Bite the bullet and go with water ?

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Hello all,

My PC keeps on freezing whilst I have been playing various games, around 5 minutes after I start. Anyways, I decided to check the temp of the cpu whilst I was playing and was getting temps of around 60 to 70 degrees, which I know is not too good!

My system at the moment is a 775 Pentium 4 3.2 using the X800XT PCI-E Graphics card. The case (can't remember name) but I think it's a basic shape, 2 places for intake fans at the front bottom (2 x 80mm), 2 places for rear exhausts (2 x 80mm, or 1 x 120mm), 1 place for a side fan (80mm). I was already thinking of drilling through the top of the case to make a space for a blowhole, but I thought I'd ask for peoples opinions first.

So, I've been wondering if I should head for;

A)water cooled system (cpu + vga, don't really know much about this subject really)
B)get a proper airflow in my case (2 intake fans from front, 1 intake fan from side, 1 top blowhole, and 2 rear exhaust fans,
C) a combination of both water and air ?

I think I'm at the stage where I want decent results whilst playing games without the chances of either frying something or the PC reseting itself. Obviously I don't want the equivalent of a helicopter in my room but it seems I can no longer sacrifice the temps because of noise.

If a few people could list some ideas/parts from here it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

1 more thing, I need to get some more thermal paste or similar thing on both my graphics card and cpu, and I stumbled across some Thermal Pads, any good or should I just stick with Thermal Grease ?

Ta once again.
 
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If you can afford to go with watercooling and feel confident enough to fit it, then go for it :)

Just to give you an idea of what kind of temps to expect, I'm running the same processor as you and it's currently sitting at 30 degrees and doesn't go over 40 when playing games. My graphics card also sits at 42 degrees idle and doesn't go over 50.

I've heard Swiftech's H20-220 Apex kit is very good, for £160 odd. Throw in an alphacool NVXP waterblock (I fitted one of these yesterday as the old waterblock didn't cover the ram, now it's 100% stable :D) and you've got a good setup.
 
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Monring, unless I'm being blind I don't see anything about your cpu being overclocked?
If it isn't overclocked then there is something wrong, a stock cpu shouldn't get that hot.
What heatsink are you using?
is it fitted properly?
has thermal paste been used?
does the heatsink have a fan and is it spinning?
 
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Trip Hazard said:
Monring, unless I'm being blind I don't see anything about your cpu being overclocked?
If it isn't overclocked then there is something wrong, a stock cpu shouldn't get that hot.
What heatsink are you using?
is it fitted properly?
has thermal paste been used?
does the heatsink have a fan and is it spinning?

Yep, I havn't got anything overclocked, which is why I really need to do something about the heat. The heatsink I am using is either the Zalman CNPS7000B, or the Zalman CNPS7700 (bought it from here some time ago as I was getting even hotter temps with the stock Pentium fan). As far as i could tell it was fitted properly, and I applied a thin layer of Thermal Grease as well.

Before taking everything apart last night, the fans I had running were...120mm fan at the back, 1 80mm at the side, 1 stock fan on the X800XT and the fan on the Zalman. They were all spinning, maybe they wern't blowing/sucking in the right directions ? Another reason why I want to sort this mess out from scratch, so I can be sure it's as good as it should be.
 
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No front intake fan? If not get a couple of good 80mm ones. You will be surprised at the difference. I would have a go at modding your case if i were you before going to watercooling. Watercooling will work out much more expensive. I know, i am in the process of doing it now. Cut a blowhole in the top for a 120mm fan if you have the room, if not a 92mm or an 80mm will do and set it to suck air out. That should make some difference. Then set up the side to suck in and the rear to blow out the back.

You could also get a cpu cooler that blows the hot air towards the rear exhaust fan. All the Zalman does is disrupt the airflow in the case by blowing it around. Also get some Arctic silver 5. Don't bother with thermal pads as they are rubbish.
 
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pastymuncher said:
No front intake fan? If not get a couple of good 80mm ones. You will be surprised at the difference. I would have a go at modding your case if i were you before going to watercooling.

Cut a blowhole in the top for a 120mm fan if you have the room, if not a 92mm or an 80mm will do and set it to suck air out. That should make some difference. Then set up the side to suck in and the rear to blow out the back.

