[Micro-ATX] A8-3850 (4x2.9Ghz) + HD6550D

mmajstor Wrote:If you want to use this CPU I would recommend ONLY ONE cooler which can adequatelly cool this CPU in the low profile case, and without noise. It is Scythe Big Shuriken 2, only 58mm in height, very silent and powerful. On the full load temperature is mostly beetween 40 and 58 degrees, only once it went over the 60. In idle mod temperature was arround 20C. No other low profile cooler can make this performance.

I disagreed with your last sentence. This "Thermaltake CLP0527" should top it. It is silencer at 16dBA max compared to Big Shuriken 2 at 33dBA max and lower profile at 47mm height compared to Big Shuriken 2 at 58mm height.

You have on the specification page:
"Supports All CPUs up to 65W TDP"

This CPU has 100W TDP so it does not have enough power to adequatelly cool the CPU.

You can also conclude that based on a size of a fan. 90mm fan (on TT) with the same RPM has much lower performance than 120mm fan (on Big Shuriken 2). Increased performance on TT (on the side that even increased performance is not enough) can be achieved only with faster rotating of fan, which corespond to higher noise, so althogh specification says 16dba - this is related only to the minimum speed of the fan. I have monitored the market for the long time, and concluded that Big Shuriken 2 is the most silent solution......if someone finds some another - better for all of us, but I don`t think that this one is.

mmajstor Wrote:You can also conclude that based on a size of a fan. 90mm fan (on TT) with the same RPM has much lower performance than 120mm fan (on Big Shuriken 2).

Increased performance on TT (on the side that even increased performance is not enough) can be achieved only with faster rotating of fan, which corespond to higher noise, so althogh specification says 16dba - this is related only to the minimum speed of the fan. I have monitored the market for the long time, and concluded that Big Shuriken 2 is the most silent solution......if someone finds some another - better for all of us, but I don`t think that this one is.

This is not the case. The fan size and RPM is depending on what heatsink it is mounted on and the overall design of the fan to maximize air flow. The fact that the 90mm at 1700rpm fan move almost the same amount of air (CFM) as 120mm at 200rpm, it's very darn efficient and good fan.

If you are looking for a 120mm CPU heatsink/fan with lower dBA at 2000rpm, this one (Thermaltake CL-P0369) can easily top Big Shuriken 2. It's 24dBA at 200rpm and it can move almost twice a (Big Shuriken 45 CFM) at at 86 CFM. It supports CPUs up to 130W TDP.

Not doubting your maths and physics knowledge is good bluray, and I'll be considering the first TT HSF for my build, but you do get distracted easily, at 95mm the height of the second HSF you posted is WAY too big for this context.

EDIT:
No I won't, you can't get the TT HSF in the UK. Shuriken it is then Still hoping the stock cooler is quiet enough though.
This one also looks like it's comparable: Coolermaster GeminII M4 with 120mm fan, max 30dB and 58CFM

One random question... do these coolers normally suck up or blow down?

Yes, of course that we can not take for granted that bigger fan means 100% more power with same RPM, but this is just one of the assumptions, which in this case supposed to be true when you look at the specifications.
You can see that this second TT cooler can support CPUs with 130w TDP, with very low noise, and it has 120mm fan. But, it is a petty that it is to high for the low profile cases - 95mm.
When you see some of performed CPU coolers test, Shuriken 2 is one of the most silent ones even in category with higher coolers.....so its hight is really +++

mmajstor Wrote:Yes, of course that we can not take for granted that bigger fan means 100% more power with same RPM, but this is just one of the assumptions, which in this case supposed to be true when you look at the specifications.
You can see that this second TT cooler can support CPUs with 130w TDP, with very low noise, and it has 120mm fan. But, it is a petty that it is to high for the low profile cases - 95mm.
When you see some of performed CPU coolers test, Shuriken 2 is one of the most silent ones even in category with higher coolers.....so its hight is really +++

I'm not exactly sure what APU you have in mind. If you are going for the lower power A8-3800 or A6-2600, the very low noise with good air flow "Thermaltake CLP0527" will be silencer than OEM CPU cooler.

I am related to the subject of this post - and that is A8-3850 with slim Silverstone case.

baldmosher Wrote:EDIT:
No I won't, you can't get the TT HSF in the UK. Shuriken it is then Still hoping the stock cooler is quiet enough though.
This one also looks like it's comparable: Coolermaster GeminII M4 with 120mm fan, max 30dB and 58CFM

One random question... do these coolers normally suck up or blow down?

Stock cooler is disasteriosly noisy, sometimes on full load it is spining over the 5500 RPM - like you have an airplane in your room . This architecture of Gemini seems very similar to the Shuriken coolers. It seems to be very silent, but I haven`t seen the specification for TDP. It has 4 pipes which is one less than Big Shuriken 2, and same as on Big Shuriken 1. So maybe it has little bit less performance, but this has to be checked. Fans blow down, and because they are wider than heatsink they have a small effect and for the cooling of motherboard.

EDIT: I checked additional specifications and it is up to 130W TDP for GeminiII M4, so it is applicable solution (I just don`t know how it is performed in practice) and we have two winners

Incidentally, on a related but different note, my mate pointed out the latest Nofan passive CPU cooler last night.... rated up to 95W. The heatsink is enormous, it almost fills an entire ATX case. http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/product...nof-cr-95c

This is so huge that it is out of the question for htpc