Cheap & quiet CPU cooler for LGA 775

[24seven]

Hey folks. I'm after something a little quieter than the stock Intel CPU cooler for my C2D E4500. It doesn't need to be much, or any better at cooling. I've overclocked it from 2.2GHz to 3GHz as that's the limit I was prepared to go on the stock cooler and I've no intention of going any faster with this processor. The Intel jobby is noisy as hell when it gets going - it sounds like a mini vacuum cleaner! So basically, as long as it cools as well as stock, I'm after the best bang-for-buck cooler that's quiet and cheap.

I've read a lot of mixed reviews of the Arctic Freezer 11 and the Alpine 11 GT Rev2. I've got an F12 exhaust case fan connected to the PWR_FAN plug on my motherboard (ASUS P5Q-E) which I believe has it running full speed constantly and it's pretty quiet, but I'm a little concerned about the pre-applied thermal paste on their CPU fans.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[amuffin]

Hyper 212 EVO!

 

[24seven]

Is it really worth 3 times the price of the Arctic fans?

 

[geofelt]

I think what you want is a cm hyper212. $20 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

The criteria should be for a tower type cooler which is more effective than a downblower type like the stock fan.
The second requirement should be for at least a 120mm fan. smaller 92mm fans must spin up too high to do the job and will be noisy.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Great deal ^

 

[24seven]

I've measured my case quickly and I don't think a hyper 212 will fit the height. Plus I'm in the UK, so can't buy the cheap stuff on Newegg. the cheapest I can get one of those here is around £25, which is like $40. I don't need mega performance, just something quieter than stock really for the best price.

 

[24seven]

Ok so I've done a lot of homework and with your advice on going for a tower type cooler I think I can squeeze an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 into my case. £15 new (about $23.50), it's a little smaller than the Hyper 212 and I'm impressed with how quiet my Arctic F12 exhaust fan is that I'm sure this CPU cooler will be quiet enough. Plus being able to mount it in 4 different directions I should be able to have it work as a push-pull layout along side the F12 (as per mounting direction 4 on the link given).

With the money saved I'm going to get an F8 side-intake fan to feed air straight onto to my GPU and get some extra dust filter material to add to what I've already got, so that the inside is 100% dust free.

 

[clutchc]

I agree with the 212 recommendations. But if you want something that is less money, I have built several budget builds with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Cooling-Freezer-Cooler-DCACO-FP701-CSA01/dp/B002G392ZI/ref=sr_1_1?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345259896&sr=1-1&keywords=Arctic+Cooling+Freezer+7
Not expensive, super quiet, and out-performs the stock Intel by a wide margin.

 

[24seven]

Quiet is all I need. I seem to have a lucky E4500 as it runs happily under 70C @ full load using the stock fan despite running at 333 x 9 (2997MHz). It only takes 1.312V to get there too. It's either lucky or the £2.49 tube of thermal paste I bought off eBay at the time is something special.

I might take it to 400 x 8 so I can have a 1:1 fsb : dram as I think it will stay under 1.4V even at that, but I daren't quite push it that far on the stock fan. I'm amazed how well it performs and how stable it is, considering it's all 2nd hand parts from eBay and forums.