# CPU cooler for 1366 socket

## 1clue

Hi,

I finally figured out what's causing my box to shut down randomly. My core temps reach something like 73C or maybe more, Tcase max is 67.9.

I looked at my heat sink and noticed that there's a broken anchor.

So I'm looking for recommendations for brand or even specific heat sink if someone has one.

This is an older box

It's a FCLGA1366 socket, i7 920

130W tdp

NOT-climate-controlled environment

Tower box.

I would prefer something oversized and quiet.

USA market.

I CAN access the underside of the CPU socket on the motherboard without removing the board, the case has an access hole with plenty of room.

Not looking for someone to do my shopping for me, just wondering if anyone has good or bad experiences with some brand or specific sink/fan for this socket. I have one picked out, was thinking about this one: 

https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-CNPS9900A-LED-Ultra-Cooler/dp/B001P1B7B4/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=SVNFZNCE39XHZF9X4SWA&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=a6aaf593-1ba4-4f4e-bdcc-0febe090b8ed&pf_rd_i=desktop&th=1 although I don't particularly like the idea of LEDs making my box glow.

Thanks.

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## kite14

1clue,

I definitely would recommend any Noctua product that fits your socket, like this one → https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-D14-Heatpipe-Bearing-Cooler/dp/B002VKVZ1A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485535026&sr=8-1&keywords=nhd14+noctua

Beware, this thing is really HUGE, make sure it fits in your case and don't be turned off by the funny colors of the fans: it's definitely worth it for the performance. 

I bought a couple of them and they are worth every penny spent: very good cooling performance, sturdy, super SILENT with a good amount of extra accessories like fan cables, grade A thermal paste, etc...

Make sure to take a look at this compatibility list before purchasing.

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## 1clue

@kite14,

That looks pretty massive. My motherboard is listed in the compatibility list, and my case is big enough. I may have to remove a case fan which is near the cpu, but I don't think it would be a problem.

Thanks, I'll put these guys on my short list.

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## John R. Graham

Second the Noctua recomendation, at least for the fans. Noctua case fans were some of the highest rated in an extensive shoot-out I found. (Will try to find it and add it to this thread.) I use Thermaltake coolers and Noctua fans in a couple of my dual Xeon systems at home. They run very cool.

- John

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## 1clue

So what about this then?

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Silent-Intel-Cooling-CL-P002-AL14BL-B/dp/B00UAZ6CHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485552555&sr=8-2&keywords=thermaltake+cpu+cooler+1366

This isn't a new system, but it's still serviceable and worth fixing IMO. It's a 1st generation i7 920. I don't think I need a latest-greatest cooler, but I don't want to under-do it either. As I said the system is not in a temperature-controlled environment so a little extra capability won't hurt.

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## kite14

 *1clue wrote:*   

> So what about this then?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Silent-Intel-Cooling-CL-P002-AL14BL-B/dp/B00UAZ6CHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485552555&sr=8-2&keywords=thermaltake+cpu+cooler+1366

 

I would be a little bit worried about the back plate design which is reported to cause shortings on the motherboard, I guess you have read the reviews on Amazon...

What about this one? → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IOLEJO/ref=psdc_306944011_t2_B001P1B7B4?th=1

Customer reviews are pretty good.

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## 1clue

 *kite14 wrote:*   

>  *1clue wrote:*   So what about this then?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Silent-Intel-Cooling-CL-P002-AL14BL-B/dp/B00UAZ6CHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485552555&sr=8-2&keywords=thermaltake+cpu+cooler+1366 
> 
> I would be a little bit worried about the back plate design which is reported to cause shortings on the motherboard, I guess you have read the reviews on Amazon...
> ...

 

That looks pretty good.  I like the 4-way mounting, I'd like to have air flow go up through the cooler. This is a tower.

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## 1clue

I'm hoping to buy another i7 or maybe an e5 this year. I'd like to make that as noiseless as possible, but the one I started this thread over has fans and is not super silent.

