Computer cooling thread

[cheekbreek]

Hey all,

Seeing as it's summer, and my computer is idling at ~60 C, I think it's time to make better my cooling system.
I currently have one 80mm & one 120mm case fan and they don't seem to be able to keep pace with my room (which is warm all the time, even with my computer off).
I'm currently looking at getting a liquid cooled CPU heatsink. Perhaps the Corsair H60 (http://www.ncix.com/detail/corsair-cooling-hydro-series-h60-21-77377.htm).

Does anyone here have experience with liquid heatsinks?
Or better cooling options of any nature?

Thanks guys

[Bigpock]

clean all the dirt out of ur case, make sure ur intake outake is straight, reapply thermal paste, get a better cpu heatsink, buy a fan that only blows at ur pc, melt ice in ur pc, buy a miniature yeti monster to nest in ur pc case, drop a nuke inside ur pc case and create nuclear winter inside ur case atmosphere.

lots of options there

[scramm]

I personally prefer DIY liquid cooling.  It's more expensive up front, but changes with computer upgrades are cheaper.  I've got a 4 fan radiator with a basic pump, and I just toss in new water blocks when I upgrade gpus and cpus.

[Leslieann]

Seeing as it's summer, and my computer is idling at ~60 C, I think it's time to make better my cooling system.
I currently have one 80mm & one 120mm case fan and they don't seem to be able to keep pace with my room (which is warm all the time, even with my computer off).
I'm currently looking at getting a liquid cooled CPU heatsink. Perhaps the Corsair H60 (http://www.ncix.com/detail/corsair-cooling-hydro-series-h60-21-77377.htm).

Does anyone here have experience with liquid heatsinks?
Or better cooling options of any nature?

I have an older model, it lasted about 2 years then seized up.

I like watercooling, but unless you're overclocking, watercooling is not worth the money, and requires as much or more effort to maintain.
While all in ones have less risk and maintenance, there is still more parts to fail compared to air cooling and if something does fail it can get expensive really quick. Mine was also noisy as it was a bit under filled.

Invest in a decent air cooler.

I personally prefer DIY liquid cooling.  It's more expensive up front, but changes with computer upgrades are cheaper.  I've got a 4 fan radiator with a basic pump, and I just toss in new water blocks when I upgrade gpus and cpus.

In a monster system  putting out tons of heat it makes sense, but for most people, it's not worth it. They rarely maintain it enough and it has too many risks for the benefit. Not to mention the costs, for what you spend on a water block, they could buy a decent air cooler that more than suffices without the risk of blowing up the system if it leaks.

[SBJ]

Hey all,

Seeing as it's summer, and my computer is idling at ~60 C, I think it's time to make better my cooling system.
I currently have one 80mm & one 120mm case fan and they don't seem to be able to keep pace with my room (which is warm all the time, even with my computer off).
I'm currently looking at getting a liquid cooled CPU heatsink. Perhaps the Corsair H60 (http://www.ncix.com/detail/corsair-cooling-hydro-series-h60-21-77377.htm).

Does anyone here have experience with liquid heatsinks?
Or better cooling options of any nature?

Thanks guys

Currently using a H100i myself and it's working just fine. Cools really well.
Also in regards to fans, make sure you have the right ones installed(airflow is something to seriously consider) It can help a lot.

[Olumin]

Oh god, you guys think about that kind stuff? You actually put effort into that? I couldn't. I am unable to take care of such things (literally unable). As long as it works, I don't ask any questions, and than I panic when it suddenly won't anymore. I realise the irony in that. I don't care. This will never change in this lifetime. I'm also autistic.

[Hak Foo]

The thing is that a lost of 120mm closed-loop water kits are not significantly better than good 120mm or 140mm based heatsinks, but  often noisier especially at low load, and with more risk of hazardous failure.  It might make a difference on some super-high-wattage CPUs (125w+ AM3 parts, LGA2011) but for people with a modest non-overclocked mainstream CPU, liquid cooling is a long way to go for the benefits.

