CPU Heatsink :~

[Troll2k]

I am very pleased with my Noctua NH-D14.

6 heat pipes,120mm fan and 140mm fan.

Very quiet.

Very good reviews.

Huge.

Expensive.

Did I mention huge?

Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608018

Reviews:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/noctua-nh-d14-review/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/noctua_nhd14/

[AdamB]

Water Cooling is a no go - i cant be dealing with potential leaks and stuff, the noctunu (or what ever) looks to be too big for my case, i have a med. tower xigmatek asgard

to test for airflow i saw that detaching the side of the case and blowing a fan into the inside should tell me if is airflow rather than the cpu heating up, is this true or will it damage my components, like static with dust and all that crap.

Thanks for all the suggestions, but can any of you give pros and cons against the Thermaltake Frio. It looks cool and might just about fit in the case.

Thanks again,

AdamB

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by AdamB

i have a med. tower xigmatek asgard

Like this one?


This one has a fan exactly where it should be. THIS fan should be blowing air OUT of your case. This way any heat produced by your CPU fan will be quickly taken out of the case (and fresh air will be sucked in from the bottom).

Originally Posted by AdamB

to test for airflow i saw that detaching the side of the case and blowing a fan into the inside should tell me if is airflow rather than the cpu heating up, is this true or will it damage my components, like static with dust and all that crap.

#1. No risk of damaging components

#2. It will not tell you anything.
It is very very rare that a CPU-fan is insufficient for the CPU (unless it is damaged from long usage or badly connected onto the CPU).

Depending on your motherboard, you may look at the temperature information (motherboard temp).

There is also another check to do: Look how warm the air is that is getting out of your power supply. If it is too hot then you know you need to add fans to extract more air.

You have an i7
The stock fan from Intel is on the low side. Just about to keep the temperatures to a level, provided you did not overclock your CPU.
IF you have overclocked it then the Intel stock CPU cooler is not enough, you need something better.

It also depends on your GPU (the other major "heater" inside your case. Which model do you have and what kin of GPU fan does it have? Does it throw all the warm air outside of the case like this:


or does it throw part of the hot air out of the case and part inside the case like this:


If you have the second, then you have a lot of warm air inside your case (CPU fan, GPU fan, hard disk) and too little air getting out of the case (in order to get fresh air in).


So, an new CPU fan will only part of the job, you need to ensure that the case-fans are doing their job as well.


~S~

[NedLynch]

Noctua makes a number of coolers, go to their website, they have a compatability list so you can see if your components fit with their coolers.

I was for a long time undecided if I should buy the Noctua NH D14, but I am more than happy I did.

It fits in my HAF922 (large mid tower case) with room to spare.

Good luck .

I have a Noctua too. When I saw the box it comes in I thought no way in hell am I going to fit it in the case with everything else. It's massive but I have about 5mm gap between this and the 6950. It all fits well , and keeps everything cool. My ambient air temp is over 30 degrees Celsius in summer so I need a good cooler. When under load it only goes to about 40 which is great.

[jimbop]

I had the NH D14 for a while and it kept the CPU almost as cool as my current water cooling setup does. Impressive piece of kit. The box got noisy under load, though, with all the fans!

[louisv]

I cool a 980X with a Megahelem (Prolimatech) and playing CoD never reaches more than 47C.

[mazex]

Originally Posted by Troll2k

I am very pleased with my Noctua NH-D14.

6 heat pipes,120mm fan and 140mm fan.

Very quiet.

Very good reviews.

Huge.

Expensive.

Did I mention huge?

Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608018

Reviews:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/noctua-nh-d14-review/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/noctua_nhd14/

+1 I just love my Noctua NH-D14. Great quality, great silent performance and great mounting assembly (which can be a pain). Be sure to check that it fits you chassis and mother board though as it's both high and low By saying low I mean that the bottom of it can collide with high RAM sticks that are on the MB...