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Questions about GIGABYTE products => Thermal cooling solution & chassis => Topic started by: RuiPereira on February 16, 2007, 10:39:55 am

Title: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: RuiPereira on February 16, 2007, 10:39:55 am
What do you look for when buying or chosing a CPU cooler?
Also, how interested are you on Liquid Cooling?
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Ace07 on September 29, 2008, 05:39:05 pm
Hi,

I tend to look at the same as I used and trusted for years which would normal be The Arctic Cooling range as I thing that they do not make rubbish parts and they all come with a 6 year warrenty. So as a buyer there making a point from the start by offering some a 6 year warrenty. and lets face it these are just coming out for cars , Arctic Cooling have done it for years. (if you see my point)

With regards to liquid cooling some of the things that I have seen has put me off but then again the reviews are great. However saying this I tend to think that if one springs a leak or something happens then all that money that you have spent on computer parts are then knacked, and lets face it. If your going for water cooled then your gonna have a top of the range computer.   ::)

Regards

Ace07
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Elemental_Dragon on April 24, 2009, 11:22:21 am
I look for lots of things when buying either. It's actually more down to the case when I buy watercooling... What will fit, what won't - and most important - layout! There hasn't been a great deal of cases lately, at least budget wise, that are suited for watercooling... Those going for first time won't want to mod so it's hard getting the balance right.

After all that with the case is sorted, I go for value - most want watercooling these days for silence so standard spacing (15mm) and not high density fins. Decent pump is a must. But then hey, I could go on and on....

Cooler wise, well, versitility, flat base, air surface. Lapped TRUE's + lapped CPU's = best air combo in my opinion... Akasa 965 is my favourite budget cooler - cools quads great - not to huge but big enough & easy to mount :D

~Bex
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Ace07 on August 04, 2009, 10:39:52 pm
I look for lots of things when buying either. It's actually more down to the case when I buy watercooling... What will fit, what won't - and most important - layout! There hasn't been a great deal of cases lately, at least budget wise, that are suited for watercooling... Those going for first time won't want to mod so it's hard getting the balance right.

After all that with the case is sorted, I go for value - most want watercooling these days for silence so standard spacing (15mm) and not high density fins. Decent pump is a must. But then hey, I could go on and on....

Cooler wise, well, versitility, flat base, air surface. Lapped TRUE's + lapped CPU's = best air combo in my opinion... Akasa 965 is my favourite budget cooler - cools quads great - not to huge but big enough & easy to mount :D

~Bex

My problem with that is water and electrical doesnt mix

But hey when you have £2000.00 worth of computer you tend not to create problems that could cause disaster but that's me and each to there own
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Pottypete on August 05, 2009, 12:21:18 am
Arctic Cooling range all the way,
 ;D
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: mark rumsey on August 11, 2009, 11:15:10 pm
Arctic Cooling range all the way,
 ;D
Provided it fits that is. I bought an Arctic Cooler to go in my new machine, but it would not fit on the MA790FXT-UD5P board. Mounted the correct way around it fouled one of the memory slots which would have meant losing 2GB and the ability to run in dual channel mode. I looked at fitting it back to front (i.e. fan above the power regulators instead of the memory) not only would it have been extremely tricky to fit, it ould not have blown any air over the regulators and would have been blowing against the natural air flow within the case, which means it would ahve retained a lot of heat inside instead of helping it get out. As a result I ended up using the stock AMP cooler which I am pleased to report works surprisingly well. I would love to have used the Arctic as it looked an extremely good piece of kit and should have kept the CPU temperature right down, but with this combination it wasn't to be.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Pottypete on August 14, 2009, 08:33:01 pm
Hi
Could you not have bent the fins carefully downwards out of the way, ang got free memory cooling ;D
I have done this in the past, using two flat plates and pliers either side of the fins, gently bent downwards about 45 degree angle, sorted
But i'm an animal anyway ::)
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Badbonji on August 18, 2009, 10:02:41 am
I like to buy the best cooler for the cpu, as the lower the temperature of the cpu the longer the lifetime of it, as when you turn the pc on and off the temperature changes and causes the processor to expand/contract which I think contributes alot to how long the cpu will last.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Pottypete on August 18, 2009, 11:09:41 am
Hi,Badbonji,
I think the real problem is switching on and off, causes more temperature fluctuations than a cpu which is on all the time, at what ever temperature it is running  at ;D
The standard cooler supplied with all cpu's  by the manufacturer will give  adequate cooling to the chip throughout the world -50 deg +50deg for a minimum period of the warrantee at least, 10 years or more is the expected lifetime ???
And the way that hardware is advancing today, (I say loosely) Most cpu's and computers would be upgraded or binned by the time the chip is ready for silicon heaven,
I agree that keeping a cpu as cool and stable  will/can extend it's performance and lifetime,
Thermal monitoring systems now employed should, providing it is enabled, prevent temperature exceeding tmax, anyway,
Hey i'm only a tinkerer and what do I know, other than my own experiance,
I got a pretty cooler on my rigs anyway, they look good yeh ;D
Regards


Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: mark rumsey on August 20, 2009, 10:55:30 pm
In my case, it wasn't the fins that fouled the memory, it was the fan. I tried relocating the fan on the cooler, but that just left too many fins with no air flow. Perhaps if I'd used more conventionally shaped memory instead of Corsair DHX it would have fitted, but then I would have ended up with a cool processor and hot memory, which is just as bad as both being on the warm side. When I get chance I'll start looking for another cooler, but I have to say I'm impressed with the stock unit supplied with the Phenom II 955BE. Its a fairly substantial alloy unit cast onto a copper contact base with lots of closely spaced fins and four heat pipes carrying heat from the copper contact base to the outer end of the fins so that the maximum amount of cooling is built into its very modest size. With the processor under a fair load at stock speeds it still keeps the CPU down below 45°C, and that's with the fan set to max speed only when the CPU reaches 55°C. OK, it probably doesn't leave a lot of scope for heavy overclocking, but for stock speeds and mild overclocking it should do the job nicely. And I'm more than happy to keep using it until I can find a cooler that fits in the space I've got.

Where I have a bigger problem is keeping the 'system' temperature down. On the board I've got (MA790FXT-UD5P) the voltage regulators, north and south bridges are linked by heat pipes and each has a finned heat sink. The south bridge heat sink is pretty flat and doesn't lend itself to natural airflow cooling, but it doesn't get that hot. The north bridge and voltage regulator heat sinks are much larger and more finned, but to me the fins run the wrong way and they are capped with fancy covers, meaning they probably aren't as effective as they should be. Also, with the north bridge being in the middle of the heat pipe sistem with no direct airflow to it, it gets hot. From what I've seen I'm assuming the system temperature is measured at this point. Having seen the system temperature hit 45°C with the system idle whilst the CPU is at a lower temperature I decided something needed to be done, so at the moment I have a small fan (40mm) sitting on the video card blowing air towards the north bridge heat sink at a slight angle. It moves very little air, but has knocked a good 10-15°C off the system temperature, which suggests the heat sink design isn't that good (since when have horizontal fins been a good idea for cooling without a fan?) and has acutally been selected more for looks than performance, and I find that a little worrying. If a board is designed as a high end board with overclocking in mind it would be reasonable to expect the standard chipset cooling to be pretty good, but in actual fact it seems to be pretty mediocre. I would therefore suggest that anyone looking at upgrading their CPU cooling also looks at the chipset even if all they do is add a fan in the case to move air across the existing heat sinks.

