D14 Vs Silver Arrow + Advice on wiring the fans

[Muel]

Anyone having trouble because of the heat this summer? Had to take my overclocking off everything. I have 2 5830s in crossfire, and a Titan Fenrir pointed right at them (Can't point anywhere else), so all the warm air from my graphics cards and northbridge heatsink gets sucked straight into the cooler.

CPU is a 965BE C2, 140W. It runs hot. Very.

I'm thinking upgrading to a D14 or Silver Arrow would sort it? I will probably upgrade the fans on whatever I get, because I want them all to be connected in together so that the speed is synchronized. I'm guessing I can get the PWM line from one fan, then wire the other 3 lines together and plug them all into the CPU header, but I'm worried this might not provide enough power?

D14 seems to get slightly better reviews to me, so plan at the moment is one of those, but with 3 matching fans. Unless this isn't advisable?

EDIT:

Actually, will probably just get one of these: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-031-AK

This will mean I can have a big cooler with 3 fans, all variable speeds controlled by the CPU temp. Sorted. But which to choose, Silver Arrow or D14? D14 seems to get better reviews, but the D14 setup would cost me £108.27 whereas the Silver Arrow would cost £67.33. Might be worth looking at watercooling instead?

 

[Speed]

Not really, even in the loft where it is silly degrees hot I've not had any overclocks fail.

The Silver Arrow offers equal performance than the D-14 and is cheaper, the fans and mount are also better imho. So I'd go for that over the D-14. Having owned both I can safely say there is next to nothing between them, I ended up selling the D-14 and keeping the Silver Arrow.

I wouldn't suggest using the CPU header for both, do you not have a PWM system fan header on your board? Three fans don't really offer much over two, so I'd just stick to using the two included ones with the SA.

The other option is a cheap fan controller, something you can manually tweak as and when more cooling is needed.

 

[Plec]

You've solved your first problem with the AKASA splitter - i use one with my SA it's a great bit of kit.

And if money is tight (and even if it's not) you've kind of answered your second question - via the price/performance ratio.

The SA is great bang for buck compared to the D14 - and although you mention the reviews/results sometimes favour the D14 the temps differences are usually negligible - certainly not enough to justify the ~£40 difference in set up costs.

The SA is a cracking price for a premium air cooler and I doubt you’ll be disappointed with the results.

 

[Muel]

I think I do have a PWM system fan header, but would rather the speeds were synchronised.

I'm not even sure if it's worth it now thinking about it. I'm spending £70-100 to be able to run my CPU at it's limit of 3.8ghz, (run out of volts to play with), which it will run at in winter anyway. Maybe I'd be better off taking that £100 and putting it towards an SSD instead? Would probably see more of a benefit than a 400mhz overclock. (12% increase in clock).

 

[Speed]

I think I do have a PWM system fan header, but would rather the speeds were synchronised.

I'm not even sure if it's worth it now thinking about it. I'm spending £70-100 to be able to run my CPU at it's limit of 3.8ghz, (run out of volts to play with), which it will run at in winter anyway. Maybe I'd be better off taking that £100 and putting it towards an SSD instead? Would probably see more of a benefit than a 400mhz overclock. (12% increase in clock).

Well the SA is £50ish at most places, like you say money is best put towards an SSD but you shouldn't really be spending anywhere near £100 on air cooling anyways. That is almost custom water money.

SSD will make a more noticable difference definately.

 

[chippy08]

Muel where in north Derbyshire are you ? anyway contact me thru my profile.

 

[Muel]

Well the SA is £50ish at most places, like you say money is best put towards an SSD but you shouldn't really be spending anywhere near £100 on air cooling anyways. That is almost custom water money.

SSD will make a more noticable difference definately.

Aye much to think about. If I upgrade to an 1100t or some form of BD chip, this cooling setup will not cut it though. I do fancy a play with water...

Muel where in north Derbyshire are you ? anyway contact me thru my profile.

Done.