E6300 rig- watercooling or air?

[mosherben]

As the title says, I'm going to be building a conroe rig which I plan to overclock to at least 3GHz. I've been looking at prices now for cooling and I'm begining to wonder if watercooling really worth the £150 for a decent solution or should I just get a zalman fan for my CPU (£32 from scan) and VGA cooler (£18)?

I'd like to hear from anyone on this, whether they have have managed to OC a E6300 to 3GHz using watercooling or aircooling. Also, what's the noise levels like for anyone who has used air cooling?

Cheers,

[Clunk]

It really depends on the individual cpu, some need a load of voltage to do high overclocks, some will get there on stock voltage...YMMV

[danroyle]

i have mie watercooled although it didn't cost me £150 but then i bought it a long while back for my overheating s754 3400+

personally i prefer it due to low noise and it keeps my temps low and extremely stable only got my 6400 at 325 fsb but it stays at 30 idle and 35 load never higher

always found the good fans are too noisy

[mosherben]

i have mie watercooled although it didn't cost me £150 but then i bought it a long while back for my overheating s754 3400+

personally i prefer it due to low noise and it keeps my temps low and extremely stable only got my 6400 at 325 fsb but it stays at 30 idle and 35 load never higher

always found the good fans are too noisy

Note that I said decent solution There are some £55 kits on scan but looked at their reviews not very hopeful; apparently one of the kits problems is that the pump can create quite abit of noise.

Any other feedback?

[acrobat]

There are A LOT of people who have managed >3Ghz with air cooling. I don't know much about it unfortunately. I just know if you spend enough on air cooling, it can work extremely well. You can also (as well as the VGA cooler you mentioned) get a chipset cooler. And also, having a very good air flow in your case can have a huge impact. More than I ever realised.

Anyway, this is one link that I know of, which shows some of the overclocking achievements of the forum members.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....1075792&page=1

The E6300 is lower down, and shows tons of >3ghz with air cooling. It even shows you other information which will hopefully help you.

Good luck.

[danroyle]

Note that I said decent solution There are some £55 kits on scan but looked at their reviews not very hopeful; apparently one of the kits problems is that the pump can create quite abit of noise.

Any other feedback?

dorry wasn't very clear got to somewhere like specialtech nad just buy the bits you need for a custom built kits would cost you maybe £80-100 for something that will be as good as a £200 one

[piranha]

There is only one way to do watercooling and that is properly using good parts and spending a bit of money. Only kit so to speak worth getting is the Swiftech 120.2.

If you can't afford that at moment then get a decent air cooler and save until you can buy a good wc setup - don't spend small change on a budget 'all in one' wc box as it's not worth it and you will regret it.

[snedger]

is this just hobby o'clocking, just doing it 'cos you can, or are there any apps that can really benefit enough from taking an E6300 to 3GHz by spending a lot on cooling, rather than spending the same amount of dosh on a higher spec'ed CPU?

[Hans Voralberg]

is this just hobby o'clocking, just doing it 'cos you can, or are there any apps that can really benefit enough from taking an E6300 to 3GHz by spending a lot on cooling, rather than spending the same amount of dosh on a higher spec'ed CPU?

Yeah very much a "do-it-cause-u-can" thing, but games generally benefit

[shaithis]

Well, I see WC as the solution to noise.

Still haven't plucked up the courage to order my stuff yet though, keep being put of by the hassle of changing PC components once you have WC installed.

[acrobat]

Noise shouldn't really be a problem if you dont want it to be. Modern PC's can be very quiet or even silent if you get the right stuff. Im sure Water Cooling does the job, but you don't have to do that.

There are plenty of good modern cases which have 120mm fans which are much quieter than the usual 80mm fans - especially if you lower the speed of the fans. They still push plenty of air so keep the case cool, but they are just quieter. There are plenty of cases which have 2 or more of those fans so they are really quiet cases. Then you can just get a quiet PSU, and quiet CPU cooler. As for the GPU, unless you overclock that, the stock fan should be fine. And if you do overclock it, it might cope anyway. If not, you can buy a fan cooler for the GPU which isn't especially loud.

[danroyle]

There is only one way to do watercooling and that is properly using good parts and spending a bit of money. Only kit so to speak worth getting is the Swiftech 120.2.

If you can't afford that at moment then get a decent air cooler and save until you can buy a good wc setup - don't spend small change on a budget 'all in one' wc box as it's not worth it and you will regret it.

why is the swiftech the only kit worht getting i spent £100 on mine 3 years and it has kept all my cpu's and graphics cards cool i cool it via a passive cooled reservoir and 1 120mm radiator and my cpu runs at 30c idle 36c load and my graphics card runs 40 idle 45 load and have had no problems

although i do get what you are saying i bought the thermaltake rocket kit and then spent £30 on larger valves to go to 10mm tubing instead of 6 and got a 400 lph pump instead of the cheap one with it and got my radiator and pipes too so cost me £100 and about £3 a year for coolant