Which Cooler?

[fgf80]

I have, really two related questions, but first and foremost, I am building my first computer, and I have an AMD 1090T that I intend to overclock to 4GHz. What cooler do I need? If at all possible, I would like to maintain all of the PSI slots and all of the RAM slots. Is this possible?
The second question is about cooling using stock equipment only. I have an Acer Aspire 5532, and I actually had to underclock the stock 1.6GHz processor because it idles at 50C

 

[TACAMO]

Have you thought about liquid cooling. I too have a 1090T @ 4GHz with liquid cooling that stays around 50, 51 degrees at full load. Do you mean PCI slots by chance. What motherboard do you have?

 

[fgf80]

Have you thought about liquid cooling. I too have a 1090T @ 4GHz with liquid cooling that stays around 50, 51 degrees at full load. Do you mean PCI slots by chance. What motherboard do you have?

Sorry; Yes I did mean PCI; I just got done juggling a bunch of pressures around, and am not back in programmer mode yet.

I have an ATX Mid tower, but a smallish budget for after market cooling. Water cooling, from what I understand if fairly expensive, and hard for a first-time builder.

 

[TACAMO]

This was my first water cooling set up as well. I'm actually using a heater core from a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville ($20.00), a pump I found in my garage, and a water block from Enzotech ($30.00), not the best looking setup but it works. As far as heatsink I've head good things about the CM Hyper 212. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065. Heres a bunch with good ratings http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=574&name=CPU-Fans-Heatsinks&Order=RATING

 

[fgf80]

those are both Intel, though. they won't work for either of us.

I misspoke; the second has both.

Do AM2 coolers attach to AM3 socket MOBOs?

 

[TACAMO]

The Hyper 212 is for Intel and AMD check the Compatibility under the details tab.

 

[fgf80]

Have you thought about liquid cooling. I too have a 1090T @ 4GHz with liquid cooling that stays around 50, 51 degrees at full load. Do you mean PCI slots by chance. What motherboard do you have?

I have the ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (I will and have call(ed) Motherboards MOBOs if I am not paying attention)

The Hyper 212 is for Intel and AMD check the Compatibility under the details tab.

It would make it simpler if it were in the title but is that all I need? or should I still think about liquid cooling? And what about my laptop; underclocking a stock 1.6 just to prevent overheating, and no room for hardware upgrades.

 

[TACAMO]

That would be all you need, but for overclocking I would recommend water cooling or a high end CPU cooler witch are a bit pricy. As far as laptops go I don't think there's a lot that can be done, I could be wrong (don't own a laptop).

 

[Knufire]

I'd take the laptop apart, dust everything off. Perhaps take off the heatsink and remount it with better TIM. The Hyper212+ should come with a tube.

 

[muddocktor]

I would recommend a Cogage True Spirit over the Hyper 212+ and order the Thermalright AM2/AM3 mount so that you can mount it on your AM3 board. That mount works with that heatsink and the heatsink itself has quite a bit better performance than the 212+ as well as better ram clearance. When test mounting it on my AM2 test mount board all 4 ram slots were accessible with it mounted.

 

[TACAMO]

You could always go with a factory sealed liquid cooler like the Corsair H50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010 or any other of the ones out there. There just mount and go, very easy to install. I run the H50 on a quad core and it works very well.

 

[muddocktor]

I've tested the H50, H70 and am testing the H80 at present and the H50 isn't as good as the heatsink I linked. The H70 is as good and the H80 is better than the heatsink I linked, but both of those are much more expensive also.

 

[fgf80]

order the Thermalright AM2/AM3 mount so that you can mount it on your AM3 board. That mount works with that heatsink

Are you sure? It is not listed under the supported heat sinks.

 

[muddocktor]

Yep, I am sure; have actually mounted it on my AM2 test fit board with it. Cogage is a subsidiary company of Thermalright and the True Spirit uses the exact same base design as the TRUE, HR-02, MUX120 and many other TR designs. Thermalright was very smart in that they used the same base layout on quite a few of their heatsinks so that the same mounting hardware will fit all of them.

If I state that a mount will work with a heatsink, you can take it to the bank that I have actually tested it.

 

[fgf80]

How does the Noctua NH-D14 compare to the fan/heatsink referenced by Muddoktor? and will my RAM fit under it on the 990FX MOBO?

 

[muddocktor]

It is better than the heatsink I linked to, but is also much more expensive too. And if your ram has tall heatspreaders, you will have clearance problems with the front fan installed in the normal way. You could install 1 fan in the middle of the heatpipe stacks and the other on the tail side heatpipe stack though, or just run the center mount fan. And if your case is wide enough, you can offset the intake fan a bit for clearance with tall heatspreaders.

 

[fgf80]

It's worth it.

I ended up with the NH-D14. I now get the same temps under load at 4.0GHz as I did stock idle on a 1090T.