You could also get a cpu cooler that blows the hot air towards the rear exhaust fan. All the Zalman does is disrupt the airflow in the case by blowing it around. Also get some Arctic silver 5. Don't bother with thermal pads as they are rubbish.

Thanks, I'll go and get 5 x 80mm fans for the front and rear, and 1 x 120mm for the top blowhole. I'll also look in to a decent cpu cooler.

On a side note, do you have to actually buy Exhaust fans or will a normal fan blow 1 way, where as turn it around and it will suck ?
 
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Rosco127 said:
Thanks, I'll go and get 5 x 80mm fans for the front and rear, and 1 x 120mm for the top blowhole. I'll also look in to a decent cpu cooler.

On a side note, do you have to actually buy Exhaust fans or will a normal fan blow 1 way, where as turn it around and it will suck ?

That is correct, on most fans somewhere on the side it will have 2 arrows indicating the rotation and direction of airflow, just have the arrow pointing in whichever direaction you the air to be blown.

EDIT
Make sure they are quite fans, 5 regular/noisy 80mm fans will drive you crazy.
Or get a fancontroller and keep them on low.
 
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I'm looking at the various fans and I have no idea which ones to get.

Could someone suggest 5 x 80mm fans, and 1 x 120mm fan please (like the look of the vantec stealth ones) ?

Also what would be the recommeneded CPU cooler for the 3.2 775 P4 (read about the Arctic Freezer...the one that fits the p4, not sure if my PSU unit is too close though) ?

One more question, I am thinking of getting a fan controller, that supports 6 fans if possible, any suggestions ?

It's not being lazy, its just there are so many to choose from, and I want a nice cool PC for the first time :D
 
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The Akasa Ambers are highly thought of in these parts, they offer a good CFM/dBA ratio.

But if you are after utter silence, I recently purchased some Sharkoon Silent Eagle fans, and I have to say they are the quietest fans Ive ever (not) heard, although the amount of air they push doesnt quite reach the amber standard, they are quieter in reality, and they also complimented the black and white of my case very well.
 
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Rosco127 said:
I'm looking at the various fans and I have no idea which ones to get.

Could someone suggest 5 x 80mm fans, and 1 x 120mm fan please (like the look of the vantec stealth ones) ?

Also what would be the recommeneded CPU cooler for the 3.2 775 P4 (read about the Arctic Freezer...the one that fits the p4, not sure if my PSU unit is too close though) ?

One more question, I am thinking of getting a fan controller, that supports 6 fans if possible, any suggestions ?

It's not being lazy, its just there are so many to choose from, and I want a nice cool PC for the first time :D

I use akasa ambers. They are quiet and push reasonable amounts of air at low speeds, but I hear good things about panaflos and acoustifan.

A vantec fan controller can handle 6 fans. 2 front fans on one channel, 2 rear on the second, cpu on the third and exhaust/blowhole on the last channel.

Not sure about the cooler though, the last I checked thermalright were pretty good, but haven't been keeping up so there might be better coolers.
 
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in terms of heatsinks:

thermalright SI120 - good heatsink, but need to purchase 120mm fan
scythe ninja - good heatsink, and performance, but supplied fan a little noisy
ac freezer - good heatsink and fan, good value for money but not TOP performance

make of that what you will :)
 
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gr1mey said:
in terms of heatsinks:

thermalright SI120 - good heatsink, but need to purchase 120mm fan
scythe ninja - good heatsink, and performance, but supplied fan a little noisy
ac freezer - good heatsink and fan, good value for money but not TOP performance

make of that what you will :)

I really like the look of the Scythe Ninja but I'm doubtful that it will fit in my case. It reads 150mm heigh, I have a Premium P5AD2-E Mobo, I can't see it coming in to contact with my PSU, but its a question as to if I can get the side of my case back on :D

With the AC Freezer, I don't see how having the fan blow/suck along the motherboard would help much, maybe it's because I'm not used to it, all I've ever used is the normal fan pointing away from the mobo.

Thermalright, tis interesting, but I'll have to buy an adapter...so not sure yet.
 
