ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

[mmd]

Anyone have any suggestions for a good quiet, preferably PWM compatible, CPU heatsink and fan for the ASRock Z68 PRO3?

I'm considering:
1) COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
2) ZALMAN CNPS11X Extreme

Thanks,
Matt

[dogoth]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

Hi

I got an Extreme4 recently with a 2500K. Got the Hyper212+ for ~AUD$35 which is fantastic value for such a great performing heatsink. It's nearly inaudible, but i am planning to replace the fan on it with a Nexus 120mm PWM fan (~$15) because the stock fan on my Hyper has a very very slight rattle in it. Very likely a faulty fan but i can't be bothered returning the whole thing for warranty.

Played with overclocking immediately as well, here are my results (all are from an ambient of 20C)

Stock:
Idle: < 30C - fan on lowest RPM, practically inaudible; full load for 30mins: under 60C - fan begins to kick in at 55C but is still very quiet at around 1500RPM

4.4Ghz
Idle: ~30C - fan on lowest RPM, practically inaudible; full load for 30mins: a bit over 70C - fan begins to kick in at 55C and gets a little bit noisy as it spins up to the full 2000RPM

4.6Ghz
Same results as 4.4Ghz but temp is a bit over 80C.

4.8Ghz, cpu started malfunctioning in Prime95

so i stayed on 4.6Ghz. In practice the cpu is unlikely to reach full load for such long periods unless you're using all cores on a very intensive task. even on long 3d gaming it in practice only reached 60C and the noise form the VGA card is much much more significant

overall very happy with the Hyper. bang-for-your-buck is unbeatable

Edit: wanted to include that i was using the "in place Large FFTs" torture test in Prime95 to get those temps, not the default "Blend" test. about 20 minutes into the "In Place..." test it changes over to a slightly smaller fft size which causes the temps to hit the numbers mentioned above. The "Blend" test results in far lower temps, ~20C less than the 'load' ones above

[mmd]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

Thanks mate! So there were no clearance issues w/RAM or other motherboard heatspreaders?

[kick]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

.Im using Zalman CNPS10X-Quiet CPU Cooler: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
Its good but have to use ram in slots 2+4.I use 2 fans.and neither came with it :0

[dogoth]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

just took a look at the layout of the Pro3 on the AsRock site and you will have absolutely no issues with clearances anywhere on the mobo. The Extreme4 is packed tighter than the Pro3 and i have no issues in the Extreme4 at all. Still plenty of space shoud you want to put on a second fan on the Hyper for push/pull (i'm not going to bother).

only bit to be concerned about is your case. it is quite a tall heatsink, so as long as your case has a 120mm fan port above the motherboard ports (if the case is lying on parallel to the ground) then you should be fine. FYI i have an Antec P183 V3 and it fits perfectly height wise (with only a few mm to spare).

[Marx]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

I am owner of this motherboard for 5 days now. I have i5 2500k and Cooler Master TX3, and TX3 is quiet enough. But it seems that there is some problem with BIOS/UEFI since it doesn't control CPU fan speed as it should. Once it starts to speed up it seems it goes to the full speed without slowing down when the CPU temperature goes down. Also it seems that no matter what, CPU temps cannot go lower than 45C as it is the lowest value in the UEFI. I have tested 2500k and TX3 with Prime95 and temps go up to 70C and I've noticed that fan haven't speed up nor slowed down during the test. No matter what the temperature was it remained at full speed. UEFI setting is auto/45C/Level 1.

The reason for this story is... CM 212+ is good cooler, but it tends to be noisy at high fan speed. If you have the same problem as I do with the motherboard, the noise is still going to be a problem. UEFI just doesn't control fans as it should. The only solution is to use ASRock eXtreme Tuner and apply the fan control settings now and then since the fan just can't slow down as it should.

[mmd]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

Thanks dogoth, kick and Marx. All very helpful. Best regards

[Jizzo]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

I'm using the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus on an P67 Extreme6 with 4 sticks of Corsair Vengeance and the fan just doesn't reach the RAM slots. 2600K overclocked to 4.6 GHz and prime95 tops at 64C. Happy with the noise level

[kick]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

One other consideration is.

If your cpu fan wont fit because of height problems if there is a dram stick in slot 1.

YOU ARE LUCKY!.

? pass that idiot the crack pipe ^

ie what do I mean.

I would draw a diagram but im too lazy.
a.I use temp sensors in both of my ram sticks.
b.right now doin nothin much my ram in slot 4 is at 39.4c,my ram in slot 2 is at 37.2C..mbrd is probly at 32C
c.Putting ram (2 sticks) in slots 2 +4 cos u have to for fan clearance means your ram will be cooled by cpu fan intake,in fact I have my cpu cooler intake fan lowered as far as is practical to get airflow over the memory heatsinks.

The majority of the airflow will be coolish air to the cpu heatsink,and at the other side /exhaust side cpu cooler fan ,i have to mount the fan at "normal height " to clear the mosfet vrm heatsinks.

