Which CPU heatsink should I get for my i3 HTPC? (nMEDIAPC 5000B case)

I am building a very similar system and am faced with the same decision. Are you sure all of those coolers will fit in the nmedia 5000 micro atx case?

geminII S is what I own

I have the case and the MB and would not use the GeminII S or equal type. Stock fan and stock case 90mm fan. Gemini is too loud.
This [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121100/[url] and stock fan is 75% more quiet.
IMO of course!

For the sake of conversation: you should also add the Prolimatech-Samuel-17 to the mix.. it seems to have the best reviews out of the low profile coolers.... I have read a few reviews which state that this heat sink + a decent silent pwm 120mm fan has better performance and is quieter then the stock setup. Any one have experience with this one?

bump so i can post a link

you can find the review I referenced here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...er-Review/1071

It seems that Nmedia 5000 cases cooling ability is bottle necked because of the Inlet/exit air venting of the case (3 stock fans I believe) .. Maybe the 6000 would be better ... but then its not the Micro ATX sleek HTPC form factor. Any opinions?

Prolimatech Samuel 17 is good for a low-profile case. 5000B supports a cooler of height up to 125mm (or 100mm, taking an inch clearance into account) and there are better options.

Hmm, at what rpm? Any 120mm fan at over 1000rpm would be loud.

I use a Scythe Big Shuriken SCBSK-1000 in my HTPC. It works great. If you need a low profile heatsink, I'm pretty sure this was the best one from all the reviews I read when researching them.

I have the 1000B and I have no cooling issues with the stock fan on my AMD 95W quad-core. I think you should thinking about what's quiet. Any decent copper-core heatsink is going to do the job.

Here another to consider -- slightly smaller cousin to the Scythe you have above. You won't have to worry about clearance around your CPU (this cooler fits the Gigabyte mini-ITX H55 board so it will fit yours).

Scythe SCSK-1100 100mm Shuriken Rev. B 3 Heat Pipes CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185097

You may find this useful:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article964-page3.html

If you go with the Big Shuriken (my #1 choice in your list), make sure there's room around your CPU for the fan.

Pretty much anything should keep your i3 cool.

I am running a Core i3 540 + Gigabyte H55m-S2H in a tiny Coolermaster Elite 100 case. The entire system+CPU is cooled by a 700rpm 80mm fan mounted to the top of the case just above the generic heatsink that I cut down to fit in the low profile case. My CPU temps are <10c over room temperature, MB temps are also very low. Since power draw is 25-50w using a PicoPSU I suppose this is not surprising.

Really? I can't even hear my GeminII S.

Yes it was over. I tried MSI's fan control and won't work w/64 system. But use Smart Fan Control in bios and set to 45c and it's half it once was. Thanks for the nudge.

Does Scythe Big Shuriken support i3? looks like it only fit LGA775 and LGA 1366, not support LGA1156/1155.