I just build a new rig, and damn the 3.0E runs hot as hell! I am thinking of buying something to cool it down a few more degrees since I am gonna need this PC to last me for awhile. I was thinking of buying the Aquagate or the SP-94 and putting a Thermaltake smart fan II on it. What are you opinions? I like the fact that I would have watercooling in my PC if I go for the aquagate, and that it would be much quieter... but if the performance of both are almost identical, then I would pick the more reasonable one.
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Aquagate or SP-94?
- Thread starter TeKiZeRo
- Start date
I have the SP-94 on a 3.0E and i'm not that impressed. In order for that large heatsink to work well it needs a high volume of air flowing over it to be efficient. I had a 80mm Tornado on there which did the trick but was driving me insane at the same time.
I've since put a smaller fan on it but the temps now aren't much better (ie: only 2C less) then the stock setup. I'm contemplating watercooling myself. Still sorting out the best compilation of parts and if I can really make a good water cooled system much quieter then the air cooled solution I have now.
Jeff
I've since put a smaller fan on it but the temps now aren't much better (ie: only 2C less) then the stock setup. I'm contemplating watercooling myself. Still sorting out the best compilation of parts and if I can really make a good water cooled system much quieter then the air cooled solution I have now.
Jeff
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Location
- Stockton, CA
I did some reading up on that Aquagate - wasn't sure what it was. Then i realized that one of my friends was looking at it for her system and I remembered that it looked pretty decent. If you're not going to be doing any heavy overclocking or are just going to be running it stock, the aquagate would most definitely be the better choice. However, if you're looking for something higher end, the SP-94 coupled with that Smart Fan II on medium to high settings should easily outperform the aquagate; however, The aquagate is nice and quiet.
CircuitBreaker8
Disabled
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- May 4, 2004
- Location
- Silver Spring, MD
I would wait for the Thermalright XP120 if you want quiet. You can strap a 120mm fan on there that pushes high CFM at low dba. The Cooler Master HYPER 6 is currently the best air cooler for Intel/A64 and its 40$ @ directron.
- Thread Starter
- #6
Wow, thanks for the quick reply guys 
. I am not planning to do any overclocking because I am not a serious gamer or anything. Don't get me wrong, I do play some heavy on the resource games, but a 3GHz is far more than sufficient... plus I don't think I would want to overclock a prescott anyway. I like to sleep with my computer on, so I want something nice and quiet that would keep my PC in the high 30Cs and the low 40s during the hot summer. When does the XP120 come out?
. I am not planning to do any overclocking because I am not a serious gamer or anything. Don't get me wrong, I do play some heavy on the resource games, but a 3GHz is far more than sufficient... plus I don't think I would want to overclock a prescott anyway. I like to sleep with my computer on, so I want something nice and quiet that would keep my PC in the high 30Cs and the low 40s during the hot summer. When does the XP120 come out?
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
- Location
- Houston,TX-USA
Your guess is as good as anyones..
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2004
- Location
- Helping young Meatballs grow...
I think that your problem is that you picked the wrong fan for the HS... an 80mm Tornado is one of the most obnoxious fans ever created. What would work better( and sound better) is to buy a 92mm fan like the Panaflo H1B or a Delta HHE ( the HHE is out of stock right now, and it'll be two months or so before it's back in, but its one sweet fan
72 cfm @ 43dB). I think that you would find that you'd get the same cooling with nice 92mm fan as you did with the Tornado and you'd drop about 20dB of noise. Plus 92's aren't high-pitched whiners, they're a deeper hum so any noise that they put out isn't that bad.
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2004
- Location
- Berkeley, CA
Before you go out and buy an SP94, make sure you check out some of ThermalRight's new products for Socket 478:
ThermalRight SB-2 (Unreleased as of July 13, 2004)
ThermalRight XP-120 (Unreleased as of July 13, 2004)
ThermalRight SB-2 (Unreleased as of July 13, 2004)
ThermalRight XP-120 (Unreleased as of July 13, 2004)
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
- Location
- Houston,TX-USA
:: ThermalRight XP-120 - Reserve Yours!
