Good yet cheap heatsink?

[Fox-Shot]

I have an Intel i5 2500k, if any of you have this chip, you may have experienced how "awesome" intel's heatsinks are. Given the fact that I can't even get all four pins to go in without risking breaking my motherboard, does anyone have any good bang-for-your-buck heatsinks I could get?

[CrypticQuery]

No problem, and fortune be with you!

[CrypticQuery]

I do currently have a 2500K, and though I can attest to the fact that the stock heatsink can be a pain to install, it does work well as I am currently making good use of it.

 

--

 

As for aftermarket heatsinks, I've always heard that Cooler Master is great when it comes to that;

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

[Fox-Shot]

Alright, thanks for the list. And for some backstory on this, I removed the heatsink recently and as a result had to reapply thermal paste.  Last night, I've gotten it reapplied with Arctic Silver 5, but I can only get 3 of the pins to fully snap in, the fourth just takes too much force than I'm willing to put my mother board against.  The CPU seems just fine at first, it actually has a colder idle temp than before, but whenever I put it under load with any game, it can get to the upper 60s and 70s. Is this just the fresh thermal paste not being set in yet, or just the heatsink not being secured well enough? 

[CrypticQuery]

Alright, thanks for the list. And for some backstory on this, I removed the heatsink recently and as a result had to reapply thermal paste.  Last night, I've gotten it reapplied with Arctic Silver 5, but I can only get 3 of the pins to fully snap in, the fourth just takes too much force than I'm willing to put my mother board against.  The CPU seems just fine at first, it actually has a colder idle temp than before, but whenever I put it under load with any game, it can get to the upper 60s and 70s. Is this just the fresh thermal paste not being set in yet, or just the heatsink not being secured well enough? 

 

I haven't yet had to add any thermal paste to my stock heatsink, though for reference my 2500k runs at about 55 to 60 under load.  Perhaps try a few more days with the thermal paste, and if changes aren't noted, make sure that airflow in your case is unobstructed and that the computer is not located in a relatively hot room that may taint the temperature results. 

 

In any case, an aftermarket heatsink is a nice investment.

[Fox-Shot]

I'll be looking for some heatsinks, but an issue is that most aftermarket heatsinks are horizontal heatpipes, I'm trying to find one that faces up like the stock heatsink, just because it's easier to install and fit in a case, as well as I don't need much extra power, I don't plan on overclocking.

[CrypticQuery]

In that case, this might work for you;

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200034

 

I don't have much knowledge pertaining to Rosewill as a brand, though I'm fairly certain they are Newegg's proprietary brand.  The feedback on that particular cooler seems to be good, though it has that same plastic push-pin installation style that the stock Intel heatsinks have. 

[Fox-Shot]

I had been looking at Rosewill, but once again, it's the push pin installation instead of a backplate, while maybe others could do it better, I don't see how I'd have better luck with it, and the only reason I'm buying it is because my current heatsink's pushpin design isn't allowing me to have all of them pushed in, so I could have a very inefficient cooler on it. I don't assume I'll have much of any luck hunting for a face-up heatsink that doesn't use the pushpin design, but I'll hunt for what I can.

[CrypticQuery]

Then have I got the treat for you!  Cooler Master does make an upward mounted heatsink that attaches with mounting brackets and fits the LGA 1155 socket.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103177

 

It seems a bit on the large side, but no doubt provides efficient cooling;

 

[Fox-Shot]

Sweet jesus, if you told me that they had an updward heatsink that was 120mm and still had room for ram with a heatsink of its own, I'd have been a little skeptical.  While that's probly too much fan for me, I did find a couple cheaper and smaller options since I'm not looking to overclock.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150121

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103086

[CrypticQuery]

Glad I could be of assistance.  Do post photos once the heatsink you've chosen is installed!

[Fox-Shot]

Alright, might be a few days before I order and get it installed, though I'm gonna try reinstalling one last time tonight, It's just so weird that I'm having a very low idle temp, ~5-8 degrees colder than before, but the instant it gets under a load ~65 at the coldest and can hit up into the 70s and very early 80s.  I'll see if I can get the last pin to go through using some needle nosed pliers.

[CrypticQuery]

That's definitely odd; and though I'm sure you have been, making sure to be careful with those pliers will undoubtedly save you some cash in the long run.  Good luck otherwise.

[Fox-Shot]

Haven't even tried yet, I'm worried, and honestly I'm still frustrated that they will build something that is this difficult to install. Also, I went into the bios and since it defaulted the settings when I took the chip out before cleaning, it turns out that my fan profile wasn't the fastest and it was set to automatically push the processor harder, right now in Black Ops 2 I get 60-65, I'll try a tougher game and see what I get. If I still run hot, I'm going to retry one last time tonight, though I'll see what it takes to fully clip in the heatsink before actually putting the paste on. Thanks for now, I'll bring back what I get later.

[Fox-Shot]

Alright, I took it back out and used needle noses to force the click.  Ironically, even though I removed the heatsink to reapply , I couldn't find my thermal paste, so I just put it back on and clicked, I know it risks airbubbles, but I assume I'm safe given it was put on under 24 hours ago.  I tested in Black Ops 2 and when I was getting 60 degrees in the menu before, I never went over 55 in game after. While I plan on getting a new heatsink alongside some Arctic Silver (unless you know a better brand to go for), I'll wait till I get my next paycheck, I'll probly go with those cheaper ones, since I know they'll fit and I'm not looking to find 200 Million digits of pi with this computer. Thanks much Crazy, see, I told you I'm only ever here for PC problems.

[CrypticQuery]

Hehe; it's good to have you around for anything nonetheless.  Glad you've managed to solve your predicament, and as far as I know, Arctic Silver is one of the best when it comes to thermal paste.

[Sideways]

I was told you should find a copper heatsink as they're better then aluminum at dissipating heat. True?

[CrypticQuery]

I was told you should find a copper heatsink as they're better then aluminum at dissipating heat. True?

 

Seeing as I'm unsure of this question and need an excuse to use this again, have a click at this link;

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=copper+vs+aluminum+heatsink

[Sideways]

LOL.

 

No, I was sorta asking SFO's opinion. I have just a default heatsink with the four clips, and I was also thinking of upgrading heatsinks. I would need to buy more thermal paste as well.

[CrypticQuery]

LOL.

 

No, I was sorta asking SFO's opinion. I have just a default heatsink with the four clips, and I was also thinking of upgrading heatsinks. I would need to buy more thermal paste as well.

 

In that case, I'd just stick with what you have.  If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

[Fox-Shot]

LOL.

 

No, I was sorta asking SFO's opinion. I have just a default heatsink with the four clips, and I was also thinking of upgrading heatsinks. I would need to buy more thermal paste as well.

Not sure about the thermal paste, most higher quality heatsinks come with the pre-applied stuff, which does the job just fine. Unless you're looking to overclock, however, I'd say a new heatsink is only a good idea if you're worried about heat with your current setup. (Also, don't accidentally turn on your EPU switch when touching your motherboard, you'll wonder why you're running hot just to find out your CPU got overclocked to 4.1Ghz)