Slashdot Mirror
High-end CPU Coolers Reviewed and Compared
jjslash writes "CPU cooling units are an often-overlooked but always important side of PC building, whether you're looking to overclock or you simply want a cool-running, silent system. It's also easy to get lost if you aren't an enthusiast who keeps tabs on the best options. TechSpot has rounded up 10 high-end CPU coolers (read: huge heatsinks) including top units from Noctua, Thermalright, Xigmatek, Silverstone and Thermaltake. If you're willing to spend the cash, they rate the Noctua NH-U14S as the best overall pick. For a tighter budget, the Thermalright offerings provide the best bang for your buck."
If they are high-end, why are they silver and not black in colour?
These sorts of reviews are done regularly, by dozens of websites. I like computer hardware news (its the industry I work in, after all) but please don't let every review or roundup out there make it to Slashdot.
William George
Afaik, cooler master are the best from a price/performance ratio, where you get like 90% of the performance of a Noctua for half the price. It's like they never include this brand because it would be boring having it win the quality prize every time.
How about cooling capability per dB for those of us who want to cool quietly and relatively cheaply? I don't care what cools the most. I'm not overclocking. What I care about is cooling enough without having to hear it.
The Zalman deals with dust, yep that's a good point. Shame they don't dissipate much heat... Sort of the whole point of a CPU cooler. I run Noctua NH-D14's and yes you are right I have to strip clean them a couple of times a year. On a plus point they do keep the CPU cool.
PendragonUK http://flavors.me/pendragonuk
Chip clock speeds have sort of hit a ceiling, so beyond-factory overclocking doesn't do as much good anymore. What are you going to do with 10% more clock speed nowadays? If playing games, you'd just upgrade your video card. If you were really serious about overclocking, you'd water cool. There's just not much reason to eek out a tiny bit of cpu performance with slightly better air cooling. The stock Intel heatsink and fan is quiet and performs well, and there's not much reason to spend more money.
If they were really high-end they would be Gold.
It's a little known fact, but diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any substance you're ever likely to encounter, beating silver by a whopping 350%. The only reason it's never used for thermal applications is that forming it into arbitrary shapes is almost beyond mankind's capability, and even if we did manage to do it, the cost would be astronomical. However, if it could somehow be done, and done cheaply, it would be the ultimate heat sink material.
For comparison purposes, gold has about 33% higher thermal conductivity than aluminum, copper beats gold by about 26%, and silver in turn beats copper by about 7%, but not one of them is even in same league as diamond.
This is most likely why diamonds earned the nickname "ice". You know how, at room temperature, metal feels colder than wood or plastic? This is because its higher thermal conductivity pulls the heat out of your hand more quickly. If you were to pick up a large enough diamond, it would feel extremely cold at first, just like a piece of ice.
It seems that Graphene has even better thermal conductivity than diamond and there is a more realistic chance of getting that into the right shape for a heatsink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene#Thermal