Maybe going back to air cooling

iB CoMpL3XiTy

iB CoMpL3XiTy

iB CoMpL3XiTy

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Hey guys

I currently have a custom water loop cooling a Core i7 3930K @ 4.6Ghz, the last few CPU's I've had (Core i7 920, 950, 2600K and 3930K) have all been pretty bad overclockers, so what I've found is that I've hit a point where my overclocks are limited by me not willing to put anymore voltage through the CPU rather than heat.

I don't play it safe either, I put 1.45V through my 920 and 950, 1.51V through my 2600K and now 1.368V through my 3930K.

My loop consists of a D5 pump with Koolance top, an EK Coolstream XT240, a Magicool Xtreme 360, 250ml res and a Swiftech Apogee HD CPU block + EK and Koolance compressions/angles.

If I sold all my watercooling stuff and moved to high end air what would be best to get?

Budget = Roughly £100
Case = Modded ATCS 840
RAM = Crucial balistic Elite, may have to sell as its quite tall RAM.

So suggestions please, thanks. ;)
 
Go for a simple closed unit water cooling kit?

You can just settle down with a moderate over clock and not have to worry about ram clearence and all that jazz?

What do you use the computer for btw?
 
shadesofgrey said:
Go for a simple closed unit water cooling kit?

You can just settle down with a moderate over clock and not have to worry about ram clearence and all that jazz?

What do you use the computer for btw?
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I'm not really sure why but I hate closed loop coolers, would MUCH prefer a traditional tower heatsink.

Hopefully I'd be able to keep my current overclock of 4.6Ghz @ 1.368V, temps at the mo are low 60's under prime95 so I figured with high end air they might go up to mid 70's? which would still be acceptable for me.

I use my PC mostly for 3D modeling/rendering, and light gaming in the future when I can afford a less crap graphics card.
 
I don't watercool for the clocks I do it for the noise, I've moved backwards and forwards a few times and it's always the noise off the GFX card that does my nut in eventually although I've just seen you don't cool your gfx card? Do you actually have a high end one?

Anyway, I've got a 2500k and GTX480 with 2 x PA120.1 rads and I can run it passive when it's idle if I want. Silence is the absolute key.

Also selling off watercooling stuff never gets you a particularly good price, if you've invested in it you might as well keep it, thats my 2p.

Anyway, final thing is to keep a cpu as quiet as a decent water loop you'll be hanging a great lump of copper off your mobo too. Not keen! And it looks good.

Can you see I've come to terms with sticking with water even though I actually genuinely hate building new systems now? It stresses me out, and I always do it right lol!
 
Just seen your build thread, you've done all that modding and braiding and you're thinking of going for air? You've done the hard bit now!
 
Yeah, I know what you mean, it's just some of the worse closed kits give similar results to some of the best air coolers.

Currently most folk reccommend this cooler for best value, this one for better cooling at twice the price (massive tho!) but the Nocturna's are worth looking at too.
 
matt100 said:
I don't watercool for the clocks I do it for the noise, I've moved backwards and forwards a few times and it's always the noise off the GFX card that does my nut in eventually although I've just seen you don't cool your gfx card? Do you actually have a high end one?

Anyway, I've got a 2500k and GTX480 with 2 x PA120.1 rads and I can run it passive when it's idle if I want. Silence is the absolute key.

Also selling off watercooling stuff never gets you a particularly good price, if you've invested in it you might as well keep it, thats my 2p.

Anyway, final thing is to keep a cpu as quiet as a decent water loop you'll be hanging a great lump of copper off your mobo too. Not keen! And it looks good.

Can you see I've come to terms with sticking with water even though I actually genuinely hate building new systems now? It stresses me out, and I always do it right lol!
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I have a passive HD5450 at the moment, but will most likely go for a HD7950 1.5GB card with an after market cooler.

I would have completely agreed with you about the noise of graphics cards, however my brother has a GTX570 with a Arctic cooling extreme plus II (something like that) and its made his graphics card very cool, it reaches about 45C under load and is extremely quiet.
Yes watercooling is better and you may get a few degress off that temp, maybe down to 40C but the cost just for the waterblock alone is usually £80-90...
I don't mind the great lump of copper, I think some air coolers look really good. besides which I'm not to bothered anymore what my PC looks like, who is going to see it? me and my mates. That's it.

I think watercooling is great if your going for extreme silence or are lucky enough to have components that overclock well and you want every single Mhz you can get.

For me I don't have that kind of disposable income anymore and I don't need complete silence so high end air cooling is a compromise.
 
shadesofgrey said:
Yeah, I know what you mean, it's just some of the worse closed kits give similar results to some of the best air coolers.

