Cooling Upgrades for New A64 System

[RallyMaster]

I currently have a 3200+ Venice with stock cooler, an XFX 6800GS XXX Edition with the stock cooler (which is very loud) and Raidmax case with stock cooling (80 mm side intake with 120 mm exhaust). I was planning on getting two Cooler Master 120 mm blue LED fans, a NV Silencer 5 Rev 3, and a Thermaltake heatpipe cooler. I will also acquire a 24" Thermaltake IDE cable since I'll be putting one of the 120mm fans in the front of the hard drive to provide some air to my video card. I am willing to spend a maximum of 100 dollars including shipping on this. So far on directron.com, I have reached 94.21 with those parts.

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/clp0200.html
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/tlfs12eb.html
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/avcnv5r3.html
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/cblttuv600bl.html

I'd greatly appreciate suggestions in buying locations or better products.

 

[Jhhnn]

Directron is a highly competitive vendor, so it's hard to go wrong with them. Might want to shop some others, like Newegg, SVC, Monarch, Zipzoomfly, etc, just for comparison.

I'd substitute this for the Tt cooler-

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/freezer64pro.html

It's the same money, and I've never been a fan of Tt... Nice review of that cooler over at Silentpcreview...

 

[potato28]

EDont buy the NV Silencer... buy the Zalman VF-700 CU from Newegg. Its $1 cheaper than the AICU version, and u cant order the wrong version. The Silencer has revisions for each card. U'd be pissed if u ordered the wrong 1.The Zalman is multi-function cooler. Cools everything around the card, and is easier to clean. U wont go wrong!!

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: potato28
EDont buy the NV Silencer... buy the Zalman VF-700 CU from Newegg. Its $1 cheaper than the AICU version, and u cant order the wrong version. The Silencer has revisions for each card. U'd be pissed if u ordered the wrong 1.The Zalman is multi-function cooler. Cools everything around the card, and is easier to clean. U wont go wrong!!

:thumbsup: for the Zalman. I had mine on my old 6800GT and now a X800GTO2 and it's been great. It was easily better (quieter and cooled better) on the 6800GT than the Silencer that I had.

 

[RallyMaster]

i know it's the Revision 3 that i need for the Arctic Cooling Silencer but my friend used one of the Zalman sinks and ripped his card off the AGP bus. (hope it doesn't happen to my PCI-e)

so i think i'll stick with the AC Silencer.

however, I"m actually looking into the AC Freezer 64. it looks like it can provide some awesome airflow.

 

[Ping to the Pong]

Ok here are some prices of this store that i always go to and recommend, PTS:

120mm Sunbeam fans- Link These are pretty much the same exact fans but cheaper

TT CL-P0200 Cooler- Link Same price as Driectron. If you are not oveclocking and want a quiet solution, you cant beat this: Arctic Cooling 64 cooler- Link its on sale for only 18.49 and performs really well.

i will go with the Zalman cooler VF700-Cu cooler too. Link Newegg has this for much cheaper though

You dont need Thermaltake IDE cables, but check these out, i have them myself and are the same or better quality than than the Thermaltake ones: Link

Ok so with the TT cpu cooler, you looking at about 77 bucks for everything (2 fans, 1 cable), with the Arctic cooling 64 cooler, you looking at 64 bucks for everything.

 

[RallyMaster]

the reason I like the AC Freezer 64 is because it will allow direct feeding of hot air into the 120 mm exhaust in the back of my case as well as cool my motherboard mosfets. this is about the same reason I have for getting the NV Silencer 5 because it pushes air directly out of the case without heating up the rest.

as for your suggestion of the Sunbeam fans, how good is the quality of Sunbeam?

 

[potato28]

The Sunbeam fans r ok... but u could buy CoolerMaster fans that r garunteed 21 dbA at 41 cfm. The AC Freezer is a really good HSF, and its very cheap too. Spend a little extra $$ on the CM fans. You'll be happier with the results...