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The best silent fans are Yate Loons.

Theres simply nothing that comes close to their cfm/noise ratio.

Only thing that comes close is Scythe S-Flex fans.

Everyone who says better is lying in their specs - and unfortunately most fan specs are ********. Extreme example are SilenX 74CFM 14dBA, less air and more noise than 45CFM 26dBA Yates.

Pretty much the only people who give reliable fan specs are YL, Delta, Scythe, Sanyo-Denki and Panaflo.

You can get Nexus fans as well, but theyre just rewound Yates, where Yate @ 9v = Nexus @ 12v. Since Yates will happily run down do 3.5v with no buzzing, motor noise or anything, and theyre cheaper shipped single from the USA (on UPS!) or germany than a Nexus is in the UK...

No swearing.

Otacon
 
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I have an SI-120 in my rig and while it does cool the cpu excellently it disrupts the case airflow really badly. In my rig it sits right next to the 120mm exhaust fan and basically screws up the air going to it. Get one that blows air towards the rear exhaust fan such as the AC freezer 64 pro, Akasa AK-913 EVO 33 or similar. The ninja is probably the best you can buy but as you have discovered is very large.

Fanwise, as already mentioned the Akasa ambers are very good as are the Acoustifan range and also the Panaflow range. Here's a review of some 120mm fans.
 
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since you already have no case fans just get the akasa amber fans. either way the difference will be stupidly high. and if you really have been using no case fans then your cpu temp will drop by a minimum of around 10.

water is risky business and needs constant maintenance and initial leak testing. more hassle than its worth in my opinion since there are air cooling solutions out there that are very good.
 
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Air will be very good when it makes a solution that can run an oced dual-core at 35c load with a 45cfm fan @ 7v. And i mean real 35c, not 12c-under-reported dfi temps.

Until then, its merely adequate.

If you gain MHz by pointing 3 Deltas at your sink, water will get you MHz. If you have a lemon of a CPU that hits a wall well before thermal issues become a problem, dont bother, unless youre after silence.

As for maintenance, change cooling liquid every 6 months. 6 hour leak test before installation. No different from lapping a BT TT and and cleaning the dustbunnies outevery so often.

The swifty kits are very good, just replace the apogee with a storm or an aquaxtreme mp-05 le or a nexxxos xp...
 
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thanks for all the advice, it certainly has helped me in choosing the various bits and bobs.

In the end I ordered the Thermalright SI-120 + adapter clip for 775 (I would have ordered the Scythe Ninja but I seriously doubt that it would fit in my case).

For the fans I ordered 5 x 80mm Vantec Stealth (2 rear, 2 front and 1 side), 1 x 120mm Vantec Stelth (top blowhole) and 1 x 120mm Vantec Thermacool to sit on the SI-120.

Went for the Vantex Nexus 4 channel fan controller, and then also got a couple of round Ide/floppy cables to tidy my case up a bit and a fan guard + fan filter (for the blowhole on my case, had to do a bit of DIY and make the hole).

The plan is (may not work as I don't know much about all this) to connect the 2 front 80mm intake fans to channel 1 on the fan controller, the 2 rear 80mm exhaust fans to channel 2, 80mm side intake to channel 3, and channel 4 for the 120mm blowhole. The reason I decided to try the Thermacool Vantec 120mm for the heatsink is because it has a heat sensor, so hopefully it will adjust its speed as it sees fit.

Won't be getting these parts until tuesday/wednesday I think, because of the bank holiday and all that. Hopefully once I set it all up I'll be able to post here my cooler settings.

Thanks!
 
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I'm back with all fans installed. Still sily temps really, sitting idle between 30 and 35 degrees. Maybe the thermal paste isn't on correctly ? I thought I did it right
 
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Thats not bad for a P4 really. My A64 3700 idles at 29 degrees now the weathers warmed up. It was as low as 24 degrees a couple of weeks ago.

That Vantec thermocool has a temp sensor built in does'nt it? That is probably sensing the case temps and not the cpu temps. Have a go at swapping it for the blowhole 120mm and connect that to the cpu fan plug on the mobo. The mobo should adjust the speed of the fan according to the temp of the cpu.
 
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