XIGMATEK HDT-S1283

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rusty12

Limp Gawd
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My AC Freezer Pro 7 died on me recently and I want to upgrade to something a little better. After reading reviews the S1283 seems to be a crowd pleaser. There are some questions I have about it though. I can't seem to find any information on whether or not it includes thermal paste or not. I don't have any thermal compound laying around so if it included its own that'd be great but I don't know if it does. If someone who owns this thing could let me know, I'd appreciate it.

Also, the unit itself is fairly cheap but after having to purchase the bolt-through kit which everyone seems to recommend it jumps up to around the $50 range with shipping included on newegg. I found elsewhere I could get the Tuniq Tower for about the same price with everything included and so I don't know which would be the better heatsink to go with if they are around the same price.

Input appreciated!

Cheers
 
rusty12 said:
My AC Freezer Pro 7 died on me recently and I want to upgrade to something a little better. After reading reviews the S1283 seems to be a crowd pleaser. There are some questions I have about it though. I can't seem to find any information on whether or not it includes thermal paste or not. I don't have any thermal compound laying around so if it included its own that'd be great but I don't know if it does. If someone who owns this thing could let me know, I'd appreciate it.

Also, the unit itself is fairly cheap but after having to purchase the bolt-through kit which everyone seems to recommend it jumps up to around the $50 range with shipping included on newegg. I found elsewhere I could get the Tuniq Tower for about the same price with everything included and so I don't know which would be the better heatsink to go with if they are around the same price.

Input appreciated!

Cheers
Click to expand...


I have it ... its a great unit.... it comes with thermal grease.. however i never use it... i use artic silver.
 
I <3 my Xig, but I didn't try the included grease. I did use AS5 for the first few mountings, and given time to cure AS5 is an excellent product. Basically, how picky you need to get depends on how agressive an OC you want. My goal is 50% over on air, so I have some work ahead.

My personal opinion regarding the Xig is that you want to use a bolt-through kit and/or lap the Xig and your CPU. My situation is a mit unique, since the Shuttle in my signature has proprietary locations for the mounting holes - I have to fabricate my own mounting brackets. The picture below shows the contact patch when using about 2.5x the contact force specified by Intel. Admittedly, my fabrication job was flawed, but ignore the off-center patch and focus on the thickness of remaining AS5 paste on the heat pipes. You can clearly see thick vs. thin areas that indicate either my CPU IHS and/or the Xig base are not flat.




However, this is "good enough" for my current 33% overclock, and there are many posts on this forum and elsewhere that agree 30% OC for an E8400 is "easy" with a good aftermarket cooler such as the Xig or TRUE 120 - the Xig is a lot less expensive, especially when you factor in the included fan.
 
I love mine also and used the Zalman 9500 mounting bracket with a little mod to mount mine on a P5K mobo lowered temps 3-5c over the Zalman. Lapped both cpu and the X. I waited for the free shipping deal.
 
I love mine also and used the Zalman 9500 mounting bracket with a little mod to mount mine on a P5K mobo lowered temps 3-5c over the Zalman. Lapped both cpu and the X. I waited for the free shipping deal.
 
Absolutely love mine. Although as others have stated, I used AS5 in place of the included TIM. One thing I will comment on is people apparent paranoia about the stock retention clips not working, and needing to get a bolt through kit... I say thats complete BS. Dont worry you're self about that at all. I am running the stock clips on my OC'ed Q6600, and i can push/pull/rock the thing back and forth and it doesnt budge. Its not like the thing is heavy...
 
I'm using the stock retention pins.. I would say take your board out to install this.. They were a pita for me to push thru...

I hopped onthe free shipping deal from newegg last week.
 
When installed properly, Intel stock style clips are fine and all, what worries me is transportation. Due to how little force it takes to rotate the knobs even when the unit is installed I would be worried about them shifting due to vibration/bumps if you're taking your box to LAN parties on a regular basis. I've certainly seen things that are more tight and secure wiggle loose. If your computer just sits on the floor or desk all the time then I wouldn't be too concerned.

The other problem is installation itself, in my experience that style of clip can be flaky and seem to require a scary level of force to lock in, if it will lock in at all. I ordered the bolt-through kit for my 1283 for just that reason, I found myself unable to install it even when applying so much force that the motherboard was seriously warping under the pressure. I don't know if it would be possible to break the motherboard by applying even more force trying to install the HS on stock retention pins but I had no desire to find out when I knew the bolt-through kit would work much more easily.

Also, I'll echo the sentiment on TIM. AS5 or MX2 are cheap, go ahead and throw in a tube. $6 will last you for a good while.

 
Thanks for the input guys.

The circumstances surrounding the bolt-through kit vs. push-pins is this. Every summer I drive 12 hours to and from Florida and I always take my PC. When I transfer my PC I back it all up in my original Lian Li box that the case came in with the original packing and all (I usually stuff extra padding in the box as well). Other than these trips, my rig primarily sits on my desk year round. If you guys think I can get away with push-pins that I'll go for it as it'd cut down on cost.

