[munaim1]

Currently working on a few HTPC builds, can you guys recommend a few low profile coolers that will work better than the stock cooler.

I would appreciate it if you would consider a couple from low, medium and high budget as well. List as many as you like

Thanks.

EDIT:

here are a few that I have come across:

Thermalright AXP-100
Scythe Shuriken Big 2 Rev.B
Arctic Freezer 11 LP Low Profile Intel CPU Cooler

 

[Cyrious]

Any particular preference to the socket compatibility or do you just want something that is universal/close to universal?

 

[AlphaC]

Should add Noctua NH-L9a / NH-L9i and Thermalright AXP-200

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1317-page5.html

http://www.overclock.net/t/1416261/play3r-thermalright-axp-200-review-htpc-sff-heatsink
http://www.overclock.net/t/1420553/hardwareluxx-de-thermalright-axp-200-sff-htpc-cooler-review-with-ty-150-comparison-to-ty-140

 

[Elohim]

It completely depends on the space oyu have, but:

~40mm:
Noctua L9

~60mm:
Thermalright AXP-100
Scythe Big Shuriken 2
Prolimatech Samuel 17

~ 80mm:
Thermalright AXP-200
Silverstone NT06 Pro
Noctua L12

Above that you have the Noctua C14, bequiet Shadow Rock Top Flow, Phanteks 14CS and a few others.

 

[Alan G]

Some of it depends on MoBo compatability as well. I've used a Gigabyte H77N-WiFi (mini-ITX) for two HTPC builds and a number of small CPU coolers won't fit because of the positioning of a capacitor on the MoBo. The case that I used for each build only had 70mm clearance so there are not a lot of choices here. It really didn't matter as I found that the stock Intel cooler was just fine. In a Lian Li PC-Q27 case (passively cooled with no case fan), Ivy Bridge i3 CPU temperature is 30C under HTPC load and you cannot hear the CPU fan at all. Before you spend money on an after market cooler see if the stock cooler works for your build; the price is right.

 

[munaim1]

Thanks for all the suggestions +rep all around!

 

[doyll]

FYI: I've found in most cases (no pun) these low profile coolers run cooler pulling air out instead of pushing air into them. Reason is pushing air in means hot air hits motherboard, turns out and hits RAM, GPU, I/O housings, etc. and turn back along the sides of cooler, and is than sucked back in by fan. With fan pulling air out of cooler the cool air flow across motherboard, up through cooler and fan and out of case. This make motherboard components cooler as well as CPU.

Even on open bench testing pulling air out worked better than pushing air into cooler.
Posts #17 & 18
http://www.overclock.net/t/1347211/thermalright-axp-100-showed-up-today/0_20#post_19027945

 

[munaim1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doyll

FYI: I've found in most cases (no pun) these low profile coolers run cooler pulling air out instead of pushing air into them. Reason is pushing air in means hot air hits motherboard, turns out and hits RAM, GPU, I/O housings, etc. and turn back along the sides of cooler, and is than sucked back in by fan. With fan pulling air out of cooler the cool air flow across motherboard, up through cooler and fan and out of case. This make motherboard components cooler as well as CPU.

Even on open bench testing pulling air out worked better than pushing air into cooler.
Posts #17 & 18
http://www.overclock.net/t/1347211/thermalright-axp-100-showed-up-today/0_20#post_19027945

Thank you for the information, much appreciated!! +rep

 

[96xj]

used one of these on an htpc i built for a friend , worked well even with a moderate overclock ..
it was a socket 775 , cant recall the chip .. wound up putting an aftermarket 140mm fan
on it , mainly to cool the northbridge and memory as well .. no idea if it's still available .
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2455