Is the Intel LGA775 stock cooler not sufficient? Too tall? Not efficient enough?

Barley wrote on Yesterday, 20:57:

Is the Intel LGA775 stock cooler not sufficient? Too tall? Not efficient enough?

Not sufficient. It's congested case. So it's fine but if I use it for more than 1 hour, the entire computer could warm a sub pretty easily. I wouldn't mind giving it a modern touch to bring those temps way down as we have better components available since that socket was released.

Hi,

Can you specify what do you mean by "low profile build", for example how much vertical clearance do you have in the case, also the type of the motherboard could be useful as well to know how large the horizontal clearances without obstructing components are?

Also if it is a congested case then adding an extra case fan and making that air flows without obstacles might give better results than directly upgrading the CPU cooler.

A picture of the case + motherboard might help in giving advice what kind of cooling would be optimal.

Would help to know the CPU, as you're going to get away with significantly less if it's a Core 2 vs trying to cool a Pentium D

All the stock hinks of metal from Intel are trash and have been since the Pentium 4 days.

There are still a lot of heatpipes based low profile coolers that will fit 775.

However, just moving to a better CPU cooler is not going to fix the inside of the case heating up. You must have sufficient airflow through the case.

What case are you using? What intake and exhaust fans are you using? Are you using airflow restrictors (metal grills) on any of the fans?

To answer the last two posts.

1. The case is an HTPC case, so there isn't much I can do about airflow outside of what it provides. I was able to change one of the case fans with a noctua one, but it's only around 60mm, so it can only do so much.
2. There's a cut out right above the CPU cooler so that air can come in. The rear has only one real vent for air flow and that's for the power supply.
3.

Fish3r wrote on Yesterday, 21:22:

Would help to know the CPU, as you're going to get away with significantly less if it's a Core 2 vs trying to cool a Pentium D

Almost forgot to answer you, it's a Pentium 4 630.

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 22:55:

To answer the last two posts. […]
Show full quote

To answer the last two posts.

1. The case is an HTPC case, so there isn't much I can do about airflow outside of what it provides. I was able to change one of the case fans with a noctua one, but it's only around 60mm, so it can only do so much.
2. There's a cut out right above the CPU cooler so that air can come in. The rear has only one real vent for air flow and that's for the power supply.
3.

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable.

Looking at the picture it does seem to be a little tight inside here, the heat sink on the CPU seems to me to be made of mostly aluminium and straight fins in one direction, some improvements might be made by switching it to a mostly copper one, and also because it is an ingress fan then it might be better to have one which not only have straight fins in one direction but some openings in the other sides to better spread the airflow around the CPU.

If there is no place for more case fans I notice that there is an empty PCI slot next to the graphics card, as the graphics card is in the way between this slot and the CPU the location is not ideal, but you might be able to fit a PCI slot fan(You can find these on multiple online stores/marketplaces including Amazon) here to exhaust heat from the case.

MagefromAntares wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable. […]
Show full quote

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 22:55:

To answer the last two posts. […]
Show full quote

To answer the last two posts.

1. The case is an HTPC case, so there isn't much I can do about airflow outside of what it provides. I was able to change one of the case fans with a noctua one, but it's only around 60mm, so it can only do so much.
2. There's a cut out right above the CPU cooler so that air can come in. The rear has only one real vent for air flow and that's for the power supply.
3.

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable.

Looking at the picture it does seem to be a little tight inside here, the heat sink on the CPU seems to me to be made of mostly aluminium and straight fins in one direction, some improvements might be made by switching it to a mostly copper one, and also because it is an ingress fan then it might be better to have one which not only have straight fins in one direction but some openings in the other sides to better spread the airflow around the CPU.

If there is no place for more case fans I notice that there is an empty PCI slot next to the graphics card, as the graphics card is in the way between this slot and the CPU the location is not ideal, but you might be able to fit a PCI slot fan(You can find these on multiple online stores/marketplaces including Amazon) here to exhaust heat from the case.

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any suggestions for coolers that fit what you described? My knowledge of PC hardware pre-Windows 7 days is very limited.
As far as your last suggestion regarding the PCI slot. That slot actually is occupied. It's supposed to be occupied by a Riser card. I wanted to keep the system as intact as possible but considering the riser card holds Tuner/Capture cards, it can be taken out but the other problem with moving the GPU one slot over is that the cut out for the GPU can't be moved over. So it really is a situation where you have to work within the restricted barriers.

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 23:47:

MagefromAntares wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable. […]
Show full quote

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 22:55:

To answer the last two posts. […]
Show full quote

To answer the last two posts.

1. The case is an HTPC case, so there isn't much I can do about airflow outside of what it provides. I was able to change one of the case fans with a noctua one, but it's only around 60mm, so it can only do so much.
2. There's a cut out right above the CPU cooler so that air can come in. The rear has only one real vent for air flow and that's for the power supply.
3.

