Case and CPU Cooling

[Van G]

Do I need to upgrade stock cooler if I'm going to moderately OC and use for video and photo editing (not long run video conversion of feature films, personal footage)?

Getting this for sure:
AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3.0GHz Socket AM3
MSI N240GT-MD1G/D5 GeForce GT 240 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

On one of the following boards:
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD
MSI 890GXM-G65 AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX

Potentially purchase a new case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX


From my reading, if I do need to upgrade, Zalman 9500 or 9900 and AC Freeze are good choices although fairly expensive.

Looking for function (cool and quiet) and don't care about look.

 

[WoodButcher]

From my experience Zalman is nothing but expensive. I think you may be reading Newegg reviews. A tower heat pipe along the lines of a 212 would be the best bet for cost/ performance.

love that avatar btw.

 

[dpodblood]

Zalman is expensive. There are other cheaper heatsinks which perform better. If you are doing a moderate OC, and going to be doing a lot of CPU intensive tasks like video conversion it would be worthwhile to invest in one to extend the life of your CPU. Also, it's best not to pay attention to new egg reviews. You're much better off to find a real review site that can give you real numbers, and product comparisons.

 

[Van G]

Guilty as charged on going by newegg reviews. Hope I haven't got it wrong on the rest of my gear.

So I'm assuming stock cooler won't cut it?

This is the 212 you are referring to?

 

[WoodButcher]

Stock works fine but if you're going to OC the added heat and noise are not a good thing. People will say that it shortens the life of the CPU, I've yet to have a CPU die before upgrading but the noise is my pet peeve. A modest OC will be fine on the stock cooler if your case is set up with decent airflow.

Your component choice I couldn't comment on as I'm not current nor an AMD user. I would suggest a post in the "general hardware" subforum on that.

 

[Van G]

Stock works fine but if you're going to OC the added heat and noise are not a good thing. People will say that it shortens the life of the CPU, I've yet to have a CPU die before upgrading but the noise is my pet peeve. A modest OC will be fine on the stock cooler if your case is set up with decent airflow.

Your component choice I couldn't comment on as I'm not current nor an AMD user. I would suggest a post in the "general hardware" subforum on that.

cheers

 

[Van G]

Discussion continued here for final input on the build.

Thank you WoodButcher & dpodblood for the posts.

Van G