Heat sink choice de jour

[Snafu]

Trying to decide on a new heat sink to buy. Running now with stock.
Considering:
- Thermaltake TT CL-P0025 Silent tower heatpipe
- Zalman CNPS7000-Cu (or AlCu)
- Thermalright SP-94 (or XP-120 if it comes out in time)

Wanted to get some thoughts before going out an buying one.

Heatpipe technology used in Thermaltake and Thermaright units make sense. But a lot of folks seem to swear by the Zalman.

Concerns:
- Does heatpipe technology really work in ATX cases where the pipes are not running vertical?
- weight: all of the CU units are over the recommended 450g weight for the MoBo. How do you support something this heavy to reduce the strain on the board?
- would heatpipe outperform the Zalman?

The Thermalright XP-120 is the lightest of the bunch but does not seem to be available as yet.

Whatever is chose I need to make sure the unit will clear everything on the boards. No matter how good the unit is, it won't work if it does not fit. I believe all will fit the Asus board but will need to run some measurements or hear from others who are using the same board.

Thanks :thumbs:

[RotorHead]

All the heat sinks you listed would make a good choice for cooling. As for the heat pipe question, I have not seen any reviews that specifically go into testing different orientations.

The Zalman would be a good choice for the combination of good temps and low noise.

The SP-94 has great performance but might be quite a bit louder depending on what type of fan you use. Can’t really speak for the XP-120, haven’t seen any real world tests done on that one.

The reviews I’ve seen on the CL-P0025 say that it is very quiet and the performance isn’t bad either.

[Snafu]

Thanks RH for the input. These coolers seem to be the most recommened from the posts I have seen or from users sigs.

I like the Thermaltake unit but the weight is scary :hide: especially when it is hanging off a vertical-oriented board. I wonder if anyone uses some additional support for these units or if they are just mounted onto the board. I would think this puts quite a strain on the board but then again maybe I am overthinking this :scratch: .

[Mikki]

I use the SP-94 and I'm well pleased. I haven't been able to test it yet, so I can't give you any figures, but it's a very-well performing heatsink. You can mount up to a 92mm fan on it with the supplied clips, and swapping fans out is a breeze....;)

[smack01]

I use the SP-94 and I'm well pleased. I haven't been able to test it yet, so I can't give you any figures, but it's a very-well performing heatsink. You can mount up to a 92mm fan on it with the supplied clips, and swapping fans out is a breeze....;)

Do you use any other form of support for this heatsink? As i just got my hands on one and will be sticking it on next week. It seems really heavy - About 600g and iam worried that it might cause some damage to my mobo when i move it around to and from lans.

Is the supplied screws and back plate enough or should i support it with something else?

Cheers,
Smack01

[PCBruiser]

Water??? How about a Koolance Exos - solve all your heat issues and reduce your CPU temps by about 10C. Much better than air.

[Snafu]

Hey PCB where you been hiding :lol: .

Saw the Koolance Exos and it looks cool (fits my case too!). I would say water is the way to go unless you got $ and shell out for vapochill-ers.

Had some ideas for water cooling involving the freezer from a bar fridge (keeps drinks cool and handy too) and a aluminum heater core from a car with a 120mm fan and reservoir inside the freezer compartment. Have to find the pieces and work it out. Worried a bit about condensation on the lines in the case. Onething I gotta find insulated tubing. Just some scribbles on paper right now.

I ended up ordering the Zalman 7000-AlCu because of its light weight. Could not wait for the XP-120 to come out and too 'fraid of the weight with some of the big HSF with heat pipes. Some were 1.5kg ( :yikes: ). Without some welded cross-bracing or struts I think the board would warp :lol: .