120mm fans and/or mounting holes for them. For me, this was a big requirement in buying my last case, and led me to getting Gigabyte's new case, which has two 120mm fans in the back, and one in the front. Combined with a Thermaltake Super Tornado, which also has a 120mm fan, and my Seasonic 600W power supply which also has a 120mm fan, my system is pretty quiet, even with a power-guzzling 3.6GHz P4.
The main problem with DIY cases with regard to systems like Dell's is that the DIY cases have to adhere to the ATX standard, and can't do anything special which might cause some motherboards to not fit properly. So places like Dell can come up with more efficient cooling solutions using plastic ductwork, while we're stuck with crazy (and expensive) CPU cooler designs. For Dells and many servers I've looked in, they don't even have CPU fans at all, just heatsinks. These heatsinks are then covered with ducts which lead to or from fans which force air through the heatsinks and then out the back of case. This gives you a big benefit not just in having well-directed airflow, but also you get better use out of fewer fans: instead of a case like mine with fans in the front, fans in the back, a fan on the CPU, and yet another one in the power supply, you just have one or two fans in the front, and that's it.
DIY cases just don't have this kind of thing because it wouldn't be compatible with much, and DIYers of course love to mix-n-match their components.