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Air Cooling Options for OC

5

555Zigen

Junior Member
Hi,
I have lined down pretty much all the components needed for my new tower but one thing I remain uncertain with is the cooling.

I plan on purchasing the following:
AMD X2 4200 2.2 that will be clocked to 2.40-2.50
DFI Lan Party Ultra NF4
eVGA 7800GT that will be fairly OC'd as well
OCZ 4000 VX Gold 2X1G kit

The Case i've chosen is an Antec TX1050B which comes with a decent 500W psu and has a pretty low sticker price for such a PSU.
From the Antec website i could find the following regarding Fan options:

Advanced cooling system that includes:
- 1 rear 120mm Tricool fan with 3-speed switch
- 2 front (optional) 80mm fans
- Chassis Air Guide with optional 92 mm intake fan to provide maximum CPU cooling
- Side Panel vent with optional 80mm fan to provide maximum cooling to the VGA card

Now, i don't plan on buying four more fans as i believe the noise level of 5 fans, plus the CPU/MB/GPU fans will be too much. Considering the OCZ ram will also be producing some heat at the FSB speeds I intend to run, what 2 two combination of the above mentioned fan options would be most efficient?

I was thinking going for 1X 80mm front and the 92mm Chassis Air Guide fan for CPU cooling.

What would you guys do? 2xfront? or no front and 1x92mm for cpu and 1x 80mm for GPU?

I intend to keep the Stock Heatsink that comes with the retail box of the X2 4200+, should this be upgraded first instead of the case fans?

Thank you very much for your inputs!
 
1) Don't buy the X2 4200 - they clock to the same max as the 3800, have the same amount of cache, but cost more. Buy a X2 3800 instead, and spend the difference on cooling.
2) Buy a Thermalright XP-90 with a 90mm Panaflo fan (L1A if you want absolute silence, or BX for a good compromise between noise and performance). The heatsink is $27 at heatsinkfactory.com
3) Buy a replacement chipset HSF - the ones on DFI boards are screamers. I recommend the MCX159Cu from Swiftech. It's damn near silent altogether.
4) Buy 2 80mm L1A Panaflos for the front (they should not be audible at all from >30cm away.

The side panel fan is optional, and another 80mm Panaflo L1A would help if you put it there, but I don't like side fans (or holes for them) out of principle, since they do a great job of radiating the case noise.
 
Thank you so much for your input, exactly the type of answer I was hoping for!

1) I will buy an X2 3800+ and spend what I save on Cooling!

2) For some reason, where I live (Montreal, Canada), the Big Typhoon is only 6$ more than the XP-90 and comes with a fan, so it's actually cheaper than a XP-90. I'm a bit unsure about the bulk and size of the Typhoon and my rig, but from what i've seen from the big typhoon reviews no one mentionned anything about room problems when using a DFI lanparty and a Big typhoon. Any input on this?

3) Looked up about the MCX159Cu and it seems like great stuff, hmm, i didn't do any research about how close this physically is to the CPU, assuming I stick in a big typhoon, i'd still be able to install a MCX159Cu?

4) Got my eyes on 2 panaflo's for the front. Will install those 2 and monitor the temperature before doing anything else.

Great information Meuge, can't thank you enough!

 
You're very welcome.

That being said, I would like to suggest that you reconsider your choice of case. If you're concerned about sound levels, the 1000-series Antec cases are not the best, especially with fan holes in the side panel. Perhaps one of the Sonata-type cases would fit the bill better.

P.S. Since you're not looking for a HUGE O/C, I'd suggest you go with an EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra instead of the DFI - it's cheaper and will do your overclock without a problem, and is easier to set up. Also, the stock chipset heatsink is very quiet. This will allow you not to pay the $30 for the Swiftech chipset cooler, and you can buy the Zalman VF700Cu for your video card (it will let you get a higher OC and dramatically decrease noise levels).
 
What Meuge said, good advice.

You should also block up all the extra fan holes that you're not using. Use good quality painter's tape or something like that...duct tape will stay better, but if for any reason you want to put a fan in those locations the duct tape will leave a nasty residue.

-z
 
Some recommendations...

1) I'd consider something other than OCZ Gold. IIRC, the Gold is BH-5 which probably needs 3.1V or 3.2V if you overclock it (this means lots of heat). Consider TCCD-based RAM instead. Still a decent overclocker but doesn't need more than 2.75-2.8V. It'll run a lot cooler.

2) I agree with the above recommendation. Forego the 4200+ and get a 3800+ and overclock it. You'll get the same overall speed but you'll save money.

3) Beware on your chipset cooler. The NF4 chipset on that DFI board is in an odd position. If your HSF is too tall, it'll conflict with the video card in either slot. There is maybe 1mm clearance between the stock chipset HSF and the bottom of my eVGA 6800gs. There aren't many chipset coolers that are short enough to fit. There is a cooler made by Evercool that people seem to recommend though it's hard to find. Also, there's one made by Spire but the mounting holes don't quite line up. Alternatively, some people have modded their Zalman passive cooler ($6) by either bending or cutting the fins. Check the forums at dfi-street.com before you buy your chipset cooler.

 
Thank you all for your great inputs.

As it turns out, the main reason I was buying the DFI Lanparty Ultra Board was to run the OCZ VX, which runs happy at around 3.3v, which is very high and generates lots of heat, but something the DFI board could handle hands down.

With recent development about chipset cooling and HSF, plus the fact they maybe i should really go for TCCD memory instead, it opens the door for what meuge suggested: A different motherboard.

With your help i've now decided to go for the Zalman VF-700Cu for the 7800gt, XP-90 HSF w/panaflo fan, 2 more for the front, still get the TX1050b and tape the side holes (neat advice!), get the X2 3800+. This leaves me with a wider range of choice for the Motherboard/ram.

The thing is, like i said i live and Canada and newegg and the likes don't ship here. My friend owns a large franchise of Computer stores and will sell me all the parts at cost price. He can only get the following brands of Motherboards: Abit, Asrock, Asus, DFI, ECS, Gigabyte, MSI and Tyan. Sadly no Epox. Out of those i assume the MSI Neo4 would be a good performer, open to suggestions as well. For the ram he carries OCZ and Crucial so many options are still available, but i want a 2X1gb kit that can run 250mhz FSB if needed.

I think i'm getting closer and closer to making a final decision, thanks to you guys!
 
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