Living on the south facing 10th floor of a condo block affords great views, but heat from the sun is intense and there is no free window in which to set up an air conditioner. As a result, the case does not get much cool air during the short summer months, and it was a little worrying to see the CPU spike high and fast during game playing or anything intensive.

So I finally succumbed to removing the stock fan and heat-sink, rep[lacing it with a ‘tower’ version. I opted for the Silenx EFZ-120HA4 which is a good balance between efficiency, price and quiet operation.  This is the manufacturer web site..

http://www.silenx.com/ixtremaproheatsinks.asp?sku=efz-120ha4 

This is a review web site complete with photos of the installation (not mine)..

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/silenx_extreme/

OK, so what has this fan and heat-sink done for me?

The stock fitting idled at 41- 42°C and would spin up very quickly to over 3000rpm, the temperature breaching 50°C in a matter of two or three seconds.

The new fan and heat-sink idles at 38 – 40°C depending upon room temperature, remains totally silent, and holds off the 50°C breach for almost twenty five seconds. The only way to get it to operate lower is to go for a far noisier set up, and that is what I have tried to avoid.

By the way, removing the side cover disturbed the airflow through the case enough to push the core temperature up a full two degrees

Was I expecting more? Yes, I guess so, but I really don’t like noisy desktops. I sit in front of one for so long each day, doing this and that, to the point where the droning can almost put me to sleep. I have done what I set out to do, and that is to minimize the time that my CPU tries to burn itself out, and I feel better for having done it.

A quickie addition.. these tower heatsinks are far more accessible for cleaning than ever the stock types are..