[SOLVED] Dell Optiplex Midi Tower 760 - heatsink - copper or alumnium

[Ms80]

Hi.
I rebuild an old Optiplex midi tower 760. I have original alumnium heatsink from 760 and copper with pipes from older Optiplex 320. They are compatible. I belive copper can make a few degrees better but this alumnium also looks solid. Originally copper was for E4300 and alumnium for E8400. Any sugeetions? Which one would you recomend? Do you have any experience with those heatsinks?

 

[Gam3r01]

Copper, in theory, would transmit heat a tad better, but the overall design on the heatsink might be different enough to not make a difference.
Both coolers are designed for processors with the same 65w TDP.

Id say it probably wont matter either way, but can you test both out and let us know how it goes?

 

[Ms80]

Yes, i have this plan in mind and i will post results. The difference may be minor or none. I'm not sure if those Optiplex 760 mobos have temp sensors.

 

[Gam3r01]

Acoustics alone should give you a general idea, monitoring fan RPM and noise, one with higher fan speeds is probably less desirable.

 

[Ms80]

Those Optiplex are cooled by slow 120 mm fans which sit on rubber pins. They are silent and do not rise rpm and they cool cpu pretty well. I will base on Fanspeed readings.

 

[william p]

The copper cooler has heatpipe technology. Use that one. The aluminum is only good to 65W. The copper with 4 pipes is up to 95W CPU, and then the 6 heatpipe versions are for 130W. I have lots of experience with those.
4Ghz on a QX6800 using the T9303 heatpipe cooler. Your stock fan will cool anything you can run in that sytem.
The best GPU for that is the ZOTAC GTX 1050 Mini2 .GB
#1- It actually fits.
#2- The PSU can handle it OK.

 

[Ms80]

I put myself to work and made some tests. Because i didn't make Optiplex 760 work yet i used Optiplex 320 which i still have. Here are the results.

System:
PSU: Dell L305P
CPU: C2D E4300@1800 Mhz
MB: Dell 0UP453
Apps : CPU Burn-in, Speed Fan

I used two thermal compounds:
Revoltec Thermal Grease, Arctic MX-2

And two radiators aluminum and copper heatpipe
Room temperature: 23 C. Stress test took 10 mins. each time. Temps shown are for cores.

Fan was silent in all tests without noticeable rpm.

Aluminum, Revoltec Thermal Grease
idle: 30, stress: 55

Copper heatpipe, Revoltec Thermal Grease
idle: 27-29, stress: 43

Aluminum, Arctic MX-2
idle: 27-29, stress: 45

Copper heatpipe, Arctic MX-2
idle: 23-27, stress: 44

So looks like copper heatpipe slightly wins. But with better thermal grease like Arctic MX-2 temperatures are nearly identical for both heatsinks. It can be also a matter of compound application in each time. I use point method so i put a bit in the middle of CPU.

Just to mention. This C2D E4300 in another PC cooled by 2006 lga 775 Intel box hsf with copper core, side tunel, and Artic MX-2 has idles around 28-30 C and stress at 56 C. Fan is set in Bios at silent mode with stable 1100 rpm. This shows that Optiplex has good cooling system, it takes air by 120 mm fan from in front the case.

Thank you for your responses. You brought valuable info about that Optiplex pcs.

 

[lynx1021]

I agree with william p, I have an old Dell Power Edge SC430 that was given to me, had a Celeron CPU, It had the aluminum heat sink, I upgraded it to a Pentium dual core 945 3.4GHz ($16 on ebay)and under load the fan sounded like a jet engine! Found the copper heat pipe heat sink for $20 and no more jet engine! Slapped 4GB of used memory and Windows 7 and gave it to my nephew. Fine for browsing and email.

 

[william p]

If you really want to cool that down (no actual need) the AFC1512DG fan 150x50mm can replace the whole fan and fan housing in the Optiplex Mini Tower. Velcro and duct tape will hold it in place. This was the intake fan for 2x 130W CPU workstations. It's actually quieter than the 120mm.
https://www.google.com/search?q=AFC...IFCgE&biw=914&bih=472#spd=8629240588864096421
I have one in my Optiplex 380 /120W Xeon X5470. It only goes over 50*C running Prime 95 small FFT.