Picking a cooling solution

If anyone could help me out, i need to pick a cooling solution for my pc.
I need a CPU cooler, and probably a NB cooler, but i have no clue to anything when it comes to cooling.

DO i just go with a heatsink fan or should i do water or pelt?

I was planning on doing pelt or water in the next 6 months, but since i already got my mobo and my chip will be here this week, i was wondering, maybe instead of waiting those 6 months to get water or pelt, maybe i could get it now instead? So now i need recomendations.

What are the advantages and disadvantages between water pelt and HSF and which would be more practical for me? I want to quiet down my pc, and i know using water would do this, but then again, i do not know too much about any cooling solution.

I do have a list of a few things that i can get hold of at a local store, and they are:

CNPS7000A-Cu *COPPER* Universal Heatsink - Zalman
CNPS7000A-AlCu *AL/CU MIX* Universal Heatsink - Zalman
( i know enough to know that Zalman are the way to go for heatsinks )

MCX4000-T P4 *TEC* Air Cooled HSF - Swiftech
Tt Subzero4G INTEL TEC Cooler Kit
Thermaltake A1604 Aquarius II Liquid Cooling Kit


Those are just some of the options i have around here, and my price range is up to $200 canadian.

If anyone could give me any insight on what to do and what i should choose, even if it is not one of the things that i have listed, that woudl be greatly appriciated.

This will be going onto an AI7 with either a 2.4C or a 2.8C, and the case is a mid size, with a window and 5 case fans.

Raven

Well if you need to wait for water then I would say the Zalman all copper until then, its probably a little cheaper than the swiftech and I wouldn't be surprised if it was better than both the thermaltake things. Then, when you have the money go for a good watercooling system.

For the NB there is this Zalman passive thing that is pretty tall and all copper, its pretty good.

I am using the CNPS7000A-Cu *COPPER* Universal Heatsink - Zalman on an IC7 with a 2.4c D1 and stock NB cooler and I am happy with the results. Runs at 3.1Ghz with no problem.

Startech said:

I am using the CNPS7000A-Cu *COPPER* Universal Heatsink - Zalman on an IC7 with a 2.4c D1 and stock NB cooler and I am happy with the results. Runs at 3.1Ghz with no problem.

Click to expand...

well i think im gona pick that up then. Its not too too expencive, and, if it is at all possible, i might pick up some type of pelt. If it is possible to put the zalman on the pelt then onto the cpu, what type of pelt shoudl i get? 80w 122w or a 156w? and should i get some Luberex Dielectric Grease with it? or should i just get AC5 and lap ( what does lapping mean again? ) that on..?

someone is going to have to go step by step for me cus i have no clue at what im gona do =s

raven said:

well i think im gona pick that up then. Its not too too expencive, and, if it is at all possible, i might pick up some type of pelt. If it is possible to put the zalman on the pelt then onto the cpu, what type of pelt shoudl i get? 80w 122w or a 156w? and should i get some Luberex Dielectric Grease with it? or should i just get AC5 and lap ( what does lapping mean again? ) that on..?

someone is going to have to go step by step for me cus i have no clue at what im gona do =s

Click to expand...

Since you are a noob, don't even think about using a pelt. With a pelt you NEED watercooling. You also need a $100+ power supply, and probably a 220w pelt for the cpu.

the zalman is 700/800grams, the P4 max is 500grams, so i wouldt advice you to use a pelt, since the centre of gravity on the HSF would be different enough for it to rape your GFX card : x

btw: the zalman is a good choice, but another reason i think a pelt wont work, is cuz the zalman needs to be screwed to the mobo (afaik)

so how would i go about screwing this in? do i have to take anything out of the motherboard to do this? as stated.. im a n00b when it comes to cooling....



This screwing in and unscrewing seems i dunno... dangerous to my motherboard... knowing me, id probably screw it up.

im thinking of actually going with a subzero4G TEC cooler from Thermaltake. It wiehgs less then the zalman, and installes in 90 seconds =) and supposedly, for 175$ Canadian, it should be good. Well better then a HSF i hope. and its not too loud.. it ranges from 21-38db. so it shouldnt be running loud for long periods of time.

what do you guys think?

I just wanted to make clear that i dont want to have a cooling solution that brings my teps to below 0 degrees C, i just want to make sure that when i overclock my 2.3 to 3.5, that its idel and full load temps dont go over, say 40 ( if that is reasonable )


and btw, the thermatake SubZero4G uses a 75w pelt.

Also what im wondering is if i would be able to change the pelt on the SubZero G4?

Maybe but I don't know that the PSU would support any more, it probably just barly cuts the cheese as it is. I wouldn't go for the Thermaltake thing. Who cares if it weighs less? With air it is not TOO far fetched to stay under 40 if your room isn't too hot (otherwise really only water or somthing more extreme will do that- or a pelt perhaps). The HS installs faster, 90sec is probably their bare minimum time rounded up, the same guy could probably do a normal HS in like 15sec.
Get the Zalman over the TT peice! Unless you really want to... but the

Just get yourself the Thermalright with a high quality 92m/m fan...About as good as it gets...Here is a link from SVC

http://www.svc.com/thsphehe.html

Mounting the heat sink with the stand off's or with the back plate like the Thermalright is the only way to fly...Yeah you have to remove the motherboard...But hanging 500 plus grams of copper with the fan vertically on your motherboard should not be left up to plastic, push pin mounts like the stock cooler...Thermalright SP-94 is the air cooling king right now...

One thing for sure...Selling a Thermalright SP-94 will be a piece of cake...Probably still be one of the top air cooling solutions out there even in six months..

I agree with going the Thermalright route. They are by far the best heatsink you can buy. If you can get the heatpipe one. The SLK-94.

Corsair hydrocool 200 is a good place to start and it can handle an MCW50 block for the video card. That's all I'd add to it, though.

It comes complete and can be fired up in a few hours. Easy to install as it doesn't need any special adapters and the mobo doesn't have to come out. Works great for such a small system. Relatively quiet too.

Only disadvantage is that the hoses are kinda short and the interconnecting cable is short, but I guess with such a weak pump and small hosing, the system really cannot support a really long hose system.

ok, so what is soo bad about that thermaltake SubZero4G ? does it not cool as well as those heatsinks? or is the price difference just too big to justify getting it then the slightly worse SP-94? i am also looking for quietness in this cooling.


does anyone have any first hand experience with the Thermaltake SubZero4G ? is it better then the SP-94? ( i cant find a store near me with the The SLK-94, the only thing that has a similar name to it is the SLK-947u and the SLK-900-A )

Would it in any way be possible to get the Subzero4G and get an extra pelt and swap the two pelts? for example like this HERE (156w pelt ), or the 122w Pelt HERE, or could i interchange the two pelts? if not, how could i put a pelt like this to work with a heatsink + fan? i dont want to go water right now, and i dont want to have my temps below 15C ( because i do not want condensation to occur ) I want a quiet setup with a pelt, no water right now, just pelt and HSF.

Any suggestions?

Heres a link to the SP-94 from www.thermalright.com .Put you a 92mm Panaflo U1A on there and be happy. The place that has it is in Canada,but they seem high on prices.THE FANMAN

SP 94 HS LINK