My whole thing from the beginning has been trying to get a nice cooler at or below $50 that has a replaceable fan in the event the included one breaks (like my ACF7P), and includes everything I need. I'd rather not have to buy extra stuff just to get my heatsink fan to work but I'm willing with the S1283.

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!!
 
Took some force to put in, ill give you that, but i would be extremely suprised that anything short of grabbing the HS and yanking on it hard would dislodge it. You need to really twist those clips THEN pull them up for the HSF to move anywhere, and I just cant see the happening without human intervention.

Anyway, Im am all for just using the stock push-pins. But whatever you feel more comfortable with. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I'm just going to purchase the hsf and install it and see how securely it fits. If it's too loose, I'll just purchase the stupid bolt-through kit and be done with it.

Cheers!
 
FYI, the Xig performs better than the Tuniq Tower, so even at the same price, it's a better buy. You should also look into the Kingwin RVT-12025(not the D version, that one is a different heatsink). It's actually identical to the Xigmatek, but it tends to be cheaper at most places.
 
If you haven't purchased, I'd also recommend you research the new OCZ Vendetta II. You can get it on Amazon and with a rebate have it come to $30.00. Spawne32 did a review of it against the HDT-S1283 and a both a modded and unmodded TRUE and the results were amazing. It handly performed better than the S1283 and was less than a degree on load when compared to the modified TRUE.
 
I purchased the Kingwin version and if I don't feel comfortable with the fit and how secure it feels, I'll go ahead and just buy the damn bolt-through kit. I just wish the stupid thing was included with the unit itself. Yea, it will cause the hsf to cost more, but I'd give more people the peace of mind and cause less indecisiveness among consumers. My opinion.

Now I got to figure out how to remove my old thermal grease or whatever is already applied on an ACFP7 off my CPU and apply the new stuff. Never done either before.

I'll let you guys know how it goes when I get it all done.
 
rusty12 said:
Now I got to figure out how to remove my old thermal grease or whatever is already applied on an ACFP7 off my CPU and apply the new stuff. Never done either before.
Click to expand...

Wipe off the grease with a tissue or paper towel and then clean the surfaces with isopropyl alcohol. You could also buy Arctic Silver's cleaning kit, but it's unnecessary since the above method works fine.
 
i agree the stock push pins are a pain, but i think they are adequate. just make sure you have the motherboard out of the case when you install. i set it on my kitchen table and have no problems. i wouldn't worry about the trip with it either. once they are locked in, they are secure. just make sure your rig is securely positioned so it doesn't toss around, which i would recommend regardless of which hs/f you were using.

love the cooler though, great bang for your buck.
 
Enlightened Viet said:
push pins are fine but the retention clips tend to lower the temps even more.
Click to expand...
i ordered the bracket from sidewinder comp, and the cooler from newegg. was about 44 total and should be 34 after the rebate :). can't wait to try this puppy out :D
 
does anyone know how to correctly apply thermal paste to a cooler like one? like would I apply the paste to the cracks or just normally.
 
There are 3 popular methods right now:

2 lines on the aluminum support plates.
3 lines on the copper heatsinks
1 line running perpendicular of the heatpipes down the middle
 
I just orderd one of these tonight with the bolt through kit, a couple questions...

1. I've never had a heatsink with a bolt through kit. Does the backplate stick to the back of the mobo with some adhesive strip? If so, how difficult is it to line up?

2. Has anyone tested the methods for adding AS5 to this heatsink. The perpendicular line seems easiest and figuring out how much to put on each heat pipe seems like a pain?
 
It's not hard to line up. Take the paper off of the tape and just line up the holes. If you're unsure of your ability to line the holes up, drop a couple of toothpicks in the holes to guide you.

For the TIM, I used the two stripe method. Two strips about 3/8" or so apart. It was suggested to me to first put it on the heat sinkan fill in the gaps between the block anfd the pipes, I didn't do that, and it seens fine to me.
 
Mekanic01 said:
It's not hard to line up. Take the paper off of the tape and just line up the holes. If you're unsure of your ability to line the holes up, drop a couple of toothpicks in the holes to guide you.

For the TIM, I used the two stripe method. Two strips about 3/8" or so apart. It was suggested to me to first put it on the heat sinkan fill in the gaps between the block anfd the pipes, I didn't do that, and it seens fine to me.
Click to expand...

The toothpicks are a good idea, so you take the paper off the adhesive, I read in another forum that it was for insulation and should be left on?

After doing some more reading, the stripe method does make sense.
 
I am really enjoying this heatsink. My overclocked Q9450 remains at 37C idle and 48C on load.
 
I ordered a Xigmatek HDT-S1284. Luckily, when I read about the bolt through kit and ordered that seperate from Sidewinder, I also ordered a True 120 Black edition. I was going to use both and see which is better, but after getting the Xigmatek, I see it is completely unusable for cooling my intel cpu. The surface of the piping they sanded down for making contact with the CPU is at varing lengths. Any one of which is long enough to cover the length of the CPU. However, they are all staggerd!!



