PC Cooling Recommendations

stupidcha

stupidcha

stupidcha

Associate
Joined
13 Aug 2009
Posts
49
I have a mid-tower case and was wanting to change out the HSF for my CPU and GPU also I was thinking about changing the fan in my PSU and the case fan

I need help with deciding which will keep my PC the coolest and quietest
Computer Specs
Q6600 LGA 775
Diamond 4850 4pin (have minimum clearance)
600W Game X Stream


Case/PSU
Automatic Fan Controls vs. Manual Fan Controls(Recommend me a good controller)

Open Case (Side Panel Open) vs. Closed Case

Need Recommendations for 120mm Fans for the PSU and 92mm Fans for Case(Needs to be Quiet)


CPU HSF
Zalman 9700 LED vs. Zalman 9700 NT

Zalman 9700 vs. Tower Cooler(must be 90(L) x 124(W) x 142(H) mm or less, if the cooler is taller than 142mm I have to keep case open)[MY BACKPLATE IS STUCK TO MY MOBO SO RECOMMEND COOLERS THAT SCREW IN]


GPU HSF
Accelero S1R2 + 120mm Fan(Must have Case Open + Fan will be literally 2-3 mm from my sound card) vs. Accelero Twin Turbo(Not sure if it'll fit) vs. VF1000


My Budget is £85 for Auto Fan and £105 for Manual Fan

Finally... Can I build a water cooling for £105? Must include cooler for GPU! doubt it but can't hurt to ask.

Hope to read some good recommendations
 
Last edited:
Dont change the fan in your psu unless you're really, really sure about what you're doing. Not recommended.

Case fans, swap out for scythes or noctuas and you can't really go wrong.

No zalman heatsinks. What do you mean stuck to your board? What thread must it screw into? I think it is exceptionally unlikely that you have a backplate glued onto your board. What is your current cooler? For that matter, what is the rest of the system spec?

You can do water cooling at that budget, but air is very likely to perform better.
 
is switching the PSU fan really THAT bad?

i was going to just take the stock one out and put a diff 120mm and either strip and connect wires or leave the 3 pin on new fan and use fan controller
don't care about warranty btw most the sound is coming from the PSU fan

only have one place for case fan, the outtake fan

the mobo is a dell mobo, so i can't take the backplate off
the screws for the 9700 work
does M3 fit the profile? or am i completely wrong?

q6600 @ 2.4 wanting to go to 3.0 with BSEL mod
4g 800hz ram
7200rpm HD
cd/dvdrw
soundblaster gamer sound card
diamond 4850

btw this is why i need a CPU heatsink that's smaller than a 9700
attachment.php


btw someone else
 
If you do it well it's fine. If you do it badly your psu will overheat and expire. Psu's have a history of killing other components when they die. The risk is considerable, but it is your choice.

It might be metric, might be imperial. If metric it's probably M3 or M4. I'd be very surprised if it is not removable.

I think changing the case might be a sensible road to go down here.

For cpu cooler, measure your case and then compare with dimensions of other coolers. Zalman are not very popular these days.
 
so switching it out for a better fan is bad for the psu?
btw im hearing that i have to drain the caps in the psu...

as for a new case

how much of a diff would i see?

i tried leaving my side panel open and it only did a 3C max
 
With regards noise, the case can make a very large difference. With regards temperatures the same. One with the airflow set up properly will tend to run hotter with the side off. I'm assuming you want the psu fan out because its making too much noise. A better case will be cooler inside than the current dell one, so the psu will be in a colder environment and will spin its fan less swiftly as a result.

The issue is that fans dont come in better/worse. They come in a variety of speeds, static pressures, current draw and rpm vs voltage. The psu is designed assuming you are using a particular fan, do not change to a different one unless you are confident that you can make a better design choice than ocz.

You probably wont electrocute yourself if the psu is turned off when you open it. Dont spit into it or touch everything witha screwdriver though. A good idea would be to look up the specs of the current psu fan and try to match the power consumption and exceed the static pressure with the proposed replacement. Do not run it using a fan controller unless you have an idea for tracking the internal temperature of the psu and know what it should be at under various loads, and do run it off a motherboard header.

