Liquid metal cooling and new case fans

[Trojan Horse]

Hi guys

I am going to upgrade my i5 4670K and my R9 290X in the future.

But for now, I was thinking of delidding and applying liquid metal to my CPU and to my 290X.

As long as I protect the boundaries with nail polish, it will be safe right? Does any one know any Gigabyte R9 290X dissassembly tutorials

I also wanted to up the airflow on my Corsair 300R. I currently have 2x Artic f12 intake on the front grill, one exhaust rear and one exhaust on the top. Does anyone know any good solid fans I could get? I really don't want to spend like £40 on fans, was thinking of getting second hands or just more Arctic as they are £3-4 lol!

Are corsair ML140 really worth £25 for a pair? I would need 2x140 front intakes. 2x exhaust, rear and top. and 2x cpu fans for my Alpenfohn K2 Mount doom

 

[LuckyBenski]

For the fans, Arctic recently released some pressure optimised ones which offer similar value to the F12s. P12 and P14 are their models - £5-6 each and so far people seem to like them. I'd suggest going with pressure optimised fans, especially if you find 4 case fans isn't performing how you want. Are your case temperatures high now? I've found the 300R a quite roomy and cool case in general.

Regarding liquid metal, it's a great idea for that CPU. Almost guaranteed to lower temperatures and improve potential overclocks (this is largely due to delidding actually). But for graphics cards it's a little less cut and dry - decent thermal paste will probably do you with much less risk. If liquid metal goes anywhere near aluminium it destroys it instantly, so you'll need to check that there's no aluminium in the cooler assembly. I'd say a good clean and repaste should be enough for that card, assuming it has decent airflow feeding it.

 

[EsaT]

Changing Intel's bubblegum/toothpaste to liquid metal TIM will certainly improve temps.
But with only four threads, that CPU simply doesn't really get any extra usable life for higher end gaming.
Fortunately next month should bring some nice competition.


Arctic P12/P14 optimized for good pressure behaviour should scale well with airflow obstructions of that case.
Mesh of rear exhaust fan is disappointingly tight and also front fans have plenty of obstruction.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/6055/corsair-carbide-300r-case-review-corsair-for-the-masses/2
If you have access to Dremel or similar would suggest also replacing that rear fan's mesh with proper finger guard made from wire.

Also with ridiculously low start up voltage P12/P14 certainly scale well with voltage control.

Are corsair ML140 really worth £25 for a pair?

If you care about noise that design is made of marketing hype.
Those very thick motor struts aren't good for sound profile.
They basically momentarily block whole trailing edge of the fan blade causing major obstacle to airflow pushed by blade.
And that creates more turbulence and noise.
In comparison Arctic's curved thinner struts cause only minimal disruption to airflow.

Bearing noise has never been significant factor in good fans, so also that magnetic levitation thing can be treated as snake oil.
And if those fans are such superiorly durable, why is warranty still 5 years?
Arctic gives 6 year warranty for basic models and PWM models have 10 year warranty!

 

[Trojan Horse]

Changing Intel's bubblegum/toothpaste to liquid metal TIM will certainly improve temps.
But with only four threads, that CPU simply doesn't really get any extra usable life for higher end gaming.
Fortunately next month should bring some nice competition.


Arctic P12/P14 optimized for good pressure behaviour should scale well with airflow obstructions of that case.
Mesh of rear exhaust fan is disappointingly tight and also front fans have plenty of obstruction.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/6055/corsair-carbide-300r-case-review-corsair-for-the-masses/2
If you have access to Dremel or similar would suggest also replacing that rear fan's mesh with proper finger guard made from wire.

Also with ridiculously low start up voltage P12/P14 certainly scale well with voltage control.


If you care about noise that design is made of marketing hype.
Those very thick motor struts aren't good for sound profile.
They basically momentarily block whole trailing edge of the fan blade causing major obstacle to airflow pushed by blade.
And that creates more turbulence and noise.
In comparison Arctic's curved thinner struts cause only minimal disruption to airflow.

Bearing noise has never been significant factor in good fans, so also that magnetic levitation thing can be treated as snake oil.
And if those fans are such superiorly durable, why is warranty still 5 years?
Arctic gives 6 year warranty for basic models and PWM models have 10 year warranty!

