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I just picked up the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 for $22 from Micro Center and I'm thoroughly pleased with it. It's a tower style heatsink with a 92mm fan on one side and additional mounts for putting an optional second fan on the other side. The fan is PWM, which I don't usually like but this fan runs quiet so I don't mind. And this fan does run quiet, nice and quiet.

The back story is that I had an AMD "black edition" heatsink that I put on my lowly X2-3600. The thing makes a very unpleasant sound. I got a heatsink with a 92mm fan that claimed to run at 18db. The thing did NOT run at 18db, it was probably closer to 30db but I really have no idea. Regardless, it was too loud for my tastes. Took it back. Grabbed an Antec 80mm fan with three settings and planned on putting it on the AMD heatsink. Oh, crum, I come to find the AMD heatsink is 70mm. 70mm? Come on AMD, that flocking blows. How daft of you; you put a half-decent heatsink in the box with the Phenom II X4 black, but you put a 70mm fan and fan mount on it. Jerks. So, I take the Antec fan back and was all set to grab and big 120mm tower-style heatsink when I see the TX3 sitting on the shelf, daring me to spend less. I took that risk and it payed off. No giant 120mm cantilevered kilogram here, thank you.

The TX3 seems to provide exceptional cooling at an exceptionally low cost and noise level. The only issue I had was how dang hard it was to push down the retention lever. I actually had to put on gloves so the metal lever didn't dig into my thumb. And, I saw once I put it on that it was only half engaging itself (don't ask), so I had to do it twice. Unhooking that lever was harder than hooking it. But it was worth it. My stock clocked x2-3600 claims to top out at 42c while stressing both cores to 100%. And the fan either doesn't speed up to keep it that low or it doesn't create additional noise when speeding up.

It is decent enough that the thought crossed my mind to replace the 120mm behemoth Scythe Ninja in my other box with one. The only reason I don't is the additional $20 that'd require. I'd trade that thing for a TX3 though

I'm starting to sound like a viral marketer... but, the TX3 deserves a good plug. Coolermaster Hyper TX3: very strongly recommended.

OK, Mods, keep this thread, I guess. Kill the others. Awesome. I hit "submit" and my browser just sat there "waiting for TR" forever, so I hit "back", then hit forward then submit again, more waiting, so then I close the tab, opened another, redid the post, hit submit, more waiting... Finally, I logged out of TR, logged back in, repasted the post, hit submit and everything works. Now I see that I've actually posted 4 time! Not cool

Cool (no pun intended). I'm looking for an AM3 compatible tower cooler that doesn't break the bank. Can the cooler be rotated 90-degrees on an AM3 socket, or are you stuck with one orientation. And if so, which way does the air flow relative to the retention clip?

Voldenuit wrote:

Cool (no pun intended). I'm looking for an AM3 compatible tower cooler that doesn't break the bank. Can the cooler be rotated 90-degrees on an AM3 socket, or are you stuck with one orientation. And if so, which way does the air flow relative to the retention clip?

In fact, the thing can be rotated, and, since shims are used to mount the fan rather than retention clips, the fan can be either push or pull. And, two sets of shims are included, so you can do push-pull.

So you put the TX3 on your X2-3600? Low enough temps are to be expected because it is not exactly a power monster? Just so I think to clarify here, it is no slouch, but if you do have a high temp CPU or you are looking to overclock by a lot you may need to look elsewhere?

I'm judging that it will handle a decent bit of overclocking. The package says it's good for "over 130" watts. It's got 3 direct contact heat pipes going up into a tower sized for a 92mm fan, and again, it'll take TWO fans in push-pull.

Having said all that - I'm not personally interested in it's overclocking prowess. I'm just looking for silence! And the TX3 delivers that.

Fox, it is sitting atop an X2-3600 - not a high wattage beast by any means. I do wonder if the fan would audibly spin up if it were atop my loaded x4-955...

Reviews I found:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/coolermas ... 3-review/7
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... 401&page=5
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1643&p=4163
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ ... view/848/8

The consensus seems to be that it's pretty great if you don't do much overclocking.

Basically the 92mm fan makes it into a lower class than those 120mm beasts. The push-pull thing will bump it up into that category but you have an extra fan to worry about.

Compared to the rev2 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, the TX3 is cheaper on newegg so that would be my choice. Not everyone needs those 120mm tower beasts so I agree with you 100%.

Flying Fox wrote:

Basically the 92mm fan makes it into a lower class than those 120mm beasts. The push-pull thing will bump it up into that category but you have an extra fan to worry about.

Compared to the rev2 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, the TX3 is cheaper on newegg so that would be my choice. Not everyone needs those 120mm tower beasts so I agree with you 100%.

I wonder how much difference a second fan would make, too.