This simply will not work. I was thinking they meant it to be that way, but I see in the thermal compound aplication link, the one there looks better lined up. I cannot imagine how this passed QA. I QA stuff at my work as well and if I missed blatent crap like that, they would pull that qual from me. I paid $24 for it and unfortunately, I got less then what I paid for because this is not usable and RMAing it is more trouble then it's worth. Oh well, at least the Black true 120 looks great and performs even better.
 
The S1284 is designed like that, the pipes are staggered.

The S1283 actually seemed to do better in the reviews/testing I remember seeing... funny how the "upgraded" version isn't much of an upgrade... And... that Black TRUE cost 3x as much as the Xigmatek not including the fan you have to buy for it too :eek:
 
Casca said:
I ordered a Xigmatek HDT-S1284. Luckily, when I read about the bolt through kit and ordered that seperate from Sidewinder, I also ordered a True 120 Black edition. I was going to use both and see which is better, but after getting the Xigmatek, I see it is completely unusable for cooling my intel cpu. The surface of the piping they sanded down for making contact with the CPU is at varing lengths. Any one of which is long enough to cover the length of the CPU. However, they are all staggerd!!

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/8855/img0463copyrm2.jpg

This simply will not work. I was thinking they meant it to be that way, but I see in the thermal compound aplication link, the one there looks better lined up. I cannot imagine how this passed QA. I QA stuff at my work as well and if I missed blatent crap like that, they would pull that qual from me. I paid $24 for it and unfortunately, I got less then what I paid for because this is not usable and RMAing it is more trouble then it's worth. Oh well, at least the Black true 120 looks great and performs even better.
Click to expand...

It's supposed to be staggered like that. The entire heatspreader does not need to be covered. The important part is the center where the die is, and as long as that area is covered, the cooler will work fine.
 
Casca said:
I ordered a Xigmatek HDT-S1284. Luckily, when I read about the bolt through kit and ordered that seperate from Sidewinder, I also ordered a True 120 Black edition. I was going to use both and see which is better, but after getting the Xigmatek, I see it is completely unusable for cooling my intel cpu. The surface of the piping they sanded down for making contact with the CPU is at varing lengths. Any one of which is long enough to cover the length of the CPU. However, they are all staggerd!!

This simply will not work. I was thinking they meant it to be that way, but I see in the thermal compound aplication link, the one there looks better lined up. I cannot imagine how this passed QA. I QA stuff at my work as well and if I missed blatent crap like that, they would pull that qual from me. I paid $24 for it and unfortunately, I got less then what I paid for because this is not usable and RMAing it is more trouble then it's worth. Oh well, at least the Black true 120 looks great and performs even better.
Click to expand...


Not to sound harsh, but did you research or even look at pictures of the 1284 before you bought it? It is designed that way, so dont go blaming Xigmatek for bad QA. If you read any reviews on heatsinks you would also see that the 1283 actually performs better then the 1284.
 
ooooooooo i cant comment on the xigmatik as ive not installed any yet (do have some sitting in the garage waiting for me) but i have installed a few of the core contact sunbeam versions.. all i can say is are these temps right? i doubt they are but it sounds impressive.. q6600 @ 3.4ghz with 24C temps on all the cores and 33C under load. ill check right now with coretemp and see if its any diff.. but............

doesnt require you to take the mobo out for a bolt through kit.. installed new cpu + cooler in less than 6 mins.. also according to a few reviews its a bit better than the xigmatek..

my paste techniq was to spread a thin layer on the heatsink and on the cpu seemed to work good..
 
killster1 said:
ooooooooo i cant comment on the xigmatik as ive not installed any yet (do have some sitting in the garage waiting for me) but i have installed a few of the core contact sunbeam versions.. all i can say is are these temps right? i doubt they are but it sounds impressive.. q6600 @ 3.4ghz with 24C temps on all the cores and 33C under load. ill check right now with coretemp and see if its any diff.. but............

doesnt require you to take the mobo out for a bolt through kit.. installed new cpu + cooler in less than 6 mins.. also according to a few reviews its a bit better than the xigmatek..

my paste techniq was to spread a thin layer on the heatsink and on the cpu seemed to work good..
Click to expand...

Pretty strange isn;t it. 24C at idle....but... I have the CCF and I get 27C at idle on my Q6600 (G0) at stock speeds according to Real-Temp (TJmax=95). In Core Temp (TJmax=100) my cpu Idles at 32C. Ambient Room temp at 24C Speed stepping OFF

I came from a Q6600 (B3) and when I looked at the temps on my G0 stepping, I first thought my sensors were off or stuck.
 
I just got one of these Xigmatek HDT-S1283's and it looks like it's a great unit.

With the exception of the spoiler...... there's no way to secure it... and the instructions illustrate it in a way that simply will not work.

Sigh!

I'll just run it without the spoiler unless someone else figured out how to get it working right.
 
i just folded up a post it note and jammed it underneath the spoiler inbetween teh heatsink fins so that it makes contact with the little bumps which im assuming were there to secure it in teh first place.

i wonder what they were thinking when they made the spoiler.... probably marketing trying to save some money.
 
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