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Cowamundo

Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Hello Overclockers,

I want to make some changes to my system and hope to get some useful feedback from hands on experienced people instead of a shop owner who never used the stuff. :D :p

Currently I have a +/- 10y old Silver Chieftec da-01wd big tower: http://oyvind.servehttp.com/chieftec_dragon_da-01bld.htm But since I moved out into my own house and my PC is in the living room now i'm trying to get a more silent but also better cooled system.

Long time ago I have put extra fans in the brackets that this case has to increase cooling but the fans don't fit real tight so once these extra case fans speed up (which they do pretty much all the time because of the heat) they start to rattle in their brackets creating a lot of extra unwanted sound! :eek: But without the extra fans my temps go up 5-10 Celsius! :cry:

Also since this case is Silver, damaged here and there during these +/- 10 years, totally doesn't fit in with my house style/colors and that I want to increase cooling I want to get a new Case! Oké sry, enough :blah::blah: i'll get to the goodies and stuff!

The Hardware i'm using:

Case: Chieftec da-01wd
MB: Asus M5A97 Pro
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3,4Ghz (stock cooler)
RAM: Two 8GB Kingston HyperX 1600 Dual channel kits 9-9-9-24 (16GB total)
GPU: ASUS Radeon HD EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5
HDD: 2x 10.000 RPM WD Raptor disks (75+140GB)
PSU: CoolerMaster 700W Silent Pro (with cable management)

At this moment I don't have anything OC'd because the temps jump up way to fast imho but once I get the cooling right i'll see what I can reach with this CPU. :thup:

1. The Case i'm thinking about getting is the CoolerMaster HAF X! I like this case because it looks great, I read many good story's about it, already has a nice airflow setup and good cable management options for a clean finish! :cool:

Also this case puts my GPU right in front of the side panel intake fan increasing cooling (so less GPU fan noise) and as an added bonus also puts an airstream over my chipset cooling elements next to the CPU Socket keeping them cooler since they get a bit hot atm! :rolleyes:

2. Also probably the next thing I'll be upgrading in the future will be my CPU and I want to be ready to cool it... and since I'll be hobbying anyway with a new case I was thinking about getting the Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H100 and replacing it's stock fans with 2 Cougar 120mm Vortex PWM because I read that those are much more silent and give a higher airflow/cooling!

The Case, H100 and Fans will cost me about €300,- I live in the Netherlands so unfortunately I don't have a big range of sellers to choose from! :(

So do you think this is a good way to go cooling and silence wise or am I spending money on pure overkill or higher noise producing items here?

Looking forward to some responses.
Thanks already though,

Mike.
 
If only you weren't in the Netherlands...you'd be surprised how much that case could sell for. Huge older cases (especially ones with that much cooling capacity) can be easily taken up, painted, and outfitted with a huge water cooling loop.

For straight cooling capacity, don't expect the HAF-X to do wonders over the case you have...that case has a ton of fan slots! I can understand the looks though :p.

That being said, go for the HAF932. It's significantly cheaper (at least here in the US) and is almost the same case, just a tiny bit smaller.

Second, the H100 is probably overkill for that CPU. The Hyper212 Evo that OCCrisisMaker suggested is one of the best price/performance coolers, but it might be a bit underpowered for an overclocked PIIX4 965. I'd look for a TRUE Spirit, the 120mm and 140mm versions are just fine. If you can't find that, other excellent options are the Thermalright MUX-120, NZXT Havik. If you can't even find those, some more expensive and bigger options are the Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver Arrow, or the Thermalright Venomous-X.
 
Both the HAF932 or HAF-X are great choices. For cooling, I would suggest either the Noctua NH-D14 or the Prolimatech Genesis and get a couple of your Cougar fans for the Genesis. Both are cheaper options than the H100 and should cool your AMD proc down just fine and quietly too. And both have some very good AMD mounting systems also.
 
Well i'f done a bit of thinking this weekend and I kinda made my choice.

Thank you for the case tip OCCrisisMaker, The 932 also does look good although I find the finishing details on the HAF X a bit more appealing and cleaner so I think my choice on a case is made.

Also Knufire & muddocktor thanks for the reply's, but as stated above I decided to go for the HAF X, and since it has a side window I rather go for a more spacious and cleaner looking H100 then a big chunk of metal although I trust your opinion that they will do good cooling as well!!

Grtz, Mike
 
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