Cooling advice?

[zed13]

Okay, I've got a self-made-computer still in the planning stage that I;m working on, and i wanted an opinion as to cooling:

its gonna be my first computer made by me, so easy is better, but watercooling is oh so appealing, though i'm afraid of water+electricity given that im new to it all...

the also very appealing alternative is Asetek's Vapochill Micra

http://www.asetek.com/default.asp?sh...on=2&menuID=-1

Erm... getting to the point, what do you guys think? Which is better/more reliable/ value for money etc. and are there any specific easy-to-install (and maintain) water cooling kits that you would recommend?

Thanks in advance,
-Z13

[herulach]

It depends what you want as far as water cooling goes, stupidly high performance or low noise? Sexy looks or a bit ugly? Theyre all pretty much as easy to install as each other, although stuff with compression fittings will be easier to fit.

The vapochill micro is just a heatpipe design, theres lots of better coolers on the market. Whats it for P4? A64? you cant really go wrong with an xp90/c

[zed13]

Noisy doesnt matter to me too much (so i suppose stupidly high performance) within limits of sanity... pretty much it would likely be for a AMD 64 X2 (prolly 4400+ as i dont think i can afford the 4800), running fairly hot most of the time... the other consideration is of course price- about 50 quid would be my maximum i think for cpu cooling, though i suppose if it were for very good performance more could be worthwhile (though NOT in the range of external phase change things :shudder: 500 is obscene just for cooling- at least for my usage i suppose)

Is the XP90-c fan or water?

oh, the other question- how much effort is it maintaining a water cooled system? i hear people talking about topping up the reservoir a lot, so what would this entail in time, effort and opening up the case (or not as the case may be)?

-Z13

[herulach]

Xp90c is a thermal right air cooler.

You wont find anything for 50 quid, well you could get a block, but you also need resevoir, pump radiator, fans etc, for a good watercooling system you could do a lot worse than one of the asetek kits (between 100 and 200 depending what you need).

Maintainence shouldnt be too hard topping up resevoir is literally 0 effort, well, opening the lid and pouring some water in, so not 0 but very near.

[outlawzsm]

I read a review at burnoutpc.com and it says it cools insanely well, just as good as the XP-90C and when switching from a game to the desktop the temp drops instantly because of the unique way its cools.

[kempez]

Unless your going to go the whole hog with a very good watercooling setup, I would get good air cooling

The XP-120 or XP90/90c are great coolers. My XP-120 is da bomb

[zachig]

I also agree that unless you're going for extreme overclocking, there's no need for watercooling system. The XP-120 or even the XP-90C air coolers will be just fine (these are considered very good air coolers).

[zed13]

Hmm... thanks for all opinions- incidentally very good review on burnoutpc.com for the vapochill micra 9.5/10

http://www.burnoutpc.com/modules/wfs...?articleid=213

Still, dont have to decide quite yet, but thanks for ideas

-Z13

[sawyen]

between vapochill and xp-90c? i'd deffo going with xp-90c.. its proven performance by god know how many reviews.. not to mention the praises given by true to life users like us....

[kempez]

between vapochill and xp-90c? i'd deffo going with xp-90c.. its proven performance by god know how many reviews.. not to mention the praises given by true to life users like us....

Yes indeed. Fact: Thermalright make great Air coolers and are amongst the best performers on the market

[SilentDeath]

Get the xp-90c. Its probably good enough for what you want, and even if you do go with watercooling later on, you *need* a backup cooler for times of maintenance.

For example last week my brothers cpu block developed a small crack in the plastic top, so Im currently making him a new top out of brass. If he didnt have the stock cooler he wouldnt be able to use his pc for two weeks.


For a proper w/c sytem expect to pay ~ £130 for the important bits, + £30 for exack block.

[xrob]

XP120 with delta FF



you know you love it

[pion]

<- xp90 with panfalo 92mm fan!

stock sink idle : 46oC
xp90 idle: 35-38oc

[kempez]

<- xp90 with panfalo 92mm fan!

stock sink idle : 46oC
xp90 idle: 35-38oc

XP-120 with panaflo 120mm fan!

OC'd to 2.8GHz:

Idle: 33°C

Load: 44(max)°C

[unrealuniverse]

XP90c get one they are pritty good

[sawyen]

My Gbyte 3D Ultra GT Cooler (idle 34C load 48C) at 2.7Ghz...