Do I need aftermarket cooling?

insOp

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2012
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Recently order parts to build a new PC. Including a i53470 and a SAPPHIRE 7950 3gb.

I plan on letting turbo-boost do it's on the CPU, however I'd like to push the 7950 to it's maximum without changing any voltages for the time being. Roughly how high could I go on the stock voltage, and would the airflow/temp be ok without additional cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147153

This is the case that I ordered, which I was told would be slightly too large for my needs, it comes with 2 120mm fans and 1 140mm fan. In addition I also bought another 120mm fan to boot. It has legs allowing airflow from the bottom and the fans are located on the top/rear/front of the case. The 4th fan will go on the side or bottom if possible.

TL DR
Would the room leftover in the case + the 4 fans + ventilation on all sides allow me to safely push the GFX card on stock voltages

ps. i have a 5th fan as well, or is too many fans bad?
 
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crazymonkeyzero

Senior member
Feb 25, 2012
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I realize I'm not directly answering your question, but I'm trying to make a point here.

Do you absolutely need aftermarket cooling? ~no

Is is aftermarket cooling recommended?~yes, very much so!

You can add all the case fans in the world, but it's no substitute for the lack of good a cpu cooler.

To put it bluntly,the stock cooler intel provides with their chips sucks. You really should spend a bit more to get some aftermarket cooling. Even if you've left the cpu at stock speeds, it can get hot, like 80 degrees C for an i5 or i7 during load such as gaming or video encoding. Is this a safe temp? Strictly speaking yes. However, it is not a good temp. This may not kill the chip immediately, but will definitely lower the longevity of your components over time. And if you want to OC, you can forget about it.

You don't have to go out buy a noctua nhd14 or anything fancy. A coolermaster hyper212 evo will do plenty fine and will leave head room to OC. And if you're really counting your every last Washington in your pocket, at least buy something like this, it will pay for itself.

If you're going to spending 150+dollars on a cpu, it's practical to spend at least $30 on a cooler.
 
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