Good heatsink fore overclocking?

[jtfunkymojo]

My idle temp with an i5 stock cooler is 41-44C at 2.8Ghz.

I want to overclock some more, but the stability tests keeps overheating(80C) the processor.

any good recommendations for heatsinks?

(must be under 14cm tall and fit in mid-tower case)

 

[Sean W.]

really any after market cooler will be better than the stock one...

 

[jtfunkymojo]

Zalman CNPS9500 AT CPU Cooler Pure Copper CNPS9500AT for Intel Socket 775 1156 1366 CPUs-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

So how's this one?
(LGA 1156)

I've never bought a heatsink before, so I don't know how price affects performance in cooling.

 

[Sean W.]

that is a good heat sink, but for about the same price or just a little more you can get a lot better... but really you cant go wrong with getting a aftermarket cooler. any aftermarket cooler is going to be better than the stock one...

 

[jtfunkymojo]

How can I tell if a heatsink is good or not?

 

[Sean W.]

the materials its made out of, the company, reviews, how many and what kind ( specs ) of fans... generally, the bigger and more fans and fins the better...

 

[soarwitheagles]

My idle temp with an i5 stock cooler is 41-44C at 2.8Ghz.

I want to overclock some more, but the stability tests keeps overheating(80C) the processor.

any good recommendations for heatsinks?

(must be under 14cm tall and fit in mid-tower case)

JT,

Several vendors have been dropping the price on the Corsair H50 CPU cooler [water cooled] and it has excellent reviews. I am not sure how much you can afford, but if you can afford the Corsair H50 [$59 when on sale], it works quite well for overclockers and fits just fine in a mid tower case.

The specs and info can be found here: http://www.corsair.com/products/h50/default.aspx

Unbiased reviews and more info can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010

Comparison charts can be found here: http://blog.corsair.com/?p=987

And here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1042-page6.html

I like it because the large CPU heat sinks add a lot of unnecessary weight to your motherboard and that increases the stress on the board. As seen in the comparison charts, there are several large heatsinks and fans that can cool better than this Corsair H50, but one drawback is the massive weight and size of these CPU air-coolers.

Last and not least, the H50 is a completely sealed system so you needn't worry about leaking or refilling if you desire to go the water cooling option.

Soar

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I also use the Corsair H50. While it isn't the best cooler out there it does what it does very well, it's a lightweight unit that doesn't stress your motherboard like some heavy air cooler heatsinks do (important if you travel with your PC a lot or move it frequently) and it cools well enough for a good amount of overclocking. I'm pushing 4.12GHz on my i7 930 with it (push-pull with 2 Rosewill 120mm fans).

 

[Apokalipse]

H50 is about as good as a high-end air cooler.

Really, the water is just used to transfer the heat to the radiator. Sort of like what heat pipes do.
The water itself isn't doesn't really get rid of the heat. It's just the medium by which the heat is carried to the heatsink/radiator.
It's the radiator that needs to get rid of the heat; The one in the H50 will hardly outperform many of the good air coolers that are out.

Also, there is the issue of transferring heat to the water (waterblock), and getting the water to flow quickly enough so that the heat doesn't just sit in the system too long (pump, tube size, restriction) The H50 is not great in these areas either.

 

[Slaymate]

How much money are you willing to spend on a heatsink???