Like Pete, I suspect many electronics failures are due more to sudden temperature changes than extreme temperatures. Much of the equipment I us at work (building and heating controllers) is rated for 40°C ambient temperatures or higher. I know of many controllers that are now 15 years old or more that have been running almost constantly over that time in temperatures above 35°C that are as good today as they were when new, except for the discolouration due to being in these high temperatures for prolonged periods. Most of these controllers use 8 bit Motorolla processors which aren't particularly powerful, but equally they don't have any form of heat sink. More modern controllers use 32bit Motorolla processors, but again don't have heat sinks, and they survive these high temperatures. I also know of several PCs (from original Pentium right through to P4) where the CPU cooling fan and even the power supply fan has stopped causing the CPU to get hot enough to crash the PC, but a change of fan and PSU (as required) has seen these computers working faultlessley again for years. In fact, I don't believe I've come across a PC that has had a CPU failure. Most get 'retired' through hard drive failures, fan failures or physical damage that isn't cost effective to repair. One thing they all have in common is they run more or less 24/7 with a fairly constant processor load meaning the components are rarely subjected to sudden changes of temperature.

Extending this to home PCs that tend to be switched on and off or have wildly varying processor loads, both of which cause temperatures to fluctuate, it is probably better to have the cooling fan(s) speed controlled on temperature to reduce the fluctuations instead of keeping the fans running flat out. With the fan flat out, the CPU will tend to cool rapidly when it goes from high to low load whereas a temperature controlled fan will tend to cool the CPU much less and more slowly. Also, when the load increases, with a fixed speed fan the CPU temperature will rise rapidly, whereas a temperature controlled fan will mean a slower, smaller rise. The peak temperatures with a fixes speed fan will probably be lower, but if its a temperature change that does the damage that isn't really relevant. I know most overclockers tend to run with fixed speed fans, but perhaps here there is also a case for temperature controlling the fan, the only real difference being that the temperature when idle on an overclocked system would probably need to be set higher than on a standard system so that when the CPU goes under load the temperature change is kept to a minimum.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Badbonji on August 29, 2009, 07:41:26 pm
Hi,Badbonji,
I think the real problem is switching on and off, causes more temperature fluctuations than a cpu which is on all the time, at what ever temperature it is running  at ;D

Yeah which is what I said :P
Maybe this makes more sense:
I like to keep the cpu as close to ambient as possible, using the best cooling so that the cpu expands/contracts less due to a smaller ambient/load difference which can lead to a longer lifespan of the cpu :P

It is too expensive for me to leave running all the time, so that is what I aim for :)
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: ETNiES on November 18, 2009, 03:39:36 pm
I go right for reviews of all coolers, and pick out the best performance for your money it really isn't worth spending an extra 20 or so on a cooler for a 2 degree temp difference. For my i7 I went for the TRUE Spirit it performs excellently compared to the other more expensive coolers, and its price is great to.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: mayebaza on March 13, 2010, 12:10:51 am
From my 13 years’ experience of building PCs an overall draft, blowing air in the case upwards over the components that generate heat, from the front to the rear, always produces the best results in cooling and quietness.

If air is blowing in the right direction, you do not need a lot of it.  Inside your case needs to be like catching a chill from sitting in a drafty room because someone left a window slightly open.  There are plenty of good coolers around.  In my opinion, heat pipe systems with fans are best and configured for airflow, if you have the space.  I would not spend more than £30 on a CPU Cooler also set aside a tenner for a good thermal paste.

Even though I am overclocking the loudest component on my rig is the Caviar Black, yet my idle temperature is 29OC, load at 55OC, average 41OC.  I can run Prime 95 24/7.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P, 955 BE(C2)@3.718 GHz 1.425V,Geil Value 4GB DDR3-1600,
ATI 5850 1GB, CM90 II Advanced, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black, 4 HDDs, Jeantech Storm 700w,
Asus Xonar Essence STX, Pinnacle PCTV 3010iX Dual Analogue + DVB
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: gilgamesh on March 15, 2010, 10:45:55 am
What do you look for when buying or chosing a CPU cooler?
Also, how interested are you on Liquid Cooling?
Generally I do not use HSF for the CPU

Liquid cooling all the way!

As far as the gentleman ahom says water and electricity do not mix, well that is if you use TAP-Water!

