Whats a good cooler for under $100?

[Majestic12]

Right now i have a thermoengine with a 38cfm delta. it screams like a banshee. Is there a cooler that can cool my 1.4 athlon thunderbird and is not loud? Price peferabaly under $100

[paul233]

try a thermaltake volcano 2 for $10. It cools my 1.2 @1.43 just fine, never getting over 50c. If it makes you feel good tell everyone it is something fancy that cost a lot, but then I guess you can't have a window in your case. This cooling/ case modding is getting ridiculous, you guys got to get out of the house and meet some girls.

[Oleg Mirnij]

Try to use a copper heatsink long (or "high"?) pins and a large fan (they usually provide a high cfm level on lower rotating speeds; also keep in mind that more blades is better).

[Bovon]

If your motherboard has the 4 holes beside the cpu socket for hard mounting of a heat sink, I personally like the Swiftech MC 462 series. It has a massive copper base for extreme heat transfer. This heat sink has been reviewed several times, and always comes in at or near the top of the list. I went with the one without a fan, and will use a good fan with maybe 45 cfm at about 4500 rpm. This will allow good airflow and cool the cpu just fine. Always check any heatsink for flatness on the bottom. Mine was concave just a tad, not enough to be concerned with, but I lapped it down flat anyway.

MC 462-A with fan (http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=120199&Product_Code=5075)

MC 462-BA without fan (http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=120199&Product_Code=5076)

[Tekkitan]

if i were you and had $100, i'd get water cooling. mmmm liquid cooling

[Mr. Thompson]

Glaciator II. $39, super quiet and within 1C of the Swiftech. Or better yet, with $100 or a little more, H2O!:D

[Majestic12]

is water cooling good? and does it generate a lot of noise?

[Mr. Thompson]

Consevative watercooling is much more soothing the ear than an 7000 RPM Delta! You should realize that overclocking will eventually cause you to push harder and put bigger fans on your watercooled system. The result will be more noise but you will go faster and still not have to put up with that high pitched Delta whine.

[ilcm]

Box fan duct taped to the side of the case, $5. :)

[bill1971]

Box fan,eh? Now that's what I call a Case Mod!!
I like my ThermoEngine with the quiet stock fan for $20.
Keeps my 1.33(266) on my Asus A7M266 below 50C. (Housed in
a Lian Li aluminum case probably doesn't hurt, either).

- Bill

[The Highlander]

Thermalright SK6 DELTA SCREAMER!!!
Huge and a bit heavy copper. It cools my p3 1GHz@1133 1.7v. The temp is at no more than 40C with CPU STAB TEST on warming mode!!!!

[saladbarkid]

If you like the Thermalright SK6, you can pick it up at www.abilitywholesale.com for under $40 and you also get a much better fan than the Delta--for a better price! It's a bit loud, but it cools my Athlon 1.3 to a nice 27C idle and 47C full load. Trust me, it's worth it; if you don't mind the loudness.:D

[Majestic12]

would watercooling be able to cool as good as...lets say a MC370?

[Jimstep]

I have an AMD TB 1.4Ghz which generates a lot of heat. I would be interested in your temps.

I tried the copper base Thermotake Volcano 6Cu. The fan runs at 4550 rpm with airflow of 32cfm. My system consistently locked up, no overclocking.

I replaced it with an aluminum base Cooler Master DP5-6131C-A1, which came with my processor. The fan runs at 5400 rpm with airflow of 27.72cfm. No problems with this one.

My mobo temp shows 59 degrees C with the case closed using the Cooler Master. I was getting 59 degree C readings with the Volcano with the case open and temps kept climbing until the system went unstable.

To give the Volcano a chance, I removed the goo on the h/s and lapped the top of the processor with a silver thermal compound. That didn't make a difference. The system still locked up.

I went back to the Cooler Master and haven't had a problem. One note about the case design. The power supply sits directly across from the h/s fan assembly. I don't like that design. I am thinking about building a little intake manifold to make sure cooler air is being drawn to the h/s.

[Majestic12]

Athlon 1.4 overclocked to 1.6.. Tempertures on the motherboard are always off by at least 10 degrees. i use a digital doc to measure the temps running winXP on an Asus A7a266. temps at 45-50C idle, and 50-60C at full load running seti@home. i used to have a majesty twins cooler that was really bad. i had some lockups until i replaced it with a supercharged thermoengine. no problems now, cept for the loud noise the 7000 rpm fan generates.