dm22

i need a nice Cooler for Phenom II X3 720 plz

i can't use the bigger HSF because the case only has about 152 mm clearing to close the lid...
Low noise level is 2nd most important factor i consider.

the zalman 9700 nt is 142 mm tall, and the reviews said it needs 150mm clearing.. so it's like the biggest tower HSF i can find i suppose...

what else can i choose from that is under 150mm tall and low noise?

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PsikyoJebus

I'm not sure how the Zerotherm NV-120 performs compared to the 9700, but it's a good performer and it measures 150mm according to the spec sheet.

Your other option would be to get something like this Thermalright heatsink and stick a beefy fan on it. You can always control the fan speed for noise purposes when running idle.

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BLADEY

its a bad cooler, i run it and it idles high has huge fluxation and doesnt cool quads or tri's at all well, i used one on my old e8400 and that was amzing but for a quad or trie it s a no go zone, get the megatron!

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Meh.

My CPUZ

DesertRat

IMHO the 9700, and anything that's recently come from Zalman except for a few extraordinary products here and there(RHS90 for instance) and worth it.

I'm pretty sure a Xigmatek s1283 variant would be a good choice. I'd recommend the Mugen2 and push-pull and/or high-pressure fans, but I don't recall off the top of my head how tall it is.

AFAIK. The xigmatek 120mm HDT coolers and the Scythe Mugen2 are 2 of the best price/performance CPU coolers out there today. I've heard some of the new cooler masters are pretty good, but I don't know their pricing.

The "best" cooler AFAIK is still a lapped and pressure modded Theremalright 120 Ultra Extreme w/ push-pull/high pressure fans. The out of the box best AFAIK is the Megahalems, push-pull and/or high pressure fans are also beneficial here. The Noctura NH-U12P(I think that's right) is also a very good cooler, but more expensive.

The scythe mugen2 for about between 30 and 40 beats an out-of-box TRUE pretty handidly last I checked, and, as I mentioned earlier, is my recommendation. It's a big cooler tho.


tl;dr?

9700NT overpriced mediocre at best cooler. I recommend the Scythe mugen2, but size constraints might not allow for it. 2nd Recommendation is a xigmatek s1283 variant.

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rmvvwls

If it helps, I have the 9700LED on an E7200. Overclock is 3.8GHz at 1.36V, which, according to a couple of calculators out there means it is dissapating 144W of heat (I thought the phenom x3's were around this). My room is normally around the 20 deg celcius mark, and it usually idles around 33 deg, and hits a max of 51 under load (highest I've seen it go).
Just thought you might like some figures .

The contact is good, not really any spots with tim missing if you take it off, but if could probably be on tighter, ideally.
For the money, I think it's a fairly good little performer. Certainly not top end like the TRUE's, but not as expensive either.

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PsikyoJebus

Guys, he's working on height constraints.....these giant tower coolers are fantastic performers, but they won't fit in his case.

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Vermillion

Not at all. I run 1.45v and on load I peak at 58c.
My advice is to get some awesome thermal paste. I picked up some Tuniq TX-3 and it dropped temps by 6c allowing me to OC more.

DesertRat

Arranging by price:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus is 158.5MM tall

KINGWIN XT-1264(Xigmatek/CCF copy?) is 150mm tall, but uses a clip-on mount for AM2 etc.

Mugen 2 is 158mm tall.

Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer is 155mm tall

XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 is 159mm tall.

Scythe Kabuto SCKBT-1000 is ~133mm tall, but is a top-down cooler and I don't know if it performs very well.


TRUE is 160.50mm tall

NH-U12P SE2 is 158mm tall


I doubt the KINGWIN XT-1264 will be the highest quality cooler, but by it's design it looks to copy a very good cooler and is pretty affordable. I guess it'd be my recommendation due to height restrictions, but I've never heard anything about kingwin's coolers, good or bad.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835124022
http://www.google.com/products?q=KIN...tf-8&scoring=p

edit: With my mugen 2 and an Ultra Kaze 3000, I peak in the mid-high 40s @ 3.62GHz @ 1.5v And that's using SnM for a little over an hour.

edit2: After reading a few reviews it seems it's a pretty darned good cooler.

Here's a good page I found in one of the reviews: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/289...er/index6.html

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dm22

thanks guys for all the info, but like he said, i can't fit anything that's taller than 150mm into my case, as i only got 152mm from the socket to the side panel...

unless i leave the side panel open, but then what's the point of having a fan? lol



edit: i also find that the Noctua NH-C12P has low height, low noise, and moderate levels of cooling..

anyone got any opinion on that? newegg don't seem to be selling NH-C12P, anyone kno how much this will cost?

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Raiden911

There's also a review on it by Hard0CP today, --> http://hardocp.com/article/2009/10/1...ooler_review/3

The Zalman 9700 was a good cpu cooler based from using the 9500 and having the CNPS 9700NT for intel quad core 775...last year. But I do agree, the price is high if you get if from newegg. You could get a refurb from refurbdoc (got the 9500 from him last year) @ http://cgi.ebay.com/Zalman-CNPS9700-...item2556c2c35f

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