If you use de-ionied or distilled then all is ok, PURE water does NOT conduct an electric current, only the ions and various bits of ***p does!
Ofcourse when a fluid flows over a metal such as water block, then over a perioud of times then it picks up these ions.

Again I suggest that people consult my water cooling myths the truth behind the mystery post!

Liquid cooling all the way baby!

But it has to be done right! By not using silly aluminium radiators, cpupled with tubing that is only 6mm ID, WITH A WOEFULLY poor fan that has a low static pressure! Then a CPU block that highly restrictive!

If your going to go water cooling, do it properly!

gilgamesh
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: venganza on June 02, 2010, 01:42:48 pm
What do you look for when buying or chosing a CPU cooler?
Also, how interested are you on Liquid Cooling?
Generally I do not use HSF for the CPU

Liquid cooling all the way!

As far as the gentleman ahom says water and electricity do not mix, well that is if you use TAP-Water!

If you use de-ionied or distilled then all is ok, PURE water does NOT conduct an electric current, only the ions and various bits of ***p does!
Ofcourse when a fluid flows over a metal such as water block, then over a perioud of times then it picks up these ions.

Again I suggest that people consult my water cooling myths the truth behind the mystery post!

Liquid cooling all the way baby!

But it has to be done right! By not using silly aluminium radiators, cpupled with tubing that is only 6mm ID, WITH A WOEFULLY poor fan that has a low static pressure! Then a CPU block that highly restrictive!

If your going to go water cooling, do it properly!

gilgamesh

You really do need to research a little more, distilled water is not pure the moment you put it in a loop, yet you seem to be trying to say that you won't have any drama.

Let me assure you if you have a loop that lets loose a deluge, you precious gear most certainly may short over time :)

Having said that, the silly "water and electricity doesn't mix" thing is really pointless, since as you know any properly configured loop is safe as houses.

The real problem as you are well aware, are people who buy rubbish kits, or cobble together systems with poorly chosen parts, and use the wrong fans etc.

A good water loop costs money, simple as that, and isn't a task for the feint hearted to put together, since pumps and fittings all need to be properly matched.

Oh as to the Arctic fanboi commentaries, Arctic does indeed make some nice things, I use an Accelero and it is great (except VRM cooling is rubbish), however look at the model for the 5970, massive fail sadly, and Arctic fans, while cheap are great for the price are nothing special. I love the supplies, but that is mainly due to the fact Seasonic makes them, which of course is always a good thing :)

Moral is no company makes a perfect line up, even Gigabyte has had a few problematic products, the 9800GTX+ bios cock-up is a case in point, fixed altogher too slowly.

These days we are blessed with a host of very good air coolers fortunately, even the cheapest of the cheap like the TX3 are actually damn good for the price (3rd of the price of the big boys) and most of the more expensive units (Noctua, Thermalrite, Prolimatch and the rest) are all a few degree from each other usually.

Water is a joy, but it costs, and it needs some effort to maintain. Worth it? Yes I would say so, one of my machines uses water, but you have to jump in boots and all or not at all.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: fadsarmy on November 09, 2010, 04:49:10 pm
I always buy face down cooler. This keeps the upper half of the motherboard cool including memory.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Dark Mantis on November 09, 2010, 04:53:01 pm
This is often why memory and chipset temperatures often rise when fitting a better aftermarket cooler. The stock cooler blows a lot of air outwards from the CPU that a lot of third party coolers don't.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: mark rumsey on December 30, 2011, 11:31:03 pm
Another thing to remember with coolers is they get dirty. The picture below is of my AMD Phenom II 955BE's stock cooler with the fan unclipped after just 12 months use. As you can imagine things were starting to get warm. Cleaning those fins of the fluff and dust knocked almost 5 DegC off the running temperature and allowed the fan to slow down by nearly 500rpm. So don't think fitting a huge aftermarket cooler means you can forget about CPU cooling problems. If your system runs a bit hot under load when you first build it, and it then gets clogged like this you could easily cook your CPU in a very terminal way.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Dark Mantis on December 31, 2011, 07:40:56 am
Yes a very good point. I have seen plenty of coolers that were much more clogged with fluff and debris than that one. Sometimes it was even difficult to find the heatsink at all!  :o
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: absic on December 31, 2011, 07:50:00 am
I run a Noctua NH-D14 on my system and have a regular routine of checking and cleaning the fins and fans of it, along with checking the filters and fans built into the PC chassis. It is amazing how much dust can be gathered in a very short space of time and it is worthwhile checking things every 3-6 months.

