Cooling products?

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Baron O'Beefdip
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
3,596
So I'm buying a new case, the Cooler Master Centurion 590:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152

Now along with the new case, I'd like to get some cooling products. In my current case, the dB level is usually over 100 (i.e. my room sounds like an airplane hangar), CPU idles above 50, gets to 65-70 under load, GPU is over 80 all the time, and my HDD is too hot to touch all the time. Basically, my case is noisy and doesn't cool anything.

So I've been looking at a complete cooling make-over. The Centurion 590 has 4 120mm fan ports, and is roomy enough for a sizable CPU cooler. However, I'm looking to go liquid for the CPU to reduce the noise level. However I'm a newbie to the liquid cooling world so I have no idea what to buy, all I know is I want it cheap. The cheapest I've found is this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150097

I've also looked at GPU cooling because my 4870's built in cooling is very loud at 25% fan speed and doesn't cool anything, turning it up high enough so that it actually keeps the card nice and temperate will make the fan so loud that I can hardly hear my own voice. I've been looking at this cooler:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118037

As far as case fans, I will probably just get a cheap 4 pack of generic 120mm fans. Thermal compound, may as well go Arctic Silver.
 
I have no experience with water cooling but if you want a quieter case, you can spend $10-$15 on a magnetic bearing fan. They are much quieter than regular fans.

As far as CPU cooling I use a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro to cool my Q6600. It's quieter than the stock Intel fan for the same amount of cooling. Even if you go to the liquid CPU cooler you linked, you still will have the radiator fan making noise (although it might spin slower?).
 
I recommend getting this bad boy :
fridge_01_400x400.jpg
 
Swap ALL of the 120mm fans for Scythe S Flex... MUCH quieter... and they move the air...

Not much for water cooling either... just seems so expensive and since I dont OC much, I don't really need it.
 
I will say that if you are going to go with liquid cooling you want to avoid cheap coolers. coolermaster Aquagate max is a good water cooler.
 
I will say that if you are going to go with liquid cooling you want to avoid cheap coolers. coolermaster Aquagate max is a good water cooler.

I would agree with bob, dont skimp on a WC system. It could only lead to bad things. If you dont want to spend the money and buy/build a decent WC system, I would recommend to buy a normal air cooler. Some of the nicer ones like the cooler master V10 perform almost as nice as a mid range WC system.

If you do decide to go the WC way I would recommend swiftech kits. They are really good quality kits.

swiftech.com
 
Well as others have posted if your worried about noise, dont buy cheap fans, look into how fast they spin and how much noise they create. Thats where you can spend more money on.

As for water cooling, do you overclock at all? If not just buy a TRUE and get a fan for it. It will be more cost effective for you to go that route if you dont overclock. I have my e6750 running at 3.3ghz and it stays around 25c idle 45load and my cpu cooling isnt nearly as good as a true. :)

If you do decide to go to water cooling, why not build a water cooling system that will cool both your videocard and your cpu? It would reduce the number of fans needed. Dont go cheap with watercooling parts. You dont want that stuff leaking out into your pc. And DO NOT mix aluminum and copper parts in a watercooling set up, choose one or the other.
 
I recommend getting this bad boy :
fridge_01_400x400.jpg

lol that will sure keep ur computer cool lol.

but i got a water cooler when i bought it from online and built it,

http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-apex-ultima-kit.html
but thats what i have lol.
but idk the money u willing to spend. i would go with 1 u know of and that have a warrenty for your computer if it doesnt work right or breaks... just my suggestion :)
 
There is a Swiftech kit for $120 (or one with a larger radiator for 140), a bit pricey so I probably will go for an air cooler anyway. my AMD Phenom 9950 is at 2.66GHz and I probably could get it up a good bit higher with a solid air cooler.

Already looked at the Scythe S Flex case fans, they have great reviews on newegg. Move tons of air, quiet if you keep the speeds on the lower side.

Any specific different recommendations for GPU cooling?

Also, if I ever find myself with some kind of unlimited quantity of money, I'll build a computer inside a fridge.
 
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Well gpu cooling wise if your going air cooling why not check out the duorb? it seems like a solid cooler and im planning on getting one for my 4850 this summer because stock fan@100% and idle temps@ 50C is not fun or quiet.
 
Ya like Underlord said, make sure to use a good thermal compound. When you put the new CPU heatsink on make sure to clean off the old compound well, and apply some fresh compound.

I personally use http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39_&mID=127&language=en
It contains no metal particles, so if you mess up and get a bit on some electrical traces or leads, you won't short anything out. And it does a great job keeping my CPU cool, my PhenomX4 940 runs about 40 degrees celsius at load with stock heatsink.
 
Well I just put a liquid kit in my comp and am pleased with the components. I currently own the Swiftech H20-220 APEX Ultima. If I were to do it again, I would piece out the parts and mix between mostly Swiftech and some Danger Den:

Swiftech APOGEE GTZ Cpu waterblock, MCW60-4870 Waterblock, (2 each for me), MCR320 radiator, MCP655 Pump, MCRES-Mocro Rev2 Reservoir, Chipset cooler (Either MCW-NBMax or MCW30 whichever fits your chipsets),

DangerDen: Tygon 3603 Tubing 1/2" of course, all of the fittings you will need for the above items.

Some mix and match multipel rads in and out of case for their cooling needs but I dont think that is necessary but to each his own. The rad inside heats up the inside DUH!
 
As far as case fans, I will probably just get a cheap 4 pack of generic 120mm fans. Thermal compound, may as well go Arctic Silver.

I recommend also getting a multiple fan controller so you can control noise levels at idle.
 
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