Should I get a new HSF for my CPU?

**thingie2** · #1 10th May 2008, 08:09

Well for my new build, I want everything as good as I can afford, and I have thought about getting a HSF to replace the stock one, the Processor I'm getting is the Q9450 Quad 2.66Ghz, I won't be overclocking this, as I have never done so before, and therefore do not wish to fry this £230 processor. I have thought about a few fans, however I don't know which ones are good. So, Should I get one even though I'm not Overclocking? And if so, which one would be a good one to get?

Thanks

**SocialWarfare** · #2 10th May 2008, 08:28

Nope, if your not overclocking there is no point really, not unless you are going to have a clear side panel and want a fancy HSF

**thingie2** · #3 10th May 2008, 13:17

no, the pannel is solid Aluminium, I was going to have a clear side, but there isn't an option for this case.

**tomthedrummer1992** · #4 10th May 2008, 13:41

The stock HSF is fine on that processor. It also looks quite cool as it is clear. If it is the one I am thinking of!

**Mike0001** · #5 10th May 2008, 13:49

How noisy is it? I would go for a 120mm fan and adapter if it is noisy.

**thingie2** · #6 10th May 2008, 14:27

Well I don't know what it's like because I haven't got it yet, I suppose I'll find out when I do.

**alex** · #7 10th May 2008, 15:49

You may be able to improve airflow in your case with a 3rd party hsf as they tend to have the fans mounted at the sides of the heatsink rather than on the top.

The stock intel fan mount blows air down onto the motherboard. This air is still rather warm as it's hitting the motherboard pcb directly after passing through the heatsink. So a 3rd party HSF with the fan mounted on the side will improve on this as it expels it's air directly into the case exhaust fan.

It's a perfectly fine hsf if not oc'ing (as SW states) but if you want a quieter pc I'd suggest an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7. I mean, it's only £14. Plus you get to remove the useless generic T.I.M that comes with the cpu and apply some Arctic Silver.

**serverguy** · #8 10th May 2008, 15:52

I agree with Alex. If you're spending £230 on a processor, you may as well get it a decent cooler.

I am also a huge fan of the Artic Freezer. Superb engineering for a very small price.

**thingie2** · #9 12th May 2008, 10:26

Ok, I might go with that then, is that the best cooler you would recomend, as if I am definatly not using the stock cooler, I will get the OEM version of the proccesor to keep the costs down as I won't ahve to pay for the fan. Oh, and I am getting the Lian-Li pc-p60 case, so space shouldn't be a problem.

**alex** · #10 12th May 2008, 11:29

There's only one other hsf on the market that cools a cpu to a lower level than the AC7 and thats the Tuniq Tower.

But the Tuniq costs over twice as much, is nearly 3 times as heavy (well past the stress limits for a mobo and Intel's rather useless mounting system) and only cool's a cpu a degree or two lower.

So yes, the AC7 is the best hsf on the market.