I use a Thermalright Macho personally; worked well on both a FX-8350 and a 4790k

[tp4tissue]

You're gonna get higher idle temperature with Water cooling..  vs air cooling..


I'd recommend a large 140mm heatsink,  stay away from AIO unless you're space constrained.

They don't cool much better than large 140mm coolers..


Also,  Delid,  if you haven't done it.. you need to do it.. 20C drop in temperature..

[Findecanor]

First of all, clean the air path (fans, heatsink, etc) from dust. Then test if that helps the problem.

A water-cooling loop needs water to function, but water evaporates.
A typical DIY loop has a reservoir that can be topped up with more water when needed but an all-in-one liquid cooler has a more limited life-time because it is sealed. A heatsink will last practically forever, with the only moving part being the fan attached to it -- which can be replaced when it is worn out.

I suspect that the intake fan is the 120mm fan, the exhaust fan is the 80mm fan and that you are using a stock CPU cooler.
With your only fans that small,  I suspect that your case is quite small. What is your CPU and GPU?
What does it look like inside? Are there any more mounts for case fans?
The distance from the CPU to the case wall limits the size of what CPU cooler that you can install.

A AIO liquid cooler is sometimes still the best choice for size-constrained systems - but the cooling unit is thick (fan + radiator) and the radiator will also have bumps on two opposite sides, the biggest being where the tubes are attached.
It does not matter much whether a radiator is located at an ntake or an exhaust.

[Melvang]

One thing that a lot of people overlook is case design.  In the world of PC cooling, if you just want to lower temps with a non over clocked machine, case design makes as much if not more of a difference than water cooling vs air cooling.  Take a serious look at a case from Silverstone.  Specifically the ones with the 90° rotated motherboard tray. 

I have the FT-02 from them.  For case fans, it has 3 180mm fans across the bottom.  All your card hang down from the top so cards don't block air flow and exhaust fans are not needed as the entire top of the case is very open mesh.  The fans are very quiet even on high.  Silverstone had a video that showed this setup, they call stack effect cooling, with the fans removed and a running system.  They then I produced smoke into the system and it had zero issue escaping .

Outside of that, if your room is already usually warm, look into a window A/C unit.  My wife and I had one in our office of our last house as that room didn't have any HVAC ducts.

[scramm]

I personally prefer DIY liquid cooling.  It's more expensive up front, but changes with computer upgrades are cheaper.  I've got a 4 fan radiator with a basic pump, and I just toss in new water blocks when I upgrade gpus and cpus.

In a monster system  putting out tons of heat it makes sense, but for most people, it's not worth it. They rarely maintain it enough and it has too many risks for the benefit. Not to mention the costs, for what you spend on a water block, they could buy a decent air cooler that more than suffices without the risk of blowing up the system if it leaks.

I totally agree.  I was just saying that in the scope of water cooling, I would never get an all in one sealed system that can't be maintained or expanded.

[Bigpock]

Why are you kids telling someone who doesn't clean the dust out of his computer case to build a multi multi multi hundred dollar open loop cooling system.

[MajorKoos]

If you're not one for keeping the innards of your PC clean then I'd highly recommend a positive pressure configuration for all your case fans.  Get a fan grille for each fan to catch the dust and set them all to point inwards.  Ambient temps will be a bit higher than a negative pressure setup, but you'll end up with a lot less dust in the case as all the air going in is filtered.

The corsair CPU coolers work great - I recommend the twin 140mm fan model - I'm running a double loop - one for my CPU and the other for my display card.  I used this to attach the second cooler to the display : https://www.nzxt.com/products/kraken-g10-white
I also got a bunch of small heatsinks off newegg to stick to the RAM and VRM chips to help cool them.

In both cases adding the liquid cooling had a massive effect on my PC's thermals.  It halved the temps on my GTX780.

Here's what the H110 looks like in a single loop.  It's been running fine for 2 years so far without maintenance.