Price $ 49.99
Product Number HS-004
Qty on Hand 73
Status In Stock
http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=HS-004
Price $ 49.99
Product Number HS-004
Qty on Hand 73
Status In Stock
http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=HS-004
CircuitBreaker8
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- May 4, 2004
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- Silver Spring, MD
I would imagine it would do better, the aquagate isnt really a hardcore WCing setup. The SP94 does better in most cases to.
- Joined
- May 22, 2004
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- Gainesville, FL / Frankfurt Germany
Go for a DIY watercooling setup and youll be happy now (cause its quiet), and youll be happy later if you want to overclock (cause it performs well).
Sure its expensive but top of the line components can be had ~$150 = (3 heatsinks)
SenC.
Sure its expensive but top of the line components can be had ~$150 = (3 heatsinks)
SenC.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
- Location
- Houston,TX-USA
Look at my sig of rig and read bobmanfoos' thread from above..I think he reported his temps in that thread using the Aquagate...I use the SP-94 with a 92mm Delta HHE, see my temps in my sig.. My case is modded for good cooling so its prob. not a fair comparison.. But it shows the cooling potential of the SP-94 HS with a decent fan on it...He settled for quiet..
My case is modded for good cooling so its prob. not a fair comparison.. But it shows the cooling potential of the SP-94 HS with a decent fan on it...He settled for quiet..- Thread Starter
- #15
I saw his thread, and I think its very impressive. But remember I am running a Prescott and these run super hot. I am looking to make a decently quiet PC too. Do you think a modified Aquagate would suffice? I am leaning towards the SP-94 since of all the positive reviews, and I don't think I want the XP-120 because that thing is gi-hugic :/.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2003
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- Houston,TX-USA
The Aquagate, might work better if it were external..The heat thats being removed from the cpu is being brought back into the case thru the radiator..I'm sure it could be made to perform better...But not positive that it can..
I consider my rig not to be to loud..But quiet, its not.. What is your average ambient(room) temp..Do you use A/C? If you can keep things cool enough you won't need to run the fan on the HS, at a high speed..What does your system(case/mobo) temp run at present time?
Are you willing to mod your case for better air cooling? See the pix in the link below to see some of the things i've done to increase my cooling..
CLICK HERE
I consider my rig not to be to loud..But quiet, its not..
What is your average ambient(room) temp..Do you use A/C? If you can keep things cool enough you won't need to run the fan on the HS, at a high speed..What does your system(case/mobo) temp run at present time?Are you willing to mod your case for better air cooling? See the pix in the link below to see some of the things i've done to increase my cooling..
CLICK HERE
TeKiZeRo said:
actually the x120 is alot lighter than the sp-94, yeah i got Aquagate only for the silence, and neatness. i was planning on modding it later on...i've spent way too much this summer... probably replace the pump, upgrade the hose diameter, add some more water blocks and probably another radiatior like a BI micro that i will bolt to where the exhuast fan is and have the fafn pulling air in.
Last edited:
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- May 11, 2004
- Location
- West Coast
Water is always good. A Cheap DIY setup will give you good returns.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2004
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- Helping young Meatballs grow...
Yeah, but even a DIY watercooling rig ends up costing the same as a Thermalright w/ a good fan and air cooling is infinitely easier to set up. I would only recommend water cooling after he has read all of the stickies and has calculated how much it will cost for all of the watercooling parts, and decided that he might want to try... I personally think watercooling is a little too risky for most newbies to set up.
- Thread Starter
- #20
Well everyone starts out a newbie right? How can you become a expert if you haven't touched any water cooling setups in your life? It summer and my room gets really hot... the ambient temp in my room is 75F. But after summer, my room usually hits 55F below.
