Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Windows 7 PC Build

Something like the Ninja mini would probably work well for you.

That looks cool, but it doesn't seem to be compatible with the CPU I'm getting. Scythe definitely has enough other options, though. I'll probably go with that brand unless someone comes along to make me doubt my choice.

Some reading for you in case you have a shortage of candidates for your chosen build.

There's also a number of good Thermalright models out there. They're not as huge as a Megahalem, and they perform as well or better, depending on which one you get and what fan you slap on it.

If you're not planning to over-clock, just go with the manufacturer's heatsink. That's all I've ever used. Either the one included with the CPU for desktop machines, or in the case of Supermicro's workstation/server barebones, the included heatsink.

What ever Intel/AMD includes with their chips is good enough to cool them by design. Although I do usually clean off their thermal compound and go with Arctic Silver 5, just because it is easier to work with, and does seem to help cool a bit more.

Thanks, Fred. Thanks, Ken.

Chris, I suppose I'll try Intel's stock cooler first, but I wasn't impressed at all with the one that came with my Q9650. It was quite a bit louder than the Zalman that replaced it. Thanks for the tip on the thermal compound.

Well, I submitted an information request to Antec about using the Prolima Megahalems with their P193, but it gave me no confirmation of my request, so I guess we'll see if it actually went through as the time passes.

Charles - this is the one I picked up. I use it with my i7 920 (Noctua NH-U12P)

I also do not overclock, but the noise level of the stock Intel fans drove me nuts. The Noctua may not qualify as small, but if it fits in your case, I can tell you that it is truly "whisper quiet" as they advertise and it dropped my average running temperature by ~5-6 Celsius. It's fairly expensive but does a very nice job.

I've seen Noctua mentioned at various sites. Good to know that it's as quiet as they say and performs well. It seems to be right at the same height as the Megahalems, though. Less than a mm of difference.