i will be cooling an undervolted, stock clocked i7 860 to start, and will probably upgrade to an i5 or i7 or equivalent at the next intel gen release. i want something that can cool my cpu adequately (~60 or 70 degrees, dont need to see 30 degrees here) during gaming. prime95 and such are good for stability testing, but i dont think i'll come near that kind of cpu stress gaming. i have 60mm to work with, but thats right up against the psu so id rather be closer to 50 or maybe 55 tops. has anything better been released since the samuel 17 a year or two ago? this might be a question for the cooling section, but i figured id get more knowledgeable info from the sff crowd. thanks guys!
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is the samuel 17 still the best cooler in its class?
- Thread starter ekuest
- Start date
You realize the Samuel 17 is 45mm without a fan, right? You'd pretty much have to use a Scythe slim 120mm, but that puts you right at 57mm. If you were going that route, the Big Shuriken is likely a better performer at the same height. The Big Shuriken 2 is out now as well, which only improves on the original, so it's not contest really.
It sounds like you don't have the clearance for either of those to get proper airflow though, so the Kozuti is probably your best bet.
It sounds like you don't have the clearance for either of those to get proper airflow though, so the Kozuti is probably your best bet.
yeah well i'd use a slim fan. already have a kaze-jyuni fan so basically the samuel 17 is a better heat sink but id be limited to a slim fan. so im not sure if that or a worse cooler (kozuti) with a normal thickness fan would be better. i think i can manage to squeeze a second kuhler 620 ran and fan into my case so it looks like i probably wont use either air cooler. still getting a kozuti just to have around for future builds since i love sff but i dont think it would be quiet enough on an i5/i7 for me.