By the way, Newegg is chargin too much for this thing. I got it for $22 out the door at Micro Center, and, happily, their website seems to sell for the same:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0312368

Newegg charges almost 50% more if you include shipping.

I do wonder how the TX3 directly compares to the Freezer 7 Pro. Does the F7P allow mounting facing any direction? Which one cools better? Which one is quieter? F7P surely does not allow a second fan.

Looking at this thing in my case, it sure looks capable of some half decent overclocking, but once it gets into high volt bumps and such then it'd definitely be better to put a gigantor 120mm contraption on.

flip-mode wrote:

I wonder how much difference a second fan would make, too.

About 4° Celsius on my Phenom II @ 3.8GHz/1.4V, 55° load temps with just the stock TX3 fan, 51° load temps with a 92mm Antec TriCool set to low speed in a push/pull configuration. For the price it's hard to complain.
Stock fan spins up to about ~1700 RPM at load, which is barely audible to me.
If you short the fan to let it run at it's peak speed ~2800RPM it gets extremely loud though, in practice it never needs to spin that fast though.

Not a high end cooler by any means but for the price it's excellent IMO.

A little awkward to install however, the AM2/3 retention plate slides in very loosely which makes it a bit awkward to install. If the HSF isn't dead straight as your clipping it on it'll slide out. Didn't have any issues with the retention lever being too difficult to push down as the original poster did though, no moreso then the stock HSF.

Well, Phenom II at 3.8 indicates the thing is good for some half decent overclocking! That's good to know, I guess.

Thanks for the info, guys! I'm looking to build an AM3 system with an X4 635 in preparation for 'dozer, and it doesn't make sense to spend 50% of the CPU cost on an aftermarket cooler.

The TX212+ is still my top pick, but it looks like it's getting EOL'ed, so it's nice to know there's an inexpensive alternative.

Voldenuit wrote:

The TX212+ is still my top pick, but it looks like it's getting EOL'ed, so it's nice to know there's an inexpensive alternative.

You mean the Hyper 212+? Newegg still has them. I just bought one. Quite expensive I must say. The Xigmatek S1283 plus the 1156 mounting bracket is a few bucks cheaper with similar cooling power.

Voldenuit wrote:

Thanks for the info, guys! I'm looking to build an AM3 system with an X4 635 in preparation for 'dozer, and it doesn't make sense to spend 50% of the CPU cost on an aftermarket cooler. The TX212+ is still my top pick, but it looks like it's getting EOL'ed, so it's nice to know there's an inexpensive alternative.

'Dozer is 12 months away... any mobo you get now might not be so keen by then...

Flying Fox wrote:

You mean the Hyper 212+? Newegg still has them. I just bought one. Quite expensive I must say. The Xigmatek S1283 plus the 1156 mounting bracket is a few bucks cheaper with similar cooling power.

I hope you didn't pay Newegg's ridiculous $50 price tag. You can get it elsewhere (Amazon for example) for $30.

Skrying wrote:

Flying Fox wrote:

You mean the Hyper 212+? Newegg still has them. I just bought one. Quite expensive I must say. The Xigmatek S1283 plus the 1156 mounting bracket is a few bucks cheaper with similar cooling power.

I hope you didn't pay Newegg's ridiculous $50 price tag. You can get it elsewhere (Amazon for example) for $30.

I did. Yesterday I realized Amazon carries it but it said "2-3 months". Today it showed July 30. Unfortunately I needed a system like yesterday so I wanted everything in stock from 1 place. The stuff is still going to arrive next week (instead of this week) though.

Flying Fox wrote:

Skrying wrote:

Flying Fox wrote:

You mean the Hyper 212+? Newegg still has them. I just bought one. Quite expensive I must say. The Xigmatek S1283 plus the 1156 mounting bracket is a few bucks cheaper with similar cooling power.

I hope you didn't pay Newegg's ridiculous $50 price tag. You can get it elsewhere (Amazon for example) for $30.

I did. Yesterday I realized Amazon carries it but it said "2-3 months". Today it showed July 30. Unfortunately I needed a system like yesterday so I wanted everything in stock from 1 place. The stuff is still going to arrive next week (instead of this week) though.

you got burned
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0315397

bobboobles wrote:

Flying Fox wrote:

I did. Yesterday I realized Amazon carries it but it said "2-3 months". Today it showed July 30. Unfortunately I needed a system like yesterday so I wanted everything in stock from 1 place. The stuff is still going to arrive next week (instead of this week) though.

you got burned
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0315397

Microcenter wrote:

Availability:
Usually ships in 7-21 business days.

No choice.

Can this placed in north-south or east-west direction on an AM2 socket?. Just like the Hyper + model?.

Yes.

Mine is no longer in use by the way... I would not fit in my Cooler Master Elite 360 case