So I guess i need a cpu cooler

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Mon May 17, 2010 7:12 pm

I've been running a stock cooler on my new computer because i thought money would be better spent on graphics and everything else. Up until now all has been good, but i just burned a movie with nero and the trans-coding from divx to dvd format had my cpu running at 80 percent for 20 mins. So i was running at about 67 degrees the whole time. i probably should have shut it down but i kinda want an excuse to buy a new six core anyway lol. Kinda wanting some input on a good air cooler. i have 7 120mm, and one 140mm fans in my case so I think a good air cooler will be sufficient. not really trying to get into water cooling because of money and upkeep.Also if anyone has one for am2/am3 they want to get rid of i am not against a used one. i might have an xs2300 to trade for it since this is the phorum

Thanks yall

wash with gasoline · Post by **wash with gasoline** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:25 pm

8 case fans? Thing must sound like an airplane

What cpu are you using, and do you overclock it?
Seems amd processors are cheaper but aftermarket coolers for them are more expensive

Sounds like you are looking for a passive cooler when you say air cooler? They are usually huge and put strain on your mb, and most people that use them are after silent computers ...and with 8 fans going, doesnt seem you would notice another one

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue May 18, 2010 12:33 pm

Lol its really not as loud as you may think. i meen its audible but not enough to bother me. i bought the fans specifically for low fan speed and low db's. The case fans arent what makes the noise it is the cpu fan. im running an Amd phenom II x4 955. It is 3.2ghz stock and i have it running at 3.8 without any adjustment to voltage or anything else, just multiplier. I am not against an active cooler I just dont want to mess with liquid because im lazy and i dont see the need to overclock anymore than I am. This thing runs good. Right now im only running 4 Gbs of ddr3 at 1333 7-7-7-27 and its very impressive. Anywho, I would use a passive or active cooler, and im sure anything will be an improvement from the stock, i just dont care to mess with liquid yet. i thought about one of the closed units that only cool the cpu with liquid but have heard that they dont perform as well as similarly priced air units. something needs to be done before i melt something. 68C is pretty friggin hot.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:00 pm

Bigger is not always better... with so much fan you're probably messing the airflow bad time. The idea is to take fresh air from the front, make it go across the case and extract from the back. You should install a fan in the front, sucking air in, a fan on your CPU sucking air out of the heatsink, and a fan on the back of the case to extract air out. If you have a double fan power supply, the one facing inside your tower should suck the air out of the case, and the one on the back suck the air out of the power supply. If you have a fan on the side, if must suck air into the case. This is where most setup are screwed up, sucking air out at this point would extract like 60% of the fresh air introduced by the front of the case without cooling the back, creating hot spots.

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:34 pm

Ive got two 120mm fans running at 100% in the front pushing in through the hot swappable SATA bays, 4 120mm fans in the side pushing in at 50%, a 120mm at 100% pulling from the back, and 140mm at 100% pulling from the top as well as my power supply pulling out the back and my 5770 blows out the back. With the available space i have it is the best I can come up with and it does very well for everything but the cpu. I really think something besides my stock cooler will be great. There isnt a ridiculous about of air flow in my case, all these fans are low rpm, low noise. my northbridge and graphics card are staying very cool now, but when my cpu is under heavy load it is hot enough to fry an egg. I will let you know how things are going after I install another cooler, Im pretty confident my airflow is as good as it gets in this case, everything but the cpu stays cool, even under stress tests. When i was using integrated graphics my northbridge was getting alittle hot but i was running it at at 950mhz and asking way to much from it. Now that i have my 5770 everything is good except the cpu. Thanks to everyone for the input, i think i have found a decent price/performance cooler made by cooler master. I will post results when i get it installed. Im not looking for something to pull 6ghz out of my phenom II just something that can run under a heavy load with now worries.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:58 pm

You could also try to change the thermal paste, arctic silver 5 performs well here!

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Tue May 18, 2010 6:17 pm

yeah i would never use the crap that comes on the stock cooler. i use tuniq. I actually dropped 5C at idle and it takes a lot longer to heat up but it still gets way too hot.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Wed May 19, 2010 3:26 am

Is the fan on the CPU blowing air on it or out of it?

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Wed May 19, 2010 1:11 pm

On it, and there isnt really anything i could do to change it, except buy a new cooler, hence the thread lol.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Wed May 19, 2010 1:26 pm

Ok :p

Good luck finding one then

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Thu May 20, 2010 10:07 am

Thanks bro, how did your surgery go?