Cooling on a budget!

[Scientist]

Specs are listed below, but basically my system has poor cooling and Id like to upgrade on a budget. max would be about £70. Currently I have an Akasa carnival on my 3200 and one intake case fan.

Noise isnt a problem just effective cooling really.

[steve threlfall]

How about a thermalright slk900u heatsink and a 92mm papst fan to sit on top. That would be very cool and also very quiet that lot wouldnt cost more than £50 either

[malfunction]

I'm presuming you want to change your case too - as £70 is a lot for just a heatsink and fan... If you're happy with your PSU I'd recommend an Antec case without a new PSU (or one with a new PSU if you'd prefer!)...

How about this:

http://www.pixmania.com/uk/uk/39121/...00_amg_eu.html

And this:

http://www.pixmania.com/uk/uk/38068/..._alcu_ver.html


£75 with delivery

Or this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55639

And this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55548

(IMO that coooler isn't as good and is a lot louder)

For just £48.91 with super saver (AKA super slow) delivery.

[Scientist]

Well I have been thinking about water cooling but it seems so expensive that I may have to settle for a more efficient air system for now. My CPU temp under load is 54oC which is worrying me slightly.

Obviously some kind of exhaust fan would be a plus, but while noise is not really a problem it sounds like a bloody harrier jump jet allready.

[malfunction]

Well I have been thinking about water cooling but it seems so expensive that I may have to settle for a more efficient air system for now. My CPU temp under load is 54oC which is worrying me slightly.

Obviously some kind of exhaust fan would be a plus, but while noise is not really a problem it sounds like a bloody harrier jump jet allready.

Well... The Zalman 7000 is very quiet IMO even with the fan on full speed. There are a few quieter cases out there - ideally you want something with 120mm fans for both the intake and exhaust - something like this:

http://www.pixmania.com/uk/uk/39127/...0_w_mid_t.html

(It only comes with 1 x 120mm - the exhaust fan - but also has space for a 120mm intake).

Or this:

http://www.pixmania.com/uk/uk/38989/..._mid_towe.html

Very similar to the 1st one but a lot flashier

[RVF500]

I'm having some heat issues with a P4 3.0 GHz Prescott. I've been recommended the Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu £33.18 inc.VAT from Overclock http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/...=17248&cat=298 For a few pounds more they do a totally copper heatsink. Both have very good write ups. One here on Hexus.net.

Not expensive and also not loud either. Only a couple of degrees hotter than a more expensive water cooled system. Plus I don't like the idea of water in my case.

Also been recommended to use Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste as the thermal pad/medium.

My spec is:
Intel P4 3.0GHz Prescott
Abit IC7-G
512 MBit Corsair XMS3200 Pro DDR
ATI Radeon 9800XT 256 DDR
Western Digital IDE 133 120 GBit

Don't want water dripping in to that thanks.

[malfunction]

I'm having some heat issues with a P4 3.0 GHz Prescott. I've been recommended the Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu £33.18 inc.VAT from Overclock

Or £22.32 including VAT and delivery @ extremecooling:

http://www.extremecooling.co.uk/s/pr...product=601956

Or £14 including VAT (but excluding delivery - which is £9) @ pixmania:

http://www.pixmania.com/uk/uk/38068/..._alcu_ver.html

Well worth it at pixmania if you're also ordering something else (like one of those antec cases) as delivery stays at £9...

Seems to me that OcUK and a lot of other sites out there are making a nice profit on those Zalmans...

[steve threlfall]

I take it its the hsf on the prcoessor causing most of the noise?

Thats what you really need to replace first-

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=601860

you need a fan to fit to it- a panaflow or papst fan will keep your processor cool and will do it quietly.

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=602076 panaflow
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=602142 papst

What case are you using? may be that an upgrade will help cooling while reducing noise. If an upgrade is on the cards then the chieftec at ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55639 that malfunction reccomends is a great buy.

You could put an 80mm papst/panaflow exhaust fan in there and any more you fell neccessary to kepp things cool and quiet

[RVF500]

Thinks I'll take me a trip over to pixmania and have a wee look at what they have on offer. Glad I haven't bought it yet. Might be able to afford some more RAM at this rate

[malfunction]

Thinks I'll take me a trip over to pixmania and have a wee look at what they have on offer. Glad I haven't bought it yet. Might be able to afford some more RAM at this rate

Most of pixmania's prices aren't quite as good as that IMO but they are good generally... Always worth doing a comparison shop - I tend to check ebuyer, komplett and a few others when I order. Ebuyer have good prices on most things but can be beaten (komplett usually have much better prices on GFX cards and branded RAM). Don't be tempted to go with generic RAM - you'll probably regret it!

The AlCu version of the 7000 is said to cool better than the all copper version in some reviews - can't verify this myself as I only have the AlCu version but it is a good HSF - my load temps are in the low 50s (51-52) but then again I am sending 1.9V through my poor 1700+ to get it to run at 2.1GHz... (100-113W of heat to remove according to calculations).

[malfunction]

No idea if this is accurate but this is what I used to calculate my wattage:

http://www.benchtest.com/calc.html

[RVF500]

I've been poring over reviews and found a back to back review at http://www.teamhardware.com/modules....wcontent&id=29 which showed a 3 deg difference between the two at load running @ 2400 rpm. Fully 10 deg down on the stock P4 cooler. As I'm running a Prescott which I'm told (I don't have any personal data to go on) runs much hotter than the Northwood chip I may bite the bullet and go for the copper one. Still flipping mental coins at this point in time.

The decider may be that I can get the AlCu for up to £15 cheaper by shopping around unless I can find a more competetive price on the Cu. I'm running an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256 Mbit gfx card too so heat is going to be something that will be an issue for me. Antec case with 5x80 mm fans including one side fan. So the noise, or rather lack of it, is also a real attraction for this cooler. See, I'm really undecided at this point. Basically I have to weigh off cost against the system I am trying to protect. Speaking of weight, the Cu weighs in at 770 grams. Almost twice that of the AlCu. Decisions, decisions.

Hope this is helping Scientist with his cooling question

[Scientist]

Thanks for the help so far guys, My case is a generic one with a side mounted fan acting as air intake (Im thinking that the lack of exhaust may be the problem in the main, although doesnt explain the high CPU temp alone). I thought that the Akasa carnival would have been sufficient as it is rated to XP 3400+ but obviously it is letting me down in terms of CPU cooling.

What is the lowest cost for a decent watercooling systems for the CPU only? I allready have a Zalman chipset cooler.