The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

If you're looking for simple, reliable liquid cooling,there's nothing much better than the Corsair H50.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010

It's sort of a water cooling "lite" kit. It IS liquid cooling, but is a self-contained closed loop ie no filling, air bleeding, risk of spilling etc. Think of it like a big heatpipe.

Anyhoo yeah it's reasonably priced, ultra simple, and has cooling performance that matches most mid-range liquid setups. I'm almost tempted to get one if I go hexa-core, which is unlikely but on my mind... And besides, it's Corsair and they over-engineer everything so leaks shouldn't even be a passing thought ;P

On another note, I was popping my old Arctic Freezer 7 Pro into a small office PC for my friend. Guess one of the heatpipes ruptured because it had a little accident all over the board. Poor thing, so many years of faithful service only to die on its way to its final home The PC was fine though after everything dried off so no worries there

 

Maw: What you're running into there is 'minimum load'. With almost no current at all coming from a PSU it will not function. A lot of modern PSUs don't have this requirement, but simpler units often do.
Omega: If in doubt, Corsair H50, but it's no champion among coolers. You can get far, far better results from a bespoke WC kit, but of course, they're very prone to leaks, and cost typically $300-$400 or so.

 

Does the Motherboard have to be hooked up to the power supply. Or can you just hook up secondary items like DVD Drive in order 4 it to run
I've got a power supply tester, that U can hook-up individual lines or all of them to test. This allows the power supply to run

 

Estuansis,
Thanks! I love how people guarantee things like that. LOL!! Especially since it's only going to get to 3.9 on a good motherboard! :0) Mine runs out of CPU Cooler at 3.9GHz! LOL!! Got to get the Noctua!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Just to show that it will do it, here's some screens at 3.9GHz
CPUZ



SuperPi



It's pretty cool this morning, but I still have one eye on the temps! LOL!! I didn't do any tweaking at all, just bumped the multiplier up to 19.5. I'll be setting it back to 3.8 in a few minutes.

Russ

 

It's not a bad psu, I just need it to run without a MB for my WC setup.

For a decent cpu only loop count on at least 300$ (mine is closer to 450$, but I overbuilt it a bit).

I've heard that the H50 is only as good a as high end air cooler, and based off what I know of it I would consider it a low end water cooler since it only has a single 120mm rad. It's hard to speak against the H50 too much since it's so cheap but I would strongly recommend saving up for a "proper" WC setup as it's so much more flexible and powerful.

I don't think it's fair to say WC is very prone to leaks. Sure it's a risk but a small one imo, and can generally be avoided with proper equipment. A good barb and worm drive clamp is quite secure but a lot of people go with other, less secure, methods since they look better which leads to an increased likely hood of leaks (don't forget it's the people with leaks who are generally the most vocal).

Was afraid it'd be something like that, would you happen to know of any psu's without minimum load?

Thanks,

remdaw

 

Thanks guys. I've actually been eyeing the H50 corsair. Based on reviews and what I've read elsewhere, it appears to be very midrange. I was hoping for more of a serious impact on temperatures. No, not like liquid nitrogen impact But notable differences Perhaps I am looking at spending a pretty penny...

 

Maw: typically, loading the 12V is enough to cure it, and most Corsairs don't even have the issue at all. The H50 is slightly better than the best top-end air cooler, and quieter, but not much better, is all. Since it can only cool the CPU and nothing else, only having a 120mm rad is no issue.

 

Oman7,
The radiator is too small for heavy duty overclocking on a regular basis. To be more effective, the Rad needs to be bigger! Every review I read said the same thing.

No comment on my 3.9 and SuperPi? I'm disappointed! LOL!!

Russ

 

A pretty penny it will be too lol.

I'll let you guy's know in a week or two if my WC investment pays off.

Exactly the problem with the H50, most people want a 2x120mm rad for the cpu and than a triple or quad for the gpu's.
---
I haven't run the single threaded superpi in a long time so I have no idea what that score means lol.

Thanks sam; guess I'll be returning the CM psu for a corsair one :\

 

I'm sorry russ. Congrats. But you're not keeping it there? I suppose the difference between 3.8 and 3.9 is marginal at best anyway

 

Oman7,
I may with a better cooler, if it stays cool enough. I'm under 1.50v, and well short of the safe limit of 1.55v! I have to wait a few days before I can order the Noctua. I have checks that haven cleared yet.

The difference between 3.8 and 3.9 isn't a lot, but you can see the difference, as it's very snappy! Makes a pretty good difference in SuperPi too.

Russ

 

I don't see that test as anything but an Intel progie for the masses... sorry but I can smoke your SuperPi scores with me old E6850 running @ 3.6GhZ.

 

You said it gm. More or less, Super pi is intel biased. Rather F--ked up, but true

 

thats the problem i have with it. i wish the rad a a lot thicker. mayeb my another 1cm or so, but then it would fit over my 24pin connector on my mobo and i wouldnt be able to connect it in.

 

It's that thick so it can fit in a standard fan bay. As you see, 'lesser' cases would have trouble fitting something bigger

 

i have a VF1000 copper zalman cooler and on the lowest fan settig never goes over 60C, but its my second card, though unless im at 100% fanspeed on my sapphire 4870 (my top card) itll hit 100c even in cod2

shoudl i get another zalman, for it, or is there a better cooler? (mind you it should take up 2 slots MAX, as i have a uATX case/mobo and using both pcie slots is max i can use as it uses all 4 slots on the case/mobo.

 

T-Rad2 with a pair of high speed fans?

 

so true lol. its one of the better uatx cases, perfect lan case (well bar the min ITX cases) and yet it JUST abotu fits it.

 

trad would fit, but not with any fans on it. i only have 2 slots to work with.

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