I need some more perspectives..

[eastonch]

Dear Forums,

I am familliar with the use of overclocking tools, hardware & cooling. However, for my new build i've just done i've followed this specification.

Sabertooth 990FX Am3+ (OverTheTop..)
HAF-X From CoolerMaster (Big!)
4GB Of Elixer Memory (Old Rig DDR3)
60GB OCZ SSD (Booooot!)
AMD Phenom 965 Black Edition Quad (Old Rig, works fine)
AMD Radeon HD 4850 (Old build, intent to upgrade shortly).


I am fixated on the dilemma I find myself in, I currently have an old OCZ Cooler on my CPU, it does the job fine, it idles at around 38 with an overclock from 3.4 to 3.7. However load temps using prime will quickly escalate this to around 60-65. Not the best of temps I would like to have.

I have always wanted to try one of them "all in one" kits for watercooling, the Antec Khuhler stands out, with the RGB lighting the flexy cables & the efficency, but so much goes wrong. As with the H80, There are many problems with both Corsair's and Antecs All in one WC. -- I've heard horrors of leaks, rattling, pump problems, the Antec is the worst, or atleast to what i've heard you have to install some drivers before the pump even works? USB header? What?!

So, i've been talking to some people on youtube & irl, and to be honest, I don't need a mega-cooling solution, getting this CPU to 4.0 or 4.2 and idle temps at around 30 and load to 60 will make me happy.

However, im not sure on my decision, Conventional Air or Water Cooling?

So, members of the OCF, I pose this question.

What cooler would you recommend to me and why.

Regards,
Chris.

 

[aaawew]

Dear Forums,

I am familliar with the use of overclocking tools, hardware & cooling. However, for my new build i've just done i've followed this specification.

Sabertooth 990FX Am3+ (OverTheTop..)
HAF-X From CoolerMaster (Big!)
4GB Of Elixer Memory (Old Rig DDR3)
60GB OCZ SSD (Booooot!)
AMD Phenom 965 Black Edition Quad (Old Rig, works fine)
AMD Radeon HD 4850 (Old build, intent to upgrade shortly).


I am fixated on the dilemma I find myself in, I currently have an old OCZ Cooler on my CPU, it does the job fine, it idles at around 38 with an overclock from 3.4 to 3.7. However load temps using prime will quickly escalate this to around 60-65. Not the best of temps I would like to have.

I have always wanted to try one of them "all in one" kits for watercooling, the Antec Khuhler stands out, with the RGB lighting the flexy cables & the efficency, but so much goes wrong. As with the H80, There are many problems with both Corsair's and Antecs All in one WC. -- I've heard horrors of leaks, rattling, pump problems, the Antec is the worst, or atleast to what i've heard you have to install some drivers before the pump even works? USB header? What?!

So, i've been talking to some people on youtube & irl, and to be honest, I don't need a mega-cooling solution, getting this CPU to 4.0 or 4.2 and idle temps at around 30 and load to 60 will make me happy.

However, im not sure on my decision, Conventional Air or Water Cooling?

So, members of the OCF, I pose this question.

What cooler would you recommend to me and why.

Regards,
Chris.

hehe dont get my wrong i know very little but if you want low temps and want to try a closed loop watercooler try the H80. pump problems might be somthing that happens some what (i dont know tho ), but i would guess that they dont leake very offten corsair i would think would not stand for that. Maby a good air cooler is all you need im not to sure tho But im sure a H80 would do better than what you need

 

[muddocktor]

With your present system, I would suggest that you look at a Tier 1 air cooling solution instead of a LCLC water system like you are thinking of. For some good heatsinks that will follow you to your next system build, I would recommend the following heatsinks (No particular order).

1. Thermalright Silver Arrow
2. Thermalright Archon
3. Thermalright True Spirit 140
4. Prolimatech Genesis
5. Noctua NH-D14 (new model if possible, but the older model might be discounted)
6. Thermalright HR-02 Macho
7. NZXT Havik 140

There are other heatsinks out there that would do well, but the ones I mention above will be easily able to deal with whatever overclock you want to try on your AMD quad. Pricing on the above ranges from around $40 to around $80.

 

[eastonch]

Dear muddocktor

Thanks for your reply, I've checked out countless reviews for all of the above fans, except the DH14 because it's just referenced against most of the coolers that you suggested, its "that good".

Here's my current:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-vendetta-cpu-cooler-eol.html

It's EOL'd by OCZ and still performs, dusty, with around 34* idle and around 52* on a blend test using prime 95 (Just the easiest way to get hot results...)

I'm really worried that there may not be another cooler out there to match / beat this current one -- Apart from going completely WC and spending loads on such things. -- I mean, potentially I could setup my own watercooling but either way, it's still just moving hot parts to a larger area to provide more cooling to a bigger surface area?

Sorta pointless in my opinion unless I went completely WC.

Just to note, on the HAF-X I have the back 140 stock, two red coolermaster 200mm's on the top (bought after-sale), the big 230mm red stock in the front and another 200mm on the side (after sale).

Oh, and by the way, the results above, were with the cooler 50%, I ramped it to 100% fan speed and got it to a damn cool 45* (Before I got bored and stopped it.)

Are there any other suggestions?

 

[muddocktor]

Any of the ones I mentioned above will perform much better than your old Vendetta. That heatsink is very long in the tooth and it would fall flat on it's butt with a 200+ watt heatload such as the overclocked i7 930 in my heatsink test system. With any of the ones I mentioned you should be able to overclock your 965 BE to the 4 GHz region (depending on your chip's ability of course) with load temps in the 50's I would think. I don't run any AMD stuff nowadays but your 965 BE won't put out more heat than a Bloomfield i7. Also, the ones I mentioned above also have good AMD mounting systems too.

 

[manu2b]

Mudd is right: I have a Megahalem on my PhII 955, and it runs in the low 50's@4GHz/1.46v(1.46 or 1.49? have to check lol!)