Opinions Needed, CPU Fan & Heatsink for Intel Core i7

[Octavious]

Basically, I'm going through upgrading to an i7 in a few weeks and I'm still debating on what to do about CPU Cooling. I have a thermaltake v1 at the moment for my Core 2 Quad, however that wasn't overclocked at all. I'm interested in some minor overclocking to push my i7 and I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with the i7 yet and could recommend a good cooler.

I'm going to be putting this in an Antec 1200, so space isn't too much of an issue. Through some searching I've read reviews on the Coolermaster v8 & v10, but the v10 is a little more than I would like to spend for air cooling. I could get the mounting bracket for the 1366 for my thermaltake, but I've also read it doesn't do a decent job on an overclocked i7.

tl;dr -> if anyone has a favorite or knows a good one, please throw your opinion in the ring (and not at my face :P lol). I'm looking to spend around $60-$70 but it is flexible if the product is worth it. Thanks for any help you can lend. :-)

[Blabj]

I don't have any personal experience but it seems to me that this Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366) is one of the more popular LGA-1366 coolers. It's all these guys ever put on their gaming PC custom mades, which is something considering they're the primo company in the UK for gaming PCs and components.

[Olo401]

I just bought a Zalman 9900 and will be installing this weekend (I have a C2D tho not an i7). I'll post a review of it once I get things settled. All I can say right now is the thing's all-copper and friggin' HUGE!

As for recommendations the ones I've seen that perform best are..
Noctua NH-U12P ($72, includes two 120mm fans for push/pull config)
Coolermaster V8 ($55, includes one 120mm fan)
Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283-V ($45, includes one 120mm fan and a better mounting kit which is normally sold separately)
Prolimatech Megahalems ($65, no fans included but can mount two 120mm)
Thermalight Ultra120 Extreme 1366-RT Rev. B ($75, includes one 120mm fan)

All of these will probably include some kind of thermal compound which will work fine. For heavy overclocks & serious burn-ins you'll want to use a high-quality paste like AC Silver 5 or ICD7.

[Rem]

I use this cpu heatsink for my i7 rig: Prolimatech Megahalems

[Tythera]

I'd either go with the Noctua listed above or a Thermalright Ultra Extreme. Both of them are good and roughly the same dollar amount. You may be better served with the Noctua to buy some of the best thermal paste you can find rather than use what they give you. The temperatures I see are higher than the review sites list and I have good airflow and a not horrible case temperature (roughly 30c). I have it at 3.6 GHz with 1.3V at the moment and it still teeters around 72C under prime95 load. I've seen better numbers with the same heatsink and higher overclocks so I have to assume it's the thermal paste or I fucked up and put too much or too little of the paste on.

[Octavious]

Thanks Guys, I'll take a look at these and read their reviews (taken with a grain of salt of course). I have seen the Coolermaster v8 but I haven't looked into that Noctua yet, it looks good. I've usually used OCZ Freeze since I'm afraid of screwing something up with AC Silver. It's never happened, but it's like wearing a 3 piece suit and eating pasta, it makes me nervous. :3

edit: i'm trying to aim for 3.4 GHz and around 65c max temp on full load. From what i've read I can get that out of an i7 920 pretty easily. The Noctua looks promising from my initial reading. I'm thinking that would be best since the v8 looks pretty beasty to mount.

[Olo401]

Most of the ones mentioned here will easily get you down to 55C on load, if not lower.

[Octavious]

I looked into the Noctua and the one thing I'm still concerned about is the heatsink weight. I always thought 500~g was the highest you should look for a cooler. That Noctua weighs around 700g when installed. Am I just worrying about it too much? D: I'd hate to snap my mobo since the new ones for the i7 are expensive. D:

[Tythera]

With the mounting bracket I don't think the weight is much of an issue. I wouldn't go slinging the PC around in your arms like a madman while it's attached but the fact that it mounts to the bracket that comes through the motherboard (I think most 1366 do but I could be wrong) makes it less dicey than the older heatsinks. I've attached pictures for sizing and whatnot if you're curious.

Spoiler: show

http://i26.tinypic.com/et866b.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/29ygqpu.jpg

[Octavious]

Hm, the only thing i'm worried about now is the clearance for the RAM. It looks like that cooler will hit my Corsair Dominator. Do you have any measurement on it's clearance? I can't seem to find it on newegg (its probably right in front of me like a snake though).

[Amastacia]

Thermalright IFX-14?

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned, seeing as how it's probably the best cooler on the market, and all.

Edit: It's about $60 without fans. It's designed to run with 2, but you could look into running it with 1 for the time being, and maybe snagging another down the line.

[kyamei]

I'd recommend the Xigmatek S1283 Dark Knight if you aren't looking to pay an arm and a leg for a cooler. Great bang for the buck (fan and mounting backplate included for ~$45). May not be the absolute best cooler on the market, but it's performance is pretty much on par with many of the other popular, more expensive coolers.

[Kryssan]

Olo covered it pretty much in the depth I would have gone; just make sure that if the cooler you buy doesn't include fans as well that you don't skimp on those either.

[Olo401]

Ok got the thing installed & running.. here's a look at the whole machine:

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/attac...1&d=1250364663

And a close-up of the new heatsink in operation.. Image of the heatsink is slightly bigger than actual size (seriously, the thing is HUGE)

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/attac...1&d=1250364663

Gonna do some temp testing once the new HD is done formatting.

[Octavious]

I'm thinking of moving to a Anetc902 instead of the 1200. I've done the measurements out and I think i'll still go with the Noctua. Although I've read a lot of good reviews about the ZALMAN one. I don't think it would fit though.

[Vuitton]

I use this cpu heatsink for my i7 rig: Prolimatech Megahalems

Are you worried about it cracking your motherboard? That thing is so massive and heavy, it really worries me when I think about it dangling off my mobo. Easily will go over 1000g if you put 2 fans on it.

[Olo401]

Oh man.. this makes me VERY happy..

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/attac...1&d=1250380813

[Amastacia]

Those results aren't bad, but I just can't get past how expensive Zalmans are.

I dropped about $50 on my Tuniq Tower 120, another $20 on an S-FLEX fan, and my temps aren't too far off that running an E6850 (65nm) at 3.6GHz. 38-40C at idle, usually 50-55C under heavy load with a few of the Prime95 tests pushing as high as 60C. $70 is about normal for a Zalman and I don't think it would do as well.

It's not that Zalman coolers are bad (and they look neat!) I just wish that they were cheaper, or better.

[Olo401]

It's $10 more than the V8 and less than the Noctua (which is the one I wanted). For an all-copper unit, I actually expected to pay more. Especially with how commodity prices are insane these days. It's not the absolute best cooler out there, but then again I'm not running an i7 yet.

[raginbull]

The Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme is pretty much the king of socket 1366 coolers. It's also quite expensive, at around $75. I think its worth it though.