 

[RallyMaster]

I've had good results with CM fans before (even though they weren't LEDs) and I still have 4 more of those 80mm that I haven't used yet (for a future build...unless I sell them for profit).

 

[Ping to the Pong]

a buddy of mine has both the Cooler Master Green LED 120mm fan and the Sunbeam Blue LED 120mm fan, he pretty much said they are identical in terms of noise and airflow. In terms of quality, they look like the same exact fan so i have a feeling they come from the same manufacturer and just rebadged or something. either would be fine, just figured id suggest a cheaper alternative.

 

[RallyMaster]

Should I remove the thermal compound that comes on the Arctic Cooling sinks for both GPU and CPU? Or should I put Arctic Silver 5 on them instead?

 

[RallyMaster]

ok....so I decided to go overboard and get memory sink and a North Bridge cooler (Vantec Iceberq on Abit mobo is a loud, rattling mofo at 5273 RPM)...

from SVC, all the Cooler Master parts:
http://svc.com/crc-u02-19.html copper memory heatspreader
http://svc.com/tlf-s12-eb-19.html 120 mm fan (will get 2)
http://svc.com/tlr-s82-eb.html 80 mm fan for side window intake
http://svc.com/rt-ucl-l4u1.html North Bridge heatsink and fan

from Directron, all the Arctic Cooling parts:
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/freezer64pro.html Freezer 64 Pro
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/avcnv5r3.html NV Silencer 5 Rev 3

cheap round IDE is still on the list.

 

[potato28]

Ok... Dont buy the AC Silencer for ur 6800GS. The VF-700CU is a better cooler, and is better for the price ur gonna pay.(See link in first post) Other than that, looks very very good!

 

[RallyMaster]

Decided to go with the Silencer anyway and got the Freezer. Freezer should be here by Tuesday if not before. Silencer...I don't know. Could be Friday or even later.

 

[The Sly Syl]

As everyone has been saying, you should have gone with the VF-700cu.
Mine's doing wonderfully.

I'd go with panaflo's for the fans (can the front fan fit a 120x38?)
www.svc.com had some $5 panaflo 120x38 "mediums" a few days ago, they might still be in stock.
Yep.

http://www.svc.com/fba12g12m-nba.html

(make sure you get the 3pin tale "accessory")

 

[RallyMaster]

Already got my Cooler Master 120 mm fans as well as all the other CM parts and they dropped my full load by 3 degrees. Also dropped my idle by a degree or two. Problem is that my video card has gotten hotter due to it pushing air to the front of the case but my intake pushing the hot air back.

 

[RallyMaster]

My Freezer 64 Pro arrived today. I immediately tested the full load temperatures for 30 minutes and they were 5 degrees lower than my stock heatsink with AS5 (40 Vs 45C). However, I was using the MX-1 that AC applied and I think it's insulating the heat, not transfering it (due to how much they put onto it, ugh!). Another reason I think it's a little high is because of my video card. My Silencer has not arrived and the video card is the only thing in my computer that's pushing hot air forward (while my intake fan keeps that hot air in the same general area). Eventually, that hot air flows up into the memory slot areas, the North Bridge and into my Freezer 64 Pro.

I'm getting turbulence in the back of my case (1x80 mm intake, 120 mm exhaust, Freezer and 120 mm in the PSU) and it occasionally whines if I turn all the fans to max. To reduce the problem, I think I will order another window (without a side fan) and then mod my 5.25" bays to accomodate two 80 mm blue LED fans one on top of the other (using up four bays, still will have top bay left for my DVD+-RW). Those two LED fans will be the Raidmax (which I removed before with the Cooler Master) and the CM LED which is on my window right now. All of these will be controlled by a Sunbeam 3.5" multi-function panel (which has two fan controls and I will be able to read my flash memory cards). I will also order two fan grills to prevent my fingers from being chopped off whenever I need to pop in a CD. This is a huge project that I'm planning for after graduation.

Now for the questions:
Where can I get a new window? How should I attach the cut up bays to the fans?