Cooling options -air vs water

[starbuck]

I have my system cooled at the moment by normal air cooling(all stock). Temps are't too bad as get up to about 55-59c under pretty full load (as sys is running at stock speed) This was checked using motherboard monitor(so I know not extremely accurate).

Would like to quieten my pc, and keep it as cool as poss but doesn't have to be supercool as not too worried about overclocking at the moment.

I have 2 options, air or water cooling. I know water cooling is much quieter but am a bit aprehensive as have never used it before. Have seen 2 water cooled things I am thinking about though:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=174654
http://www.quietpc.com/uk/watercooling.php#reserator

Alternatively, I could go for aircooling:

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/...roductid=17885

and I'd get an arctic VGA cooler with it.

Any advice on best options? I like the idea of watercooling but need it to be simple but effective as I am a watercooling virgin. Air though, takes less space and is easier to install.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by starbuck

Air though, takes less space and is easier to install.

I have had some heatsinks that make watercooling look like a walk in the park. Still, there are some good air coolers out there at the moment, and as my w/c kit is custom, I don't have any experience with the kits to recommend one.

[unrealrocks]

That kit from scan looks really good for the price

To be honest it depends on how much you want to spend, and how cool you want your system (ie cool enough for overclocking). If you just want quiet you can get just as quiet with air cooling than with watercooling, although its hotter and not ideal for overclocking (I have only two fans in my system, both 5Vted 80 and 92mm fans that make practically no noise outside the case - soundproofing).

[SilentDeath]

Originally Posted by starbuck

I have my system cooled at the moment by normal air cooling(all stock). Temps are't too bad as get up to about 55-59c under pretty full load (as sys is running at stock speed) This was checked using motherboard monitor(so I know not extremely accurate).

Would like to quieten my pc, and keep it as cool as poss but doesn't have to be supercool as not too worried about overclocking at the moment.

I have 2 options, air or water cooling. I know water cooling is much quieter but am a bit aprehensive as have never used it before. Have seen 2 water cooled things I am thinking about though:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=174654
http://www.quietpc.com/uk/watercooling.php#reserator

Alternatively, I could go for aircooling:

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/...roductid=17885

and I'd get an arctic VGA cooler with it.

Any advice on best options? I like the idea of watercooling but need it to be simple but effective as I am a watercooling virgin. Air though, takes less space and is easier to install.

Originally Posted by unrealrocks

That kit from scan looks really good for the price

The CoolRiver kit is imo probably worse than a much cheaper aircooler..
Also with watercooling you have to think about reliabilty - pumps do fail and without warning, whereas fans usually give warning by getting very loud..
Just compare the pump specs against any decent 12v pump for example the Laing D4 - which has 10x more power consumption and is very likely much more efficent (cant say Xx more flow..becuase that doesnt take into account pressure...).


Also WHY that aircooler... there are better ones.. MUCH better ones.. and cheaper aswell..

The only kits I would recommend are those from swiftech and asetek. They both have good quality components which many people would buy as seperate components.

[starbuck]

The aircooler I would prefer is the XP120 with a 120mm fan but it has problems fitting my mobo(I would have to bend some caps which I'm not keen on doing). I only thought of the asus cooler as it was recommended by custom pc(as was the coolriver water cooling).

How easy is the resterator to set up? seen good reviews of it but unsure as never tried water cooling before.

[skb3]

The coolriver kit is excellent though it is not the easiest to install. I have it installed and have no problems, very quiet and the cooling is excellent especially compared to air. For example with the stock HSF the GPU would reach 72 degrees under load from 50 idle. Now with the Coolriver water cooler the GPU idles at 40 and never gets above 50.

[robertirwin]

I'd go for the zalman reserator which is dead quiet (no fans) and easy to set up? There are several options out there for water that involve no fans at all (like the wet and chilly PA reservoir which I did a review of in the reviews bit of forums the other day) which are ideal if you want quiet and aren't into massive overclocks.

[rajagra]

Originally Posted by robertirwin

I'd go for the zalman reserator which is dead quiet (no fans) and easy to set up.

OMG, QuietPC are even doing a watercooled PSU now!!!

[grand_witch]

I got the Asus Star Ice, I got this for one reason only and that was that everyone I knew has the XP120 and it was very large and blue. Seems to be wokring well for me.

[rajagra]

Originally Posted by grand_witch

I got the Asus Star Ice... Seems to be wokring well for me.

What temps you getting? I set up an A64 3500+ Winchester system last night. Haven't done much yet, but I haven't seen the CPU temp go above 30C My Athlon XP 2400+ idles around the 45-50C mark by comparison! And the A64's mobo chipset runs hotter than the CPU!
I'm using the Coolermaster Hyper6 on the A64, so please type gently as you reply. The slightest vibration could see my mobo snapping in half, LOL!

[StormPC]

Both the Zalman fanless Reserator 1 and the Swiftech kits work well. The Zalman being fanless is completely quiet but the Swiftech works better. Decent blocks also (not great but ok). I prefer air because the maintenance is less and it's easier to transport.

[Darth_Spud]

Well I have a custom water-cooling kit which is nicely cooling my over clocked Athlon XP 3000+. If you’re not really interested in pushing the most out of your system then I would recommend you go with air cooling. There are some nice coolers out there at the moment and I wouldn’t say that air cooling is on its way out just yet. Looking at your CPU this cooler would go nicely http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...c_Cooling.html

It also has good reviews and should push that Athlon 64 3000 up a few Mhz if you do overclock in the future.

some would argue that water-cooling is the best way to go but it all depends on how much you wont to pay.

[ed^chigliak]

I've recently used the Freezer 64 in my latest build. It's better in every way than the stock heatsink and unlike alot of the low noise air cooling products this one is actually good value. I found it cheapest here http://www.dcs-online.biz/shop/produ...oducts_id/4522

The paste that came with the Freezer 64 looked to be a good silver based product but I couldn't get it to spread thinly. The paste was thick like putty although no mention of this in any reviews so maybe I was unlucky.

Perhaps you can negotiate the postage cost. I purchased some other items so postage was more reasonable. All goods arrived the following morning... fastest yet. I never heard of or used DCS before so only reason I mention it.

[starbuck]

The specs for the freezer 64 mention a sound level of 1.0 Sone. I'm used to sound in DBA. Any ideas that 1 sone is?

[jimborae]

here's a review of the Freezer 64

Freezer 64 review

Also you can get the Zalman Reserator much cheaper Here

But if you want a decent cheapo all in one solution then I'd go for the ThermalTake Big Water.

ThermalTake Big Water

[Darth_Spud]

This review of the Freezer 64 has a pretty in-depth description of what a sone is. Frankly it’s a lot easier if they rated the thing using DBA


.http://www.short-media.com/printcont...print=r&id=280