I think this last cooler is good for what I'm doing. It's good for 200w tdp, which implies to me that it should do fine in a warmer-than-normal environment. If it's not dead silent I don't so much care with this box.

For the new box I'll do what I can to make it as silent as possible, and will do more research at that time. You guys have given me some good info, thanks a bunch.

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## John R. Graham

I should point out that I'm not dis-recommending the Noctua coolers in any way; I just don't have experience with them. Love their fans, though. I think you're right about going for excess capacity. My Xeons are all 130w TDP but all my coolers are rated at 200w or above.

- John

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## 1clue

The Noctura recommended in post #2 I disqualified because it has no speed control. Other than that I would have probably gone with it.

Frankly I think from this point forward I will never build a box without having excess capacity on cooling pretty much everything. That said, my box seems to have variable capacity on cpu cooling, sometimes I can get heavy load and it stays cool, other times it appears that the fan pops free a little bit and relatively small load causes it to crash.

Yesterday I saw it get to 78C on one core without crashing, and over 76 on most of the others for more than 15 seconds. I'm kinda panicked right now, can't wait for a cooler to get here. Maybe I should try to stick a zip-tie through the broken part?

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## Roman_Gruber

Noctua. has some benefits. check their homepage. you get mounting kits for future processors when you send them proof of purchase.

In my point of view is speed control a feature of the fans in question and your mainboard.

Quote: does not offer speed control 

is just basically wrong. most fans are pwm compatible and therefore its your mainboard which can not do it!

I would be surprised that a premium product would not have pwm compatible fans.

 *Quote:*   

> 73C

 

You should measure that. and thats quite low, the T max is quite higher.

have you checked with some special tools if the cpu throttles?

Throttling => uefi preset throttling values => uefi settings for fan control => fan + thermal paste of the cpu + dirt / no dirt on the cooling system.

i replace every 6 months the thermal paste of my notebook. I also clean the cooling system every 3 months.

--

a bad case has also huge impact!

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## 1clue

 *Roman_Gruber wrote:*   

> Noctua. has some benefits. check their homepage. you get mounting kits for future processors when you send them proof of purchase.
> 
> In my point of view is speed control a feature of the fans in question and your mainboard.
> 
> Quote: does not offer speed control 
> ...

 

I'm going based on the negative feedback on the product, with quoted response from the manufacturer. Evidently the fact that there are 2 fans being controlled by a single 3-pin connector causes the fans to be single-speed. The manufacturer said the cooler is a discontinued product and at that time they didn't support the feature, or some such.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>  *Quote:*   73C 
> 
> You should measure that. and thats quite low, the T max is quite higher.
> ...

 

I've since seen 78C without shutdown. I don't know exactly when it shuts down, only that the cooler seems to be moving because of the broken mount. Sometimes I get heavy cpu load and it stays cool, other times it gets above Tcase(max)=67.9 while at idle.

IMO this thing needs to be shutdown until I get the heat sink replaced. I think that when the cooler is in a bad position there's really nothing that throttling will do for me, it's going to overheat in any case. A broken connector on the heat sink is pretty hard to compensate for electronically.

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## Roman_Gruber

 *Quote:*   

> I'm going based on the negative feedback on the product, with quoted response from the manufacturer. Evidently the fact that there are 2 fans being controlled by a single 3-pin connector causes the fans to be single-speed. The manufacturer said the cooler is a discontinued product and at that time they didn't support the feature, or some such. 

 

agree on that. you could just replace it with an aftermarket pwm fan. 

as said the mounting is broken so replace it completly.

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## John R. Graham

 *1clue wrote:*   

> I'm going based on the negative feedback on the product, with quoted response from the manufacturer. Evidently the fact that there are 2 fans being controlled by a single 3-pin connector causes the fans to be single-speed. The manufacturer said the cooler is a discontinued product and at that time they didn't support the feature, or some such

 This may just be a typo, but 3-pin fans are single speed (from the motherboard's perspective). The PWM speed control information is on the 4th pin.

- John

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