heatsink

[Gromnir]

am thinking o' building a cheap gaming pc... not wanna spend more than 'bout $600 on this thing.. preferably $500. to that end, we is using the amd phenom ii x2 550 black edition cpu on an asus m3a78-em mb... use radeon hd 4770 'cause is a pretty good card, but also 'cause o' size and power considerations. am gonna use the antec sonata iii case with the earthwatts 500 psu. the thing is, the sonata cases is sometimes a little tight on space. could save a couple bucks-- use stock heatsink, but Gromnir rare skimps on heatsink. only other stuff that is gonna take up space in the case is the memory, and that is kinda standard. hd and optical is in bays, so ain't genuine a factor. probable use on-board sound as this computer ain't gonna be using 5.1 or 7.1 surround... got klipsch promedia 2.1. even so, we not want some monster heatsink in this thing.

 

anybody got some recommendations for good heatsink? would prefer something that not sound like a cesna engine.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[samm]

use radeon hd 4770 'cause is a pretty good card, but also 'cause o' size and power considerations.

Power consumption of the 4770 is really low under load (except Furmark - I'm talking games here) for the power it packs. However in idle it's not good at all, which can be improved by drastically lowering RAM speed using some tools. Got one myself as an interim solution until DX 11 cards show up

anybody got some recommendations for good heatsink? would prefer something that not sound like a cesna engine.

Currently the Alpenf Edited July 5, 2009 by samm

[Gorth]

Gorth will have some experience with watercooling, so let's wait what he says.

I haven't really said anything yet for two reasons. Water cooling requires a bit of work to bash together initially (and I got the impression that "hasslefree" was a requirement). Once there, it is no different than any other cooler maintenance wise. Check liquid levels once a year, thats about it. Second reason is price, as I suspect it will be more expensive than fan cooling. That being said, it is completely noiseless and offers superior colling to most fans you can find out there (imho)

[mkreku]

The Antec Sonata III is not tight on space. You can fit whichever "heatsink" you choose in it. I've built three computers using the Sonata III, all with very different setups, and space has never been a concern.

 

 

Edit: The CPU cooler I personally use: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/d...q-tower120.html

 

It's extremely efficient and I've even turned off the fan in it (the airflow through the case is enough) so it's dead silent. Might be a bit hard to find though, due to age.

Edited July 5, 2009 by mkreku

[Walsingham]

I think you should build a glass case, and run a mix of mercury and alcohol based coolant through the whole thing. That would look cool. Incredibly dangerous and expensive, but cool.