[dogoth]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

jizzo: 64C on load at 4.6GHz!? amazing figures, what prime95 test are you using? how long are you stress testing for? if the 212 can reach those numbers i'd love to know how. i am using speedfan to monitor core temps and there is about a 7-8C variation between the cores during the test, with 82C being the hottest

kick: good idea RE the RAM cooling, will poke around my mobo to see if i can rearrange things as you have suggested. one side question though: what is the reasoning for getting high-end ram these days? up until the sandy bridge, overclocking was done by pumping the FSB which put stress on the ram (unless you go all the way back to AMDK7 or P4, or Extreme Edition cpus) . nowadays its all done with the cpu multiplier so there is no stress on the ram any more

[MrSparky_TX]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

Corsair H60

Using it with the Z68 Pro3-M in a Micro ATX case and loving it. Temps never go above 65 (OC to 4.5 )

[kick]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

Memory:
lower timings,higher speed=increased bandwidth.
lower voltage because controller is on chip.
"Special sandybridge" 1.5v memory doesnt really seem to be necessary as the"older" 1.65v ddr3 stuff is working ok .
Still I would get memory running at 1.5v ,1.65v rated stuff,you havent got any headroom if u do want to up the voltage a little.

1600mhz rated memory seems to be the best price/performance speed for sandy(according to articles) .

Ive tried clocking my memory to 1600(its 1300) but it wont hold 1600 at hi cpu overclock,for me and cpu overclock is now as u say much more important since the speeds arent linked by fsb.

Temps:
5.0ghz 78-85C(probably would get hotter) no long term testing 1 hr max,just too hot n noisy.
4.8ghz 72-80C long term testing
4.6ghz 65-73C long term testing
4.4ghz 60-65C long term testing

Large cpu voltage needed(for me) from 4.4ghz it really goes up!
some screenshots around in other posts of mine ,just too lazy to go looking for them.

n Yes I would like to be able to have my cpu running 5.0 ghz 24/7 just cos its a nice round number ,but 4.8 is so much easier to achieve and nothing seems strained.
If you check thru reviews of medium/hi end mbrds,they all seem to get a max reading in the 4.8-4.9 region.seems about right.
If yours is a v good chip that doesnt need a lot of volts as some seem to have,you should do a lot better on speed and temps.

[Evgeniy64]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

I use Zalman Flex with 14cm Thermalright cooler
very quiet and nice

[parsec]

Re: ASRock Z68 PRO3 quiet CPU cooler suggestions?

I am owner of this motherboard for 5 days now. I have i5 2500k and Cooler Master TX3, and TX3 is quiet enough. But it seems that there is some problem with BIOS/UEFI since it doesn't control CPU fan speed as it should. Once it starts to speed up it seems it goes to the full speed without slowing down when the CPU temperature goes down. Also it seems that no matter what, CPU temps cannot go lower than 45C as it is the lowest value in the UEFI. I have tested 2500k and TX3 with Prime95 and temps go up to 70C and I've noticed that fan haven't speed up nor slowed down during the test. No matter what the temperature was it remained at full speed. UEFI setting is auto/45C/Level 1.

The reason for this story is... CM 212+ is good cooler, but it tends to be noisy at high fan speed. If you have the same problem as I do with the motherboard, the noise is still going to be a problem. UEFI just doesn't control fans as it should. The only solution is to use ASRock eXtreme Tuner and apply the fan control settings now and then since the fan just can't slow down as it should.

If you have the UEFI CPU Fan control settings at Auto, 45V, and Level 1, that is correct, except the Level 1 setting is the lowest fan speed possible. The Fan Target Speed level setting should be adjusted for a given fan, as fans all differ in their speeds at various voltage/level settings. Then the cooling ability of the cooler and fan pair, as well as the fan's noise level, influence the selection of the Level. The Target Fan Speed level seems to be the lowest speed the fan will operate at, regardless of CPU temperature.

You can see the CPU fan speed in the Hardware Monitor screen of AXTU. As you know, changing fan speeds in AXTU overrides the UEFI settings. The Target Temperature setting seems to not do much if anything, but it actually does, with some coolers. Setting the Target Temperature to 45C, it's lowest setting, causes the CPU fan speed to stay higher as long as the CPU temp is above or close to that temperature.

In your case, I'm guess that the fan speed stays high, even when not running P95, because your cooler is not a super high performance cooler. It never goes to the Level 1 speed, because the CPU temp is to close to the Target Temperature. If you raised the Target Temperature to a higher value, the CPU fan might slow down more.

But, all of this depends on the CPU temperature, at idle in particular, which you did not mention. If your idle temps are close to 45C, that explains it.

While I agree that the fan control software on this board is not the best I've seen, and tends to be slow in it's response, my CPU fan speed does go up and down depending on CPU temperature. It's possible you have a defective PWM fan, which must be on the four pin PWM fan connector to work correctly.