The Arctic P14 is 74 CFM, ML140 is 90+ CFM, and Noctua fans are 150CFM.

Are Noctua fans really twice as good? Are they worth 4x the price of a P14 lol, also the Amazon reviews for a P14 seem to be off putting?

 

[EsaT]

The Arctic P14 is 74 CFM, ML140 is 90+ CFM, and Noctua fans are 150CFM.

Are Noctua fans really twice as good? Are they worth 4x the price of a P14 lol, also the Amazon reviews for a P14 seem to be off putting?

Most likely Arctic is just the most honest in those specs.
Airflow and noise related fan specs should be treated like honesty of politicians: 99% give bad reputation for the rest.

Also speed always affects to max airflow and pressure.
Already that makes direct spec comparison to ML140 guessing.

And noise should be also considered.
Except for some overclockers most people are likely after the best cooling per noise.

 

[Trojan Horse]

Most likely Arctic is just the most honest in those specs.
Airflow and noise related fan specs should be treated like honesty of politicians: 99% give bad reputation for the rest.

Also speed always affects to max airflow and pressure.
Already that makes direct spec comparison to ML140 guessing.

And noise should be also considered.
Except for some overclockers most people are likely after the best cooling per noise.

Noise isn't a big issue for me, I like to keep everything on 100% when gaming as I have my speakers/headphones pretty loud... don't really understand how gamers are paying more attention to their fans than their headset tbh!

OK I will give it a try, I'm hoping OCUK pricematch as I found a really good value deal for a 5 pack and would rather get from OCUK

EDIT; Also is 140mm always better than 120mm? Should I replace the fans on my Alpenfohn k2 MOUNT DOOM with the Arctics as well?

 

[EsaT]

Noise isn't a big issue for me, I like to keep everything on 100% when gaming as I have my speakers/headphones pretty loud... don't really understand how gamers are paying more attention to their fans than their headset tbh!

OK I will give it a try, I'm hoping OCUK pricematch as I found a really good value deal for a 5 pack and would rather get from OCUK

EDIT; Also is 140mm always better than 120mm? Should I replace the fans on my Alpenfohn k2 MOUNT DOOM with the Arctics as well?

Not all people want to risk premature hearing loss from too high listening volumes needed to cover PC's noise...
Also open headphones don't insulate noise.

Stock fans of that cooler look actually pretty good for overcoming airflow impedance.
Though max speed is slower than what Arctics do, so some temperature imprevement could be possible.
140mm fan seems to be special model with 120mm fan screw hole spacing, so standard 140mm fan doesn't work with fan clips.

 

[Trojan Horse]

Not all people want to risk premature hearing loss from too high listening volumes needed to cover PC's noise...
Also open headphones don't insulate noise.

Stock fans of that cooler look actually pretty good for overcoming airflow impedance.
Though max speed is slower than what Arctics do, so some temperature imprevement could be possible.
140mm fan seems to be special model with 120mm fan screw hole spacing, so standard 140mm fan doesn't work with fan clips.

Thanks good catch!

Bro I can't hear my fans at 100% past 20% volume... I have an R9 290X. They are LOUD.

 

[raptor4216]

Arctic P12/P14 optimized for good pressure behaviour should scale well with airflow obstructions of that case.

I am also looking at getting some Arctic case fans for my NZXT H500i. I get that I will need the high pressure P14's for the front intakes due to the obstruction but was wondering if I would be better off with P12/14's or F12/14's at the rear? Are high pressure fans always better?

 

[EsaT]

I am also looking at getting some Arctic case fans for my NZXT H500i. I get that I will need the high pressure P14's for the front intakes due to the obstruction but was wondering if I would be better off with P12/14's or F12/14's at the rear? Are high pressure fans always better?

Only way to tell would be testing.
We don't know P-Q curve of F12/F14 fans, so airflow might drop fast when airflow impedance increases.
Advertised airflow is basically measured in condition when fan doesn't have to do any work for pushing air but only to rotate.

But top fan position definitely needs pressure capable fan.
And rear fan honeycomb mesh could have bigger holes.
So P12/P14 would make universal fan you could have in any position, including putting into CPU cooler.