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable.

Looking at the picture it does seem to be a little tight inside here, the heat sink on the CPU seems to me to be made of mostly aluminium and straight fins in one direction, some improvements might be made by switching it to a mostly copper one, and also because it is an ingress fan then it might be better to have one which not only have straight fins in one direction but some openings in the other sides to better spread the airflow around the CPU.

If there is no place for more case fans I notice that there is an empty PCI slot next to the graphics card, as the graphics card is in the way between this slot and the CPU the location is not ideal, but you might be able to fit a PCI slot fan(You can find these on multiple online stores/marketplaces including Amazon) here to exhaust heat from the case.

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any suggestions for coolers that fit what you described? My knowledge of PC hardware pre-Windows 7 days is very limited.
As far as your last suggestion regarding the PCI slot. That slot actually is occupied. It's supposed to be occupied by a Riser card. I wanted to keep the system as intact as possible but considering the riser card holds Tuner/Capture cards, it can be taken out but the other problem with moving the GPU one slot over is that the cut out for the GPU can't be moved over. So it really is a situation where you have to work within the restricted barriers.

It is actually kind of hard to give an exact recommendation, as I see there are two things that are needed to be balanced there, the heat-sink+fan needs to be short enough to fit in the case, but as one of the air inlets/outlets are right above the fan the tighter it fits with the panel the better it will be at sucking or exhausting air (depending on the direction of the fan) into the system. (If the fitting with the hole is only off by less than a centimetre then a thin strip of flexible plastic can be used to seal the gap so air cannot escape back into the case here.)

Also unless you wish to risk using a no-name brand, as the popular brands are no longer producing new coolers for this socket(For example: Noctua, Be Quiet!, Deepcool) you will either have to buy one used or modify the mounting of a cooler designed for a newer socket(Depending on the design the difficulty can range from as easy to swapping mounting metal strips to needing some experience with metalworking).

MagefromAntares wrote on Today, 00:14:

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 23:47:

MagefromAntares wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

The Pentium 4 630 is a Prescott based model with a TDP of 84 watts, high but should be still manageable.

Looking at the picture it does seem to be a little tight inside here, the heat sink on the CPU seems to me to be made of mostly aluminium and straight fins in one direction, some improvements might be made by switching it to a mostly copper one, and also because it is an ingress fan then it might be better to have one which not only have straight fins in one direction but some openings in the other sides to better spread the airflow around the CPU.

If there is no place for more case fans I notice that there is an empty PCI slot next to the graphics card, as the graphics card is in the way between this slot and the CPU the location is not ideal, but you might be able to fit a PCI slot fan(You can find these on multiple online stores/marketplaces including Amazon) here to exhaust heat from the case.

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any suggestions for coolers that fit what you described? My knowledge of PC hardware pre-Windows 7 days is very limited.
As far as your last suggestion regarding the PCI slot. That slot actually is occupied. It's supposed to be occupied by a Riser card. I wanted to keep the system as intact as possible but considering the riser card holds Tuner/Capture cards, it can be taken out but the other problem with moving the GPU one slot over is that the cut out for the GPU can't be moved over. So it really is a situation where you have to work within the restricted barriers.

It is actually kind of hard to give an exact recommendation, as I see there are two things that are needed to be balanced there, the heat-sink+fan needs to be short enough to fit in the case, but as one of the air inlets/outlets are right above the fan the tighter it fits with the panel the better it will be at sucking or exhausting air (depending on the direction of the fan) into the system. (If the fitting with the hole is only off by less than a centimetre then a thin strip of flexible plastic can be used to seal the gap so air cannot escape back into the case here.)

Also unless you wish to risk using a no-name brand, as the popular brands are no longer producing new coolers for this socket(For example: Noctua, Be Quiet!, Deepcool) you will either have to buy one used or modify the mounting of a cooler designed for a newer socket(Depending on the design the difficulty can range from as easy to swapping mounting metal strips to needing some experience with metalworking).

I fully understand. Honestly any recommendation would be fine and I can do the extra research. Like I mentioned before, the only other cooler I've tried was the Noctua NH-L12. I took it out as it seemed like it was a bit too tightly packed in but I could easily put it back in if I'm desperate enough. I just wanted to know what else was out there and I can check the dimensions, pricing, availability, etc on my end.

iiamsiincere wrote on Today, 00:17:

MagefromAntares wrote on Today, 00:14:

iiamsiincere wrote on Yesterday, 23:47:

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any suggestions for coolers that fit what you described? My knowledge of PC hardware pre-Windows 7 days is very limited.
As far as your last suggestion regarding the PCI slot. That slot actually is occupied. It's supposed to be occupied by a Riser card. I wanted to keep the system as intact as possible but considering the riser card holds Tuner/Capture cards, it can be taken out but the other problem with moving the GPU one slot over is that the cut out for the GPU can't be moved over. So it really is a situation where you have to work within the restricted barriers.