Currently most folk reccommend this cooler for best value, this one for better cooling at twice the price (massive tho!) but the Nocturna's are worth looking at too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, the prolimatech reminds me of my old thermalright ultra 120 extreme, excellent cooler. If I went for something like this then I could use two of my current yate loons in push/pull.
 
You really cannot beat a closed loop system, neat, nearly maintainance free and no weight on the motherboard.
My Corsair H50 has been spot on and I wouldn't consider either an air cooler or a custom loop.
 
SkodaMart said:
You really cannot beat a closed loop system, neat, nearly maintainance free and no weight on the motherboard.
My Corsair H50 has been spot on and I wouldn't consider either an air cooler or a custom loop.
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Its just something about the plastic housing, those small little tubes, just looks cheap and goes against what I know after having custom water.

No disrespect to anyone with a closed loop cooler, just not for me.
 
I would have mentioned the phantek, but the reviews show it only pulling ahead with extreme overclocking. The reviewers all seem to have a large soft spot for the prolimatech tho'.

In the future, you could use the distance selling regulations to buy a chip, see how far it clocks and if it is a poor clocker send it back for another one, depends on your morals I guess, and it's still luck of the draw as they wont give you that many chances.
 
shadesofgrey said:
I would have mentioned the phantek, but the reviews show it only pulling ahead with extreme overclocking. The reviewers all seem to have a large soft spot for the prolimatech tho'.

In the future, you could use the distance selling regulations to buy a chip, see how far it clocks and if it is a poor clocker send it back for another one, depends on your morals I guess, and it's still luck of the draw as they wont give you that many chances.
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I'll have to check out some reviews then and see whats what. :)

It would have been a PITA to test the CPU, would have had to set up my watercooling loop out side the case (as I was modding the case for about 2 weeks) then leak test, then test the CPU then dismantle the loop... damn Intel for not including any kind of stock heatsink :(
 
Slipperz said:
Me too.... 106 windows updates to get through first!!

the cooler is a beautiful piece of kit, striking blue and it's absolutely huge like you said. I can get the side cover on with an inch to spare ;)
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (ugly is what i would call it!)

For me i have had a full water loop before and it's too much hassle to live with, the sealed units are a great compomise.

Also a full loop is very expensive and difficult to upgrade, which you will do.

I've just bought a be quiet dark rock pro, looks amazing and should work well (plus with the new 2011 ivybridge should be move efficent than the last gen so water cooling will probably be taking a back seat.

On the same point who needs atx any more when matx is a much nicer compact size.
 
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driftingphil said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (ugly is what i would call it!)

For me i have had a full water loop before and it's too much hassle to live with the sealed units are a great compomise.

Also a full loop is very expensive and difficult to upgrade, which you will do.

I've just bought a be quiet dark rock pro, looks amazing and should work well (plus with the new 2011 ivybridge should be move efficent than the last gen so water cooling will probably be taking a back seat.

On the same point who needs atx any more when matx is a much nicer compact size.
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What are you cooling with the dark rock pro? and what are your temps?

I really like the looks of that cooler. looks kind of understated even though its huge.
 
iB CoMpL3XiTy said:
Thanks for the suggestions, the prolimatech reminds me of my old thermalright ultra 120 extreme, excellent cooler. If I went for something like this then I could use two of my current yate loons in push/pull.
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If you can wait until next month, I will be building a 3930K system x79 sabertooth mobo with a Noctua NH-D14-2011 so can give you some temps.

What is worrying me is that the D14 cooler was only ever a temporary solution while I took a couple of months researching/saving and then moved to watercooling.

Having followed your build thread, Im now really really concerned as to why you want to switch to air - your temps won't be any better, though you might get more air over the VRM's. (I think that is what they are called)
EK do a water block for the VRM's for not a lot , don't you want to try that first and then see??
Koolance do the full mobo block, but I don't think that will help you.

What is the reason for changing?

edit

<For me I don't have that kind of disposable income anymore and I don't need complete silence so high end air cooling is a compromise.>

But you have spent the money now - all you have to do is just enjoy?
If Im getting you right, you want to spend an additional 100 quid, maybe more if you replace your ram to buy an air cooler that will run your machine hotter than what you are at now???
 
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What is the reason for changing?
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His chip is not clocking high enough to warrent a full on water cooling system.



It would have been a PITA to test the CPU, would have had to set up my watercooling loop out side the case (as I was modding the case for about 2 weeks) then leak test, then test the CPU then dismantle the loop... damn Intel for not including any kind of stock heatsink
Click to expand...
Life isn't easy! :D
 
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