EggXpert

Hey y'all,

It's been a while since I've posted anything of interest here.  Around the new year, I upgraded my gaming rig, centering around the AMD Phenom II 940 (detailed specs below).  From the get-go, the 135W Phenom was way too hot.  My old Athlon X2 5600+ idled at a cool 34C and loaded around 42C under my precious Thermaltake Blue Orb.  However, the 5600+ was a much cooler chip.  So, after seeing 58C, 59C, 60C on HWMonitor during a simple game of TF2, I realized that the 940 needed some relief.  If you glance at some of the pictures, you'll see that a larger and more effective air cooler was totally out of the question for my little Q-Pack.  While complaining about this problem in chat, the helpful (but very critical of my mATX setup) sparker366 sent me a link to the Corsair H50 pre-built watercooling kit.  Newegg deactivated it, so I grabbed one over at zipzoomfly.  I had to go through Corsair to special order the AM2/3 bracket, but I was quickly ready to go. 

Laid-out and ready to install

Notice how fan peeks above case?  Required hack-saw, cordless drill, and file

Radiator, mobo, vid card go in

PCPC 750w drops in

Final product front

Final product back

 Good news! Idle temps, with corsair's TIM, are down to high 30's, and I have yet to hit 44C on full load.  I appreciate any and all feedback about my system.  BTW, sorry for the links, I have no idea how to incorporate images into posts...

Thanks,

Stefan

Yes I was critical of matx cases cause of issues that he encountered initially with high temps.

I suggested this kit to him even with reservations that it would fit. A less industrious person would have thrown his hands up when he encounterd the radiator issue but Stefan seems to have solved it pretty well.

Glad everything is working for you.

Sorry for being critical but most enthusiast like me are not big fans of matx cases. We like the room and cooling of larger cases. Plus I am extremely an al about temps.

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sparker366:

Sorry for being critical but most enthusiast like me are not big fans of matx cases.

I couldn't have done it without your help sparker. I never would have found the H50.  Thanks for the good recommendation and support.

Stefan

Hey guys,

I wanted to talk a little bit more about cooling issues.  Obviously, the H50 setup is way cooler than my previous solution, but it does leave me scratching my head.  My previous air solution had a range of 20C, 39-59.  The H50's range is only about 8C, from 37-45.  Is that just the deal with water cooling? I mean, the inferior air cooler had similar idle temps, but had way higher load temps.  

Secondly, what's the appropriate range for a 65nm evga gtx260 core 216?  Mine has a range of 62-85C.  When compared to the 4830 I have (38-50C), the 260 seems dangerously hot (yes, I know that's an unfair comparison, but still...).  Should I be worried/ boost the fanspeed/ get another HSF?

Finally, I was paging through the "What's in Your Rig" thread and I came across a rig (I believe it was Kardon's) that had the most beautiful cable management.  Obviously, I would have difficulties emulating his skills (b/c of the matx thing and the fact that the PC P&C 750w has about 100ft worth of cables), but I was hoping someone with great cable managements skills and familiarity with low-profile builds could lend me some advice.

Thanks,

Stefan

I do not know from personnel experience but from what I have heard and read the Nvidia chipsets tend to run hotter than the ATI chipset VCs but those with the rear exhaust ports and full shrouds will run cooler on both chipsets. To improve this if you remove the fan and shroud and replace the thermal paste with a good quality thermal paste such as AS5 you can drop the temps another 3-10 C and while it is apart clean the dust off the fan and heatsink and other stuff.

Now as to cable management just pickup some wire ties from your local hardware store or electric supply store the 4" & 8" should be all you need and tie off the wires