You're welcome to ignore this advice and do as you please, but you have been warned. I do not believe that you know better than the ocz engineers.
 
Depending on which Dell you have, you have a BTX case and parts and I'm surprised the OCZ PSU fits actually.

What you are proposing sounds like a good way to spend £100 and see no benefit.

Unless you can change the air inside the case more often then all additional fans will do is recirculate hot air. Taking the side panel off will just increase noise.

You have a fundamentally flawed system I'm afraid and your best bet is to follow the first rule of business - First Loss, Least Loss.

Sell it and buy something better. Don't waste money upgrading it unless you feel like learning an expensive lesson through making your own mistakes.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but most of us started out with Dells or Compaqs that are non-standard in some way and spent hundreds polishing turds before realising that actually all the fans in the world couldn't hide the smell.
 
Thanks for your advice but don't feel like selling my computer, won't get much out of it

thinking of just making a new one with same parts

will be getting a P5K at cheap price
also will probably get an antec 900 or 900 2

will try to save more for cpu hsf and gpu hsf
 
Is your Dell ATX or BTX?

Most are BTX and almost impossible to upgrade using 'normal' ATX parts.
 
WJA96 said:
Is your Dell ATX or BTX?

Most are BTX and almost impossible to upgrade using 'normal' ATX parts.
Click to expand...

it's an ATX but will only be using parts off of it, CPU, RAM, PSU, HDD, DVD drive, sound card, vid card

will be purchasing an asus p5k at cheap price

thinking of investing the cooling money into a new case

can't use the old case with this new mobo anyways
 
Regarding the GPU cooler, when i was looking at them it was a toss up between the Zalman VF1000 and the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo

In the end i went for the Accelero Twin Turbo due to reviews and the price. I must say im not disappointed at all with it. It looks good and performs very well IMO

If i can help you with it in any way then i will do my best to help :)
 
Sniper Ash6 said:
Regarding the GPU cooler, when i was looking at them it was a toss up between the Zalman VF1000 and the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo

In the end i went for the Accelero Twin Turbo due to reviews and the price. I must say im not disappointed at all with it. It looks good and performs very well IMO

If i can help you with it in any way then i will do my best to help :)
Click to expand...

for the twin turbo do they come with reliable vga sinks?

it would be a shame if i had to buy some seperately
 
stupidcha said:
for the twin turbo do they come with reliable vga sinks?

it would be a shame if i had to buy some seperately
Click to expand...
I guess you mean VRMs (Voltage Regulators)
Thanks for reminding me, another reason i went for the Accelero Twin Turbo over the VF1000 is that you get the amount of VRM heatsinks that you need with the twin turbo - something i found from reviews is that 4850s have more VRM heatsinks than the VF1000 comes with

I however left the stock ones on my card as there isnt much difference between the ones on my card and they have air pushed over them by the size of the twin turbo (+ i couldnt get them off :D)
 
JonJ678 said:
If you do it well it's fine. If you do it badly your psu will overheat and expire. Psu's have a history of killing other components when they die. The risk is considerable, but it is your choice.

It might be metric, might be imperial. If metric it's probably M3 or M4. I'd be very surprised if it is not removable.

I think changing the case might be a sensible road to go down here.

For cpu cooler, measure your case and then compare with dimensions of other coolers. Zalman are not very popular these days.
Click to expand...

If you do it badly then the risk is that you die. Even when unplugged the PSU carries more than enough power to kill you. DO NOT TOUCH THE INNARDS, AT ALL.
 
after all these scary warnings

I WON'T open the psu

i will change the case though

also be upgrading to p5k mobo

as for the twin turbos
are the VRM reliable? heard the one that come with artic cooling don't stick
 
I never used the VRM heatsinks that came with the Twin Turbo as there was no need to remove the stock one

There was no difference that i could see between the stock VRM heatsinks and the ones that came with the Twin Turbo
 
stupidcha said:
are the VRM reliable? heard the one that come with artic cooling don't stick
Click to expand...

They do stick, but you need to CLEAN the surface before you apply the sticky heatsink. That means something powerful like isopropyl alcohol or acetone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom