Saturday, December 12, 2009

i7 920 Heatsink Upgrade

Let me begin by saying WOW! I'll let the numbers speak for themselves. Around a 20 degree Celsius difference, that's just crazy!




Here's the setup:
-Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core
-EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
-OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
-EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB
-SILVERSTONE TEMJIN TJ06B

Here's the upgrade:

Went from stock Intel i7-920 heatsink to a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. This heatsink is huge and as the numbers show, it works! I've been waiting almost a year for a kick ass heatsink for the 1366 chipset. I found my solution through Maximum PC's 10 out of 10 Kick Ass review of the Cooler Master.

Final verdict:

It was a tight fit and a little frustrating, but I took my time and the results speak for themselves. Anyone that is curious because they have the same Temjin TJ06B case and EVGA E758-A1 mobo now knows that the new heatsink fits fine and it totally rocks!!!!

The noise level is the same or less. I also used Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM as well as Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier - OEM prior to installation to remove the previous thermal paste. These 2 products are simply amazing!

For $50 at Newegg, this upgrade can't be beat!!!!

Before:




Look at the poor coverage by the stock Intel heatsink =(

After:






THANK YOU MAXIMUM PC, COOLER MASTER, AND NEWEGG!!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are these numbers for real? What kind of ambient air temp are you working in, I think I am going to run out and get one! Seems about as good as the almighty TRUE, but less than half as much. Thanks for the pics, I have a TJ05 SX which is just a little wider than your case (213mm)with an ASUS P6X58D Premium , this looks like it will work!

216 Blogs said...

Yes, for real! Room temp is about 65 F. The heatsink is so amazing. I don't even hear it, my hard drives are much louder than the fan. Let me know if you end up getting the 212 and how you make out with the temps!

-216digits

Anonymous said...

Okay, I bought it and now am running an SMP client for Folding at Home. This puts a 100% load on all the cores of the CPU for hours at a time. I also have another identical Cooler Master fan so it is in a push - pull configuration. My temps are slightly higher that yours, low to mid 50's C. Ambient air temp is probably similar to yours at around 65 F, so I am pretty happy. I am using the old tried and true Artic Silver 5, so it is still going through it's initial 200 hour curing time.

What started my quest for better cooling was the fact the CPU ran really hot, even with a Zalman 9700. The stock Intel cooler is junk and I never even tried to use it. Prime 95 would show errors and the SMP client I mentioned above would either crash or BSOD my PC. Turns out the CPU was the culprit, RMA'd it to Intel and to their credit they were very good about supplying a replacement.

Bottom line, for the money the Hyper 212 + is really very good and I would purchase it again. It fit nicely and did not block any RAM slots or interfere with any of the heatsinks or components on the motherboard, even with two fans attached to it. I really wanted to use the Corsair H50, but it was going to be much of a pain to try and install inside my SilverStone case, and would have involved some creative modding. The case is coming up on 5 years of continual use and I still love the looks and overall usability of it. Lots have changed since I got it, but the case still functions very well.

I guess I now know why I read Maximum PC, the reviews are pretty much right on the money! Thanks for posting your experience, the review and your information (your SilverStone case really caught my eye)along with other research helped me settle on this cooler. Enjoy your upgraded rig and happy computing!

Danners

Folding for Team 11108 Maximum PC Magazine

216 Blogs said...

Hi Danners, I couldn't agree more! I just built a rig for my cousin and he has the i7-930 and at idle his CPU is at 25-28, with the 212+. I'm thinking the new 930 runs even cooler with this heatsink and has a faster stock speed. I can't believe the difference a $30 heatsink makes.

Thanks for your comment and sharing your experience.

-216digits

Anonymous said...

Just out of curiosity, how did you apply your thermal paste? I used this technique shown here: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5

I applied in the channels between the the cooper heat pipes directly on the cooler and then mounted the cooler and did a little twisting motion try and spread it a little. I used this method because I tried the single vertical line method prescribed by the Artic Silver folks shown here: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_method_vertical_line_v1.1.pdf

but did not find it to be effective with getting the temps down. They were in the mid 60's C full load and even higher with Prime 95 In-Place FFTs. So, what did you do and how did you test with? I would like to do some modest overclocking and your temps seem to be a little better than mine. Thanks in advance!

Danners

216 Blogs said...

Hi Danners,

Here's what I did:

After using the Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier on the CPU (from the previous stock) I placed a little of the Arctic 5 (about a pea size) on the heatsink. I then placed a poor-man's rubber glove over my finger (a sandwich baggie) and rubbed the grease in. It essentially filled the gaps between the copper and aluminum and left a little residue across the entire underside.

Next, I did the same for the CPU's heat spreader. About a pea size, rubbed my finger over it, ensuring that it was evenly spread and no globs.

Finally, I did a test heatsink placement to see how the heatsink would fit and attach. That process connected the heatsink and the heat spreader and made a smudge of grease on both. I smoothed it out on both pieces with my finger and then attached the heatsink to its new home.

One thing to note, when I helped my cousin with his build, I used the 'Surface Purifier' prior to applying the Arctic 5 to both the heatsink and heat spreader. I don't know if that would make a difference, but just though I should throw it out there for you.

-216digits