I Need Heat Sink Help

[braincell]

As my computer becomes increasingly outdated, I am once again thinking about building a new computer. I am strongly considering this mobo for my two Scope cards:

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/m ... erview.htm

Looking at the Quad Core reviews, I can see that it is recommended to buy a heat sink. As you know, music is very CPU intensive. I have no idea which heat sink to get for this and how difficult it will be to install.

[ReD_MuZe]

do yourself a favor and get a laptop - quiet, and portable.
my macbook pro is connected to a nice 22 inch lcd, and i just cant wait to kick the old washing machine to the street (my BIG and "silent" pc)...

having said that,
go for a zalman (better) or a thermaltake (cheaper) both are good firms and will keep your pc cool and "quiet" for a long time.

if i were you i wouldn't worry about cpu. we've long passed the bottleneck, and with my duo core i never max out my cpu, and i do very large projects all day long... not sure what pc you have but if your still on a single core, prepare to be amazed.

cheers!

[braincell]

Maybe I should go with a duo core. Do you have a heat sink on that? I can't run my Scope cards on a laptop so that is out of the question right now plus it costs more. I have a cheap laptop for surfing the web.

[JoeKa]

It's true that some few mainboard/cooler combinations won't fit together, physically. But most do, so don't worry too much. I got a Scythe Mine for my q6600, and performs well enough to keep it running at the lowest rpm, even at fully loaded cpu, making it next to inaudible. The drives are louder by far.
My urgent general advice is to build in a good case cooling, cuz if the heat can't get out of there fast enough, even the best cooler won't perform too well.
Trying to build a system with a decent timespan of use these days, I would definitely go for a quad, not a dual core. The applications make progressively better use of multi core systems, and even a slow quad will outperform a fast dual soon.
cheers

[braincell]

My current system is a single core. Don't Quad Cores run much hotter than dual? They are also much more expensive. I'm using Cubase and I think it can take advantage of Quad so that is tempting me. I'm not very mechanical so I am afraid of installing a heat sink on the CPU. I read someone say it took 45 minutes to do it. Maybe I should just pay someone to do that. Picking the case and fans is another challenge. I made a big mistake on the last one. It is so loud.

[darkrezin]

I have a quad-core machine (Q6600) and I don't think it ever reaches 40 degrees C. These new chips seem very good. The newer motherboards seem really good as well - on my Gigabyte EP45-DS3, the PCI, PCI-e 1x, PCI-e 8x and PCI-e 16x slots are on different buses, the SATA and USB go direct into the main hub in the board. I think the only thing that shares bandwidth with the PCI is the firewire. I'm not running Scope on this machine though, nor in fact Windows. I'm sure Windows would perform really well on it though.

[braincell]

I didn't know the mobo can make it cooler. That seems like a good one thanks. It looks newer yet it still has 2 PCI slots. PCI interference was a major problem on my ASUS until I finally sorted that out.

[darkrezin]

The mobo won't make it cooler - I just mentioned the motherboard because of the bus layout.

[braincell]

Is this brand reliable? Gary likes Intel mobos.

[garyb]

yes, gigabyte is a good motherboard.

the intel is proven as well. both need to be setup properly and have any irq sharing issues dealt with(modern motherboards have so much onboard stuff that it's bound to happen), but i wouldn't anticipate any etraordinary troubles with either.

if the case is well ventilated, the stock cooler is sufficient. there are a number of nice coolers available if you really want to go that route. i'd try the stock cooler and see.

[Neutron]

if you go with a dual core like E8400 you can put a big scythe heatsink on there and run it without a fan.
mine just gets a bit of breeze from the case fan and it doesnt even get warm.

they say the "tdp" is 60 watts. well thats "thermal design power" actual power is 34 watts or so.

[Shroomz~>]

if you go with a dual core like E8400 you can put a big scythe heatsink on there and run it without a fan.
mine just gets a bit of breeze from the case fan and it doesnt even get warm.

they say the "tdp" is 60 watts. well thats "thermal design power" actual power is 34 watts or so.

That sounds good to me ... A fast CPU with a fanless heatsink..

[Neutron]

65 watts is the maximum that that chips family (including the 8500, 8600 can dissipate before starting to get damaged)
which could happen with overvoltage, overclocking etc.

all those chips share the same "grade" and the 8400 will never go above 35 or so watts even if you run folding@home on it 24/7

[braincell]

That fanless heatsink is tempting me Neutron, but still there will be the power supply and case fan(s). I will probably buy special fans for that. I don't even know how many fans are required. Does it matter what case to get?

[braincell]

Look at this neutron:

Scythe OROCHI 10 Heatpipe Universal CPU Cooler - Quad Core Ready (SCORC-100)

[Neutron]

just get one that uses 120mm fans usually the rear case fan is right behind the heatsink anyways. and 120mm fan PSU as well. they are far quieter than 80MM fans.
some cases have rubber mounts for the fans to stop the vibration passing to the metal (sounding board!) of the case.
if they dont you can buy or make something anyways.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... ts_id=3294

that scythe OROCHI one is massive. you wouldnt need it for a 8400. but if you got a 45nm quad core it would probably be able to run fanless or with a very slow one.

[braincell]

This one is 140 mm:

Scythe ZIPANG 6 Heatpipe Universal CPU Cooler - Quad Core