It is actually kind of hard to give an exact recommendation, as I see there are two things that are needed to be balanced there, the heat-sink+fan needs to be short enough to fit in the case, but as one of the air inlets/outlets are right above the fan the tighter it fits with the panel the better it will be at sucking or exhausting air (depending on the direction of the fan) into the system. (If the fitting with the hole is only off by less than a centimetre then a thin strip of flexible plastic can be used to seal the gap so air cannot escape back into the case here.)

Also unless you wish to risk using a no-name brand, as the popular brands are no longer producing new coolers for this socket(For example: Noctua, Be Quiet!, Deepcool) you will either have to buy one used or modify the mounting of a cooler designed for a newer socket(Depending on the design the difficulty can range from as easy to swapping mounting metal strips to needing some experience with metalworking).

I fully understand. Honestly any recommendation would be fine and I can do the extra research. Like I mentioned before, the only other cooler I've tried was the Noctua NH-L12. I took it out as it seemed like it was a bit too tightly packed in but I could easily put it back in if I'm desperate enough. I just wanted to know what else was out there and I can check the dimensions, pricing, availability, etc on my end.

I have to admit it if the Noctua NH-L12 was not enough to keep the CPU cool, I don't really know any still easily found coolers that outperforms it.

What is possible to try is to install a very low profile heatsink+fan combo on the CPU itself, for example a "Cooler Master S2N-7DDLS-L6-GP" (Just an example, there are other short fans), and a separate fan into the hole above the CPU which you can plug into the MBs case fan header or if there are none available then into a separate Molex connector of the PSU with a Molex to Fan converter. If you wish to try this two fan configuration make sure that the fans work in the same direction not fighting each other, so either both of them should suck air or push air.

One more tip, when buying any cooler you should always apply a high quality thermal paste yourself instead of the factory applied one, the better brands like Noctua does a quite good job with the pre-applied one, but a properly manually applied thermal paste can improve cooling performance even on those models.

MagefromAntares wrote on 59 minutes ago:

I have to admit it if the Noctua NH-L12 was not enough to keep the CPU cool, I don't really know any still easily found coolers […]
Show full quote

iiamsiincere wrote on Today, 00:17:

MagefromAntares wrote on Today, 00:14:

It is actually kind of hard to give an exact recommendation, as I see there are two things that are needed to be balanced there, the heat-sink+fan needs to be short enough to fit in the case, but as one of the air inlets/outlets are right above the fan the tighter it fits with the panel the better it will be at sucking or exhausting air (depending on the direction of the fan) into the system. (If the fitting with the hole is only off by less than a centimetre then a thin strip of flexible plastic can be used to seal the gap so air cannot escape back into the case here.)

Also unless you wish to risk using a no-name brand, as the popular brands are no longer producing new coolers for this socket(For example: Noctua, Be Quiet!, Deepcool) you will either have to buy one used or modify the mounting of a cooler designed for a newer socket(Depending on the design the difficulty can range from as easy to swapping mounting metal strips to needing some experience with metalworking).

I fully understand. Honestly any recommendation would be fine and I can do the extra research. Like I mentioned before, the only other cooler I've tried was the Noctua NH-L12. I took it out as it seemed like it was a bit too tightly packed in but I could easily put it back in if I'm desperate enough. I just wanted to know what else was out there and I can check the dimensions, pricing, availability, etc on my end.

I have to admit it if the Noctua NH-L12 was not enough to keep the CPU cool, I don't really know any still easily found coolers that outperforms it.

What is possible to try is to install a very low profile heatsink+fan combo on the CPU itself, for example a "Cooler Master S2N-7DDLS-L6-GP" (Just an example, there are other short fans), and a separate fan into the hole above the CPU which you can plug into the MBs case fan header or if there are none available then into a separate Molex connector of the PSU with a Molex to Fan converter. If you wish to try this two fan configuration make sure that the fans work in the same direction not fighting each other, so either both of them should suck air or push air.

One more tip, when buying any cooler you should always apply a high quality thermal paste yourself instead of the factory applied one, the better brands like Noctua does a quite good job with the pre-applied one, but a properly manually applied thermal paste can improve cooling performance even on those models.

To your first point, I want to clarify that it's not that I don't think the noctua cooler wasn't adequate in cooling the CPU, I just wanted to see what other options existed in regards to fitting within the tight space.

To your second point, I will look up Cooler Master S2N-7DDLS-L6-GP to see if I can get any ideas

To the third point, I always use after market thermal paste that are reputable. I have a drawer full of arctic MX-4s, so no worries there but I agree with you overall on that.