Good CPU Cooler for Phenom II X4 940?

[tastegw]

3.7 was my safe stable OC when using the sunbeam core contact freezer.

though my max OC wasnt much higher, think it was my board limiting it.

you should be fine with nearly any of the 120mm riffle style coolers.

 

[ricanflow]

You can easily get to 3.8ghz on an aftermarket HSF. Can't say if it will be stable or not, but I doubt it will be. I run 3.5ghz stable on my 720 with the stock HSF with load temps maxing at 60c. I think rican is running at 3.6ghz 24/7 stable, and he's using the Rifle.

yup, 3.6ghz is my daily usage clock.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

Well I just picked up 2 of these crazy fans...
Newegg.com - VANTEC TD8038H 80mm Case Fan - Case Fans

80cfm of airflow, my stock ones are 35cfm so I figured I would put one in my window spot, and 1 in my back spot, and keep 2 stock fans up front as intake, use the 80cfm as an intake in the window, and have the 80cfm and stock fan in the back as exhaust fans.

Seems good, yes?

Heres basically the inside of my case to get the idea:

Keeping the 2 front fans, changing out one of the rear fans with a new one and changing a side window fan with the new one.

 

[Apokalipse]

Just wondering what you guys have found to be the best aftermarket heatsink/fan for a Phenom II X4 that is good for some Moderate overclocking?

Looking at buying my 940 as soon as I know which Heatsink/Fan to buy so I can overclock it. I would like to get it to about a 3.6Ghz, a friend of mine says his is pushed to a 3.4 on the stock cooler but he doesn't want to go over that.

Sooo, yeah, just wondering what is the best one. I really don't like the screw down ones, I like the ones that clip onto the stock base.

Thanks,
Kyle

Most 940's should get 3.6GHZ on stock cooling.
The stock cooler it comes with isn't too bad; it's a copper heatpipe version, designed for CPU's that can reach 125W power usage (as per the 125W TDP).
The 940 uses about 65-70W under full load at stock, however (the TDP is just a recommendation for cooling, not actual power usage)

Though Phenom II's love the cold, and higher volts. And a better the cooler, the higher it will overclock (with -200°C and ~1.9-2.0V, you can potentially break world records.)
Though you need a board with power regulation that can handle the volts you put through.
Most will allow 1.5-1.6V

Anyway, I hope you're not planning to use an AM2+ chip in an AM3 board.
AM2+ chips will only work in AM2/AM2+ boards.
AM3 chips work in AM3, and AM2/AM2+ boards though.

It's because of the onboard memory controller;
AM2/AM2+ chips have a DDR2 only memory controller. AM3 chips have a DDR3 and DDR2 capable memory controller.

 

[zedman3d]

Are we still in agreement that S1283 > S1284? I only ever saw one review.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

Most 940's should get 3.6GHZ on stock cooling.
The stock cooler it comes with isn't too bad; it's a copper heatpipe version, designed for CPU's that can reach 125W power usage (as per the 125W TDP).
The 940 uses about 65-70W under full load at stock, however (the TDP is just a recommendation for cooling, not actual power usage)

Though Phenom II's love the cold, and higher volts. And a better the cooler, the higher it will overclock (with -200°C and ~1.9-2.0V, you can potentially break world records.)
Though you need a board with power regulation that can handle the volts you put through.
Most will allow 1.5-1.6V

Anyway, I hope you're not planning to use an AM2+ chip in an AM3 board.
AM2+ chips will only work in AM2/AM2+ boards.
AM3 chips work in AM3, and AM2/AM2+ boards though.

It's because of the onboard memory controller;
AM2/AM2+ chips have a DDR2 only memory controller. AM3 chips have a DDR3 and DDR2 capable memory controller.

It's an AM3/AM2+/AM2 board. At the moment I am running my AM2 6000+ Dual Core in it, its why I didn't buy just an AM3 board

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

 

[hikaricloud]

I wouldn't say you can hit 3.6ghz stable on a stock cooler, because temps get too high. It may be stable, but I wouldn't want my CPU running over 70c constantly under load.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

Well I put it in about 10 minutes and overclocked it a minute ago to a 3.3Ghz just to check Temps, and gonna do Benchmarks now

Running around 40 Degrees C at complete idle (Sitting on desktop)

Gonna try to push it to a 3.6Ghz and call it a day

 

[james.wired]

Good to see ya doin werk! Keep pushin her

 

[Slam'n Systems]

Okay so while I did this, I bumped my Corsair DOMINATOR ram up to 1066 which is it labeled for and it seems to be unstable, which some did complain about in their reviews of it. When I ran 3DMark06, I stepped away for a meer moment and I came back to find my screen black and nothing happening. I turned it back down to 800 and ran 3DMark06 and was very impressed with the increase.

With my AMD X2 Dual Core 6000+ at 3.2Ghz and the rest of my current PC being the same, I got this score:
3DMark Score: 11331 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score: 4845
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 6 K
CPU Score: 2162

Now, with my AMD Phenom II X4 940 at 3.3Ghz, this is my newest score:
3DMark Score: 16340 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score: 7 K
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 8 K
CPU Score: 4396

I am going to go back and try to bump up my Memory again, see if it still causes a problem and benchmark once more.

Throughout the whole Benchmark the CPU cores touched 60 degrees C. What would be a decent "Highest Temperature" to not go over? Some people have said no more than 60, so I am wondering what you guys think. My friend on a stock CPU Cooler is running 46 degrees at idle on 3.4Ghz compared to my 40 degrees at 3.3Ghz on the Rifle. Doesn't seem like a substantial difference to me