What's The Best Heatsink?

[ttiefenbach]

I've seen many article in this forum that talk about heatsinks. I was wondering, what everybody thinks is the best. My CPU temp now is idling around 50C, and I'd like to get it <= 40C.

I already have plans to use Artic Silver, so that will be 5C of my CPU temp I can eliminate.

Is the Volcano 9 the best? Is there something better or comparable?

 

[brianF]

The thermalright SLK 800 seems pretty good, but depending on which fan you get it's noisy

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzE3

 

[ttiefenbach]

<b>What CFM level should I be looking for?</b>

I saw a fan that pushes 84.1 CFM at 55dB. Other fans where pushing 41.6 CFM at 37.5 dB

<b>I'm not sure what dB level would be too much?</b> Right now I have plans to keep the case near eye level, so I don't want a machine that will be so loud I can't hear the sound.

 

[Ged]

Second that. SLK 800 is excellent but you pay for the quality. Personally for me sub 50C is acceptable and you should be able to accomplish that with a pretty quiet fan.

It is a noise/heat tradeoff, I personally value quiet. 55 is very loud, 37.5 is quite loud. An increase of 10 doubles the volume! A change of 3 is noticeable.

As www.quietpc.com put it:

Above 35 dB(A) Certainly not quiet!
30-35 dB(A) "Average" - not quiet, not too loud
25-30 dB(A) Reasonably quiet
Less than 25 dB(A) Extremely quiet

 

[Catmando]

I third that SLK-800. I have an Athlon XP 1600+ and was using the retail fan and heatsink that came with it. The CPU temperature was between 45-50 C which didn't bother me, but the CPU fan was starting to bug me a lot. With the SLK-800 you can use 80mm fans instead of the 60mm fans that most heatsinks have. They may be louder in some instances, but they are a lower pitch, which to me is a lot less annoying. I have a clear 80mm Antec fan with blue LEDs (~30dB) in my SLK-800, and the CPU stays between 38-42C.

If you do get this heatsink, look on the web on how to install it because it doesn't come with instructions, and it's heavy so it may crack your CPU if you aren't careful installing it. Also, it's taller than the retail heatsink/fan so you may need to be sure it will fit. I had to get a new case because the powersupply was above my CPU and didn't allow enough room for the fan and heatsink.