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I thinking about getting a water cooling system for my system's CPU. It runs fine with the OEM CPU fan but I was wondering if a water cooling system would be worth.

Any advice would be appreciated.

paladin wrote:I thinking about getting a water cooling system for my system's CPU. It runs fine with the OEM CPU fan but I was wondering if a water cooling system would be worth.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Four things
1. What CPU are you trying to cool?
2. Are you trying to overclock it?
3. Is the room hotter than normal or are you experiencing heat related glitches already?
4. What is your current motherboard/case setup.

I ask these questions because while even an H60 from corsair is nice and quiet and keeps 99% of CPU's cool, any decent 30$ heatsink/fan combo costs half as much and does almost as well. At least until you mix overclocking in.

Mr Bean wrote:

paladin wrote:I thinking about getting a water cooling system for my system's CPU. It runs fine with the OEM CPU fan but I was wondering if a water cooling system would be worth.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Four things
1. What CPU are you trying to cool?
2. Are you trying to overclock it?
3. Is the room hotter than normal or are you experiencing heat related glitches already?
4. What is your current motherboard/case setup.

I ask these questions because while even an H60 from corsair is nice and quiet and keeps 99% of CPU's cool, any decent 30$ heatsink/fan combo costs half as much and does almost as well. At least until you mix overclocking in.

1. My system's CPU is an AMD FX-8150.
2. I'm not overclocking my system.
3. The room has been warmer with the coming of summer. No heat related glitches but I did notice that my system runs hot (149F) when I run a full scan with MicroSoft Security Essentials.
4. My system's motherboard is the ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z. I don't think the problem is airflow in the case since the case has 5 fans.

When I run just the chrome browser, the CPU is running at 104F and the GPU is running at 84F. I would prefer the CPU to be cooler to avoid any heat problems.

149F = 65C. I have read conflicting info online about the max temps on an AMD CPU. The values range anywhere from 50c to 70c. I have a Phenom II Quad Core and it runs in a warm room at full load around 65c and I have never had any heat glitches that I'm aware of. I do try to keep it cooler than that of course, but if it were me I wouldn't be concerned at 65c as long as that is the peak.

Out of curiosity, have you considered also getting a more ventilated case? You can get fairy quiet case fans and increased air stream helps with cooling.

Zixinus wrote:Out of curiosity, have you considered also getting a more ventilated case? You can get fairy quiet case fans and increased air stream helps with cooling.

My system's case is a Corsair Carbide 300R. I had purchased because it had better ventilation than the old case.

65C is not really a problem. Server CPUs run at that temperature continuously. Yes technically you are reducing the life of your CPU but 15 yrs vs 20 yrs is unlikely to matter. Even if it does bother you, a better air cooler is much cheaper than water cooling.

Unless you are a heavy overclocker, the primary reason to water cool is to reduce fan noise. This is a big deal for me but apparently not for most people.

Starglider wrote:65C is not really a problem. Server CPUs run at that temperature continuously. Yes technically you are reducing the life of your CPU but 15 yrs vs 20 yrs is unlikely to matter. Even if it does bother you, a better air cooler is much cheaper than water cooling.

Unless you are a heavy overclocker, the primary reason to water cool is to reduce fan noise. This is a big deal for me but apparently not for most people.

Any recommendations for an CPU air cooler since I'm currently using the OEM cooler that came with the CPU?

paladin wrote:

Starglider wrote:65C is not really a problem. Server CPUs run at that temperature continuously. Yes technically you are reducing the life of your CPU but 15 yrs vs 20 yrs is unlikely to matter. Even if it does bother you, a better air cooler is much cheaper than water cooling.

Unless you are a heavy overclocker, the primary reason to water cool is to reduce fan noise. This is a big deal for me but apparently not for most people.

Any recommendations for an CPU air cooler since I'm currently using the OEM cooler that came with the CPU?

I've never really used anything but the stock cooler and it's worked fine for me. My case has a bit more airflow than yours and a lot more room inside. I've found from experience that a case with more free space inside can make a bigger impact than buying a 1 pound hunk of copper that needs to be bolted to the case for fear of ripping a chunk out of the MB.

Here's what I have:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129021

Antec 900.

If you do get another cooler, I'd keep it simple. You'll see a lot of shit out there advertising heat pipes and things like that, or monster coolers with multiple fans. Just get a simple cooler with a larger heatsink / cooling fan than the one you have and you'll notice a difference right there. Get a good quality thermal grease such as Arctic Silver and make sure to apply it properly too.

Starglider wrote:Unless you are a heavy overclocker, the primary reason to water cool is to reduce fan noise. This is a big deal for me but apparently not for most people.

With modern CPUs, an added benefit of water cooling is that it allows the CPU to spend more time at its max-rated turbo speed before having to go back down to stock speeds. I don't think AMD's chips are quite as aggressive with their turbo speeds than their Intel counterparts, but the FX-series runs quite hot, so it'd probably help out a little in that regard.

Cooler Master's Hyper 212 series is a good value and fairly quiet. Noctua probably makes the best air coolers but at a premium (and rather large and heavy).