giga-byte GA-945GCM-S2L mobo

[kensaundm31]

HI,

I have one of thes motherboards, running a p4 3.2ht processor, but I being driven crazy by the preposterously LOUD sound of the stock cooler.

Can anyone recommend a quiet and cheap (less than £20) cooler that will fit this board?

Help appreciated.

[stopthekilling77]

What kind of computer case is it in? I ask because the height restriction may be more important than the area surrounding the socket

[kensaundm31]

I'm buying a case later today off a mate, so I'll measure.

[kensaundm31]

my case is about 200mm in width.

Frankly i dont actually care if I have to leave the side off to fit something.

[kensaundm31]

Well anyway, I've decided on Arctic Cooling Freezer pro.

I am also going to get some decent thermal paste: Arctic Silver V Compound.

But there are 2 types, one is conductive and one is non-conductive. What does this actually mean? Which one is better?

[ibleet]

I have an Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro. It is an awesome cooler, but it's very large and it's not exactly quiet either.

[kensaundm31]

I have an Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro. It is an awesome cooler, but it's very large and it's not exactly quiet either.

Really? All the customer reviews said it was quiet.

So in percentage terms: how much quieter is it than the standard P4 3.2 cooler? Please tell me at leaSt 50%

[ckthecerealkiller]

The main reason your cooler is so loud is it's a stock intel cooler. They barely work well enough to be called a cooler (not knocking you, intel if anyone). I can bet that it will be at least 1/2 as quiet as your stock.

Lastly, make sure you have a socket 775 cpu as I don't think that cooler will work with socket 478.

[ibleet]

I honestly can't say that it's 50% quieter, but only because I have not had the loudness issue with Intel stock fans as others report.

One of my Intel 775 PC's has a stock cooler and the other has the Arctic. The one with the Arctic cools much better, but I can barely notice a difference in loudness. The reason I can make a fair comparison is because both have the same Coolermaster tower using the same case fans otherwise.

[kensaundm31]

Well here's a list from the store where im buying from, all between £20-£30.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... JQYWdlPSY=

Which do you reckon is quietest?

I'm leaning toward getting this one:

THERMALTAKE CL-P0537 775/AM2/AM2+ ISGC-100
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... ctId=37644

[stopthekilling77]

Looking through the coolers offered by your e-store, give me 20-30 min and I'll tell you what I think is the best bang for your buck

[stopthekilling77]

Ok after looking at the list I've got 3 candidates for you:

1 - Xigmatek HDT-S963 ( http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... ctId=38553 )
Pros - Compact and good performance/price
Cons - Not the best cooler out of the 3 I thought best

2 - Zalman CNPS10X-Quiet ( http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... ctId=37319 )
Pros - Great cooler, very quiet, overall performance would be about A-
Cons - Most expensive out of the 3 - double check height restrictions!

3 - Thermaltake CL-P0114 Big Typhoon ( http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... ctId=37319 )
Pros - Best bang for buck out of the lot, proven to be a great cooler time and time again, quiet
Cons - Only slightly less expensive than #2 (but better cooler) - double check height restrictions!

If I were the one making the call I'd choose #3 but that's because I've done builds with it before and it meets all your requirements. You can't go wrong with #2 aside from the fact that its a little less performance than #3. If you're on a budget and trying to stick with it then #1 is the cheapest way to go, and it seems like you'll be able to replace the stock fan on the heatsink if you think it's too loud.

There ya go man, just my opinions though

[kensaundm31]

Thanks for your input, very helpful.

Cheers.

(P.S. I promised myself that when i replace the stock cooler and its working fine, I am LITERALLY going to take a hammer and smash the sh&t out it!)

[kensaundm31]

Jesus!!!

It's HUGE!!!, GARGANTUAN!!!!

I just hope it fits.

[kensaundm31]

Wow, it's not exactly simple to fit this monster.

Has anyone ever fitted this kind of thing?

There are 2 metal h-clip frames. One goes underneath the mobo.

there is an insulator, which is plastic and is shaped exactly like the metal h-clip. One side of this is sticky which sticks to the metal h-clip, which attaches underneath the mobo.

There is also a cushion, which again is shaped exactly like the metal h-clip, this sticks onto the plastic insulator which is already stuck to the metal h-clip which goes underneath the mobo. But this has 2 stick ysides so it can be stuck onto the undeneath of the mobo.

Is it ok to leave the protective film on so that it doesn't stick to the mobo for possible future upgrades/changes?

[stopthekilling77]

I wouldn't, it could easily melt to the bottom of the board after continued use. Which cooler did you end up going with?

[kensaundm31]

I went for the 'Thermaltake CL-P0114 Big Typhoon'. I also got some 'Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Compound'.

Also, my case is a tower so the mobo will be vertical meaning that there will be a strain from gravity which there would not be if the mobo was horizontal.

Is the H-clip system designed with this in mind? I guess it would be.

[stopthekilling77]

Having used the Big Typhoon before, I know that the design might seem iffy but I haven't heard of anyone who had anything bad to say once it was installed

[kensaundm31]

It fits, and it works great! It's totally silent!!!!! I cant hear it over the sound of my HD4850. Brilliant.

Thanks again for the help 'stopthekilling77 '.