Need info on efficient air cooler

[1337NuB5!]

Hi everyone; new member here in the forum and I am having trouble finding/deciding on an efficient air cooling solution that would be quiet and yet cool down my toasty Pentium4 660 Running at 4.0Ghz. Right now I am using the stock cooler and a 120mm fan directed at it and some Artic Silver 5 for the thermal paste and I am getting around 53C for idle :mad: ...and as many here would probably agree anything above 40C in a computer is too hot, so I would like everyones input on a good air cooler to tide me over untill I get a good water cooling system put in. Thanks in advance. ;)

[AKHandyman]

Hey first of all, welcome to PCStats Forums. The fellas in here are extremely nice and very helpful. I can only suggest a Thermalright HS, as I have used them exclusively on all of my builds. They have always provided great cooling and they are easy to use. I don't use Intel procs, but take a look elsewhere in the Forums and see what the other Intel guys are using. I guess another concern would be what mobo are you using and do you have enough room for say an XP-120 ?
You can use a 120mm fan on this one. Check out NewEgg here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=browse&Manufactory=1444&Category=11)

[grahamf]

i'll second that recommendation for thermalright. i had their alx800 on my old axp rig and it was a great heatsink. you could also look into zalman for the 7700 or its little brother the 7000 which i am using right now.

[AKHandyman]

Hey grahamf, I like the look of the new Zalman's...how well do they go in and do they cool well?

[grahamf]

the zalman cools extremely well, under full load at 2700mhz for me im at about 46 degrees and idling at 30. the install on my socket 754 board was super easy, however when i had it on my barton on my socket A board things did not go so easily.

here is the dremel work i had to do on it to make it fit. notice i had to cut off part of the mounting braket because it came in contact with the serial port on the side of the mobo.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/grahamf/dremelworkLarge.jpg

to make it fit into here

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/grahamf/goodsideviewLarge.jpg

it wasnt a hard modification by an means but the website had told me that my board would work without modification so it was kinda a pain to spend time on that.

zalman, just came out with the 9500 recently too. i havent seen one in person so i have no idea how it would fit, but by the looks of it it would be easier to fit in than a 7000 or 7700.

[AKHandyman]

Real cool...nice pics...I forgot to ask...how quiet is it? Is that a 80mm fan or 92? I mean for the cooler... :o

[grahamf]

its a 92mm fan. when its at its lowest speed setting it isnt audible over my psu or vid card. at its highest setting (which i dont use) its noisy in comparison to everything else but definately nothing that you cant put up with. and even at its loudest when i go into a 3d game and the fan on my vid card kicks its speed up its much louder than the zalman.

[BAM!]

52 idle is not bad for that intel model. but a better aftermarket HS definitely helps to quiet down the noise and temp.

no questions asked.... Thermalright XP120 is definitely the best air solution out there right now.

[bluegreenshxt]

The Zalman 9500 is supposed to be very good. Even better than their 7700 series.

[1337NuB5!]

alrighty; I looked at the ThermalrightXP120 and it does look like it gets the cooling job done well, and for the price it seems very good. Now the question is, would it fit(without pushing my crap around) onto my Gigabyte 925XE motherboard? Exact model # is GA-8AENXP-D I have my D.P.S. in, and I think it might touch the northbridge too possibly; I put my 120mm fan up there for sizig and it seems kinda tight, but it could fit I think, any suggestions on that?

[yahooadam]

the dimensions will be on the website so u can go measure up