Low Profile Cooler for SFF

[trevorg]

Hello people. I've recently bought myself a custom system from IJK.net.au. It has: Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H MB, Athlon II X3 435 CPU, Gigabyte Radeon 5770 GPU, and Zalman ZM600-HP PSU. I chose a Silverstone "Sugo" SG02F case, because I wanted to go SFF. The PSU sits directly above the CPU, limiting the height of the CPU cooler. I decided to go with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 LP CPU cooler, which has side fans and is supposed to be silent. Problem is, it ain't too silent! Under load the thing is roaring like a jet; if I unplug it my computer is barely audible.

So I ripped the Arctic Cooler out and put the stock cooler in. It's much quieter; right now I can just hear it but in a game (Rome: Total War) it's a little louder. The air-flow arrangement isn't ideal though: PSU fan is on the bottom and blows up from below, CPU fan (just below PSU fan) blows down onto heatsink, so the two fans fight for air. I've been monitoring the temps with Core Temp: at ideal, mild day, its at about 33C; during an epic battle on Rome ~46C. Are these temp's normal for my CPU?

Cooling suggestions are welcome!

Thanks, Trevor G.

 

[enzo matrix]

Yes. What do you get running prime95 though?

 

[Onus]

www.frostytech.com has some top-5 (actually top-10) lists of coolers, including low-profile.
I've used the Scythe Ninja-mini, which is 80mm but cools well and is quiet. I'm not sure it is low enough for your case though. Anyway, check the site.

 

[trevorg]

I played Advanced Warfighter 2 before on max detail (ran well) and the CPU temp reached 55C. Is this an acceptable temperature for my CPU to maintain for an hour or two? The stock CPU cooler sounded like it was about to take off the whole time, I'm thinking of investing in a Sycthe Big Shuriken now. Does anyone know if the Scythe [Big] Shuriken will fit on the Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H MoBo?

 

[enzo matrix]

Temperature is a bit on the high side but acceptable for prolonged use.