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water cooling systems

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water cooling systems
I friend of mine thinks I should water cool my system. I'm looking for a kit for a dual AMD Athlon MP system on budget of about $150. What you experiences with water cooling? Which are the best in my budget?

Philip
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Limecat is not pleased.
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Re: [fuzzy thoughts] water cooling systems In reply to
That is just something computer geeks do. Buy another cooling fan or two if your computer is getting to hot, and make sure there is plenty of space at the back for ventilation.
Cheers,
Michael Bray
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Re: [fuzzy thoughts] water cooling systems In reply to
Didn't your computer come with a decent cooling system?
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Re: [Paul] water cooling systems In reply to
The issue isn't entirely isn't how cool the case is, but moreso how loud it is. I use Thermaltake Volcano 9 hs/f's and they work great, but with warmer temperatures lately and my A/C not working, the temps are getting pretty high unless I turn the fans up full blast, causing a jet engine effect Crazy.

From what I've been reading, water cooling systems are generally pretty quiet and can lower temperatures by as much as 30*C.

Paul, as I stated above, the case itself is not at fault. It's the external abient temperature. What good is a traditional air circulated pc case if the room it's in is 85*F?

Philip
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Limecat is not pleased.
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Re: [fuzzy thoughts] water cooling systems In reply to
I've got watercooling for my system, but what annoys me is that it actually ends up being louder than some other systems in the office that we've set up with ultra-quiet 80mm fans, because of the quiet - but not ultra-quiet - fan.

I've had some very good luck with Panaflo FBA08A12L fans (make sure the last letter is "L", not "M" or "H"). They do a good enough cooling job, and are probably quieter than other things in the system (i.e. your hard drive). If you're overclocking, I'd recommend water cooling, but if what you're after is a good quiet system, these Panaflo's are the way to go.

In Reply To:
It's the external abient temperature. What good is a traditional air circulated pc case if the room it's in is 85*F?

The amount that watercooling helps is just as dependant on the ambient temperature. If the watercooling makes the CPU run 10C* over ambient, and the air cooling makes the CPU run 30C* over ambient, it doesn't matter whether your in a desert or a deepfreeze - the CPU will still run that much over the ambient temperature. Besides - most CPU's can run hot - AMD's are certified up to 85*C, and Intel's CPUs starts throttling the CPU speed at about 70*C.

But, again, watercooling if you want to overclock and still run cool (witness my AMD 2100+ (1.73MHz) running at around 2.35MHz), or Panaflo's if you want to overclock a little bit (or not at all) and still have a very quiet PC.

Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com
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Re: [Jagerman] water cooling systems In reply to
I was thinking of overclocking my athlon until I read this Wink

Quote:
Don't do it if you feel insecure in any way! Don't do it altogether as long as you haven't got a damn good reason to increase the performance of your Athlon. In most cases Athlon performs better than anything else anyway. Don't do it just for fun and don't think that it increases your pecker-size in any way. Even the crazy die-hard overclockers should have learned that by now. You ARE risking the life of your CPU! Don't ever forget that!

I'm gutted it won't increase my pecker size Frown
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Re: [fuzzy thoughts] water cooling systems In reply to
This thread got me thinking. My pc fan is fairly noisy and I'll like silence when I'm working Wink

So I opened up my case and decided to stick my finger in the fan over the processor to stop it whirling. It made quite a difference, but I also noticed that there is a fan covering a metal box where all the power cables feed into.

What should I do regarding getting it quieter?...which fan needs changing?
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Re: [Paul] water cooling systems In reply to
Stick your finger in the metal box! But seriously, the cpu fan and the power supply fan are the two key noise generating suspects.

You can purchase quiet power supplies and quiet cpu fans, that are well worth the investment for a little peace and quiet. Try switching the CPU fan first and if the remaining noise still bothers you, consider a new power supply.

However, after reading of your expedition into your computer - I'd suggest finding somebody else to do the work for you Cool
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Re: [ArmyAirForces] water cooling systems In reply to
Is it a case of "one size fits all"?

Any quiet fan recommendations or is water cooling the best for noise reduction?
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Re: [Paul] water cooling systems In reply to
Buy longer cables and put the box in the room next door.

- wil
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Re: [Paul] water cooling systems In reply to
Depends on what route you go. If you just the replace the fan, it will have to fit the heat sink. Usually you buy the fan & heat sink together.

There are some new heat sink/fan combos that will fit either AMD or Intel cpus. Check with whatever outfit you buy parts from and they'll have a selection divided between the two manufacturers, and then by cpu generation.

If you've never installed or replaced a cpu heat sink, I would advise taking caution and not using too much pressure. Some of the retaining clips can be very unforgiving and you do not want to crack the cpu or damage the surrounding motherboard (I've seen damage to both inflicted by even experienced hands).

As for power supplies, stick with what's recommended for your chip & motherboard. You could of course just replace the fan inside the power supply, but I do not recommend it unless you know what a capacitor looks like and have safely worked with other electrical components.
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Re: [ArmyAirForces] water cooling systems In reply to
Why can't life be simpler Unsure

Last edited by:

Paul: May 19, 2003, 10:01 AM
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Re: [ArmyAirForces] water cooling systems In reply to
In Reply To:
Depends on what route you go. If you just the replace the fan, it will have to fit the heat sink. Usually you buy the fan & heat sink together.

Well, at least it's easiest if it fits Wink

My office-quieting obsession led to 80mm fans tie-wrapped to 60mm heatsinks ;)

We've bought a retail XP 2400+ the other day, it comes with quite a nice fan (not too noisy). Not as quiet as my Panaflo's though Frown

Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com