[WhiteHelix]

Do you have a picture of your PC at the moment? Closed liquid cooling systems do not really perform much better than a good air cooling heatsink. Can you swap that 80mm for a bigger fan? If not, I would consider getting a newer case.

Gesendet von meinem D6603 mit Tapatalk

[cheekbreek]

Invest in a decent air cooler.

Any suggestions?

First of all, clean the air path (fans, heatsink, etc) from dust. Then test if that helps the problem.

I keep my computer clean.

I suspect that the intake fan is the 120mm fan, the exhaust fan is the 80mm fan and that you are using a stock CPU cooler.
With your only fans that small,  I suspect that your case is quite small. What is your CPU and GPU?
What does it look like inside? Are there any more mounts for case fans?

Correct in regards to which fan is doing what and that I've got an awfully small case.
I have a HD 7870 and an AMD FX-4300. (Looking to upgrade these as well.)
It looks okay inside, not particularly cramped. There is space for one more 120mm fan, which I'm going to purchase later tonight.

Yeah, as Melvang has said, case design and layout is something I've overlooked. I've only really started caring about performance the past few weeks and this heat is killing me.
I suppose a bigger case would do the trick.

[Leslieann]

I totally agree.  I was just saying that in the scope of water cooling, I would never get an all in one sealed system that can't be maintained or expanded.

Actually they can be modded to be serviced and expanded, you just need to cut the tubes off and add new ones and build from there. I added a fill tube and doubled the rad size.

Was it as good?
Actually it worked quite well, especially considering how much people with custom setups bash small tubes. I liked it, compared to my previous systems which were large custom setups, it worked almost as well for a lot less and was much more compact and easier to live with... Right up until the time the pump seized. Since it's integrated though, it's not like you can just replace the pump, but overall, I preferred it to every other cooling system I've had. One of these days I'll open it up and see what happened.

Any suggestions?

Just go read some reviews. Look for a big fan.

[scramm]

I totally agree.  I was just saying that in the scope of water cooling, I would never get an all in one sealed system that can't be maintained or expanded.

Actually they can be modded to be serviced and expanded, you just need to cut the tubes off and add new ones and build from there. I added a fill tube and doubled the rad size.

Was it as good?
Actually it worked quite well, especially considering how much people with custom setups bash small tubes. I liked it, compared to my previous systems which were large custom setups, it worked almost as well for a lot less and was much more compact and easier to live with... Right up until the time the pump seized. Since it's integrated though, it's not like you can just replace the pump, but overall, I preferred it to every other cooling system I've had. One of these days I'll open it up and see what happened.

Learn something new every day

[Leslieann]

Learn something new every day

It's just rubber tubes and clips you can't remove, the hose barbs underneath are normal hose barbs.

[NewbieOneKenobi]

With some looking for, you can buy pretty strong pretty silent fans pretty cheap, e.g. AAB if you don't want to spend like $20 per fan on Noctua or something. AAB also have adapters to install 14 cm fans into 12 cm mounting locations. Also, you may have more fan mounting locations than those. Finally, as long as there are air holes you can place a fan there, somehow, even if you need to use wood sticks, cords, scotch tape, whatever, there's always a way. A used case with more/larger fan mounts could also be found, somewhere, for a comfortably low price.

If you reapply paste, you can use something like Arctic Silver 5, Arctic MX4, Arctic Ceramique or Gelid Extreme, without spending a fortune. I'm a fan of Arctic M4, which I like better than Gelid and get better results with, unlike some of the tests I've seen. Application method and amount varies from paste to paste. Some pastes respond the best if you apply a lot of them, while e.g. Arctic MX4 wants as small an amount as you can possibly squeeze out for the best outcome (my current application was less than a grain of rice in size).

In worst scenarios you can use a desk or floor fan, though those are noisy.

[katushkin]

This is what my setup used to look like



I had a fan on the window sill blowing cold air into my case (which was behind the 50") because it got so hot.

It was funny.

This shows you where my rig was.