Just be careful what you use to clean the PC components with, especially where the motherboard is concerned and don't do what a friend of mine did, which was to stick a metal pipe from his vacuum cleaner inside the PC case to suck up the dust, with the PC running! He did get a nice clean machine but at the cost of a full rebuild.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Dark Mantis on December 31, 2011, 09:11:52 am
I have found the simplest and safest way of cleaning out the inside of a computer is with compressed air. Forget the cans , they are next to useless. I use a commercial air compressor and that will remove every last trace of dirt and dust in next to no time with no worries about static or other damage, just don't point it directly at the fans unless you stop them from rotating first.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: geekyadz on December 31, 2011, 02:17:10 pm
I run a Noctua NH-D14 on my system and have a regular routine of checking and cleaning the fins and fans of it, along with checking the filters and fans built into the PC chassis. It is amazing how much dust can be gathered in a very short space of time and it is worthwhile checking things every 3-6 months.
To me it seems to depend on how much dust is floating in the air.

I too have a Cooler Master HAF 932, which going by some reviews I read when I ordered it was rather like a hoover (meaning it sucks in dust like no tomorrow). Ive had this case since August 2010 and I have yet to clean it out. In fact for the first year my desktop was at mine being used every day for at least every evening from about 5pm until I went to bed. Dust wise it looked like nothing major, with it getting introduced to a duster on the outside twice. Then it got transported over to my mates house for about 6 months. The outside needed cleaning about three times. Finally now it is back at mine and it still waiting for a major clean (which it will get when I fit a different board in it) and the stock cooler for the CPU doesnt look like it needs any cleaning. Not bad considering thats been fitted since November 2010.

As for the air compressor: yes the one where I volunteer for certainly cleans the dust out, bearing in mind that one is only a "baby one" (meaning Ive seen bigger)
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: RatsAss on December 31, 2011, 04:36:22 pm
I have found the simplest and safest way of cleaning out the inside of a computer is with compressed air. Forget the cans , they are next to useless. I use a commercial air compressor and that will remove every last trace of dirt and dust in next to no time with no worries about static or other damage, just don't point it directly at the fans unless you stop them from rotating first.

+1   I do the same about every 6 months or so.

The case fan filters catch most of the dust but some always finds its way in.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Dark Mantis on December 31, 2011, 06:42:33 pm
It's a shame more case manufacturers don't cover all the fan placements with proper filtration material. When I am reviewing them I often find that there are some with filters which is great and then all the rest are left open, negating the good work the filters are doing. :-\ I do think that more are now beginning to get the idea but it takes a long time to get the message accross.  I am just waiting for the new Antec 1100 case and I believe that they have finallly taken some notice of my reports along with other new improvements. Watch out soon for the review.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Thaversonly on July 31, 2012, 06:00:39 pm
After all, that the case is sorted, I go for a fee - most want watercooling in these days of silence, so that the standard spacing (15 mM) and not high-density fins. Decent pump is necessary. But then hey, I could go on and on ....
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: riyadur on September 22, 2012, 06:11:51 pm
With regards to liquid cooling some of the things that I have seen has put me off but then again the reviews are great. However saying this I tend to think that if one springs a leak or something happens then all that money that you have spent on computer parts are then knacked, and lets face it.
Title: Re: Buying a CPU Cooler
Post by: Dark Mantis on September 22, 2012, 08:19:40 pm
If it is done properly and well tested first before putting power to the computer components then it is fairly safe. It is not often that anything bursts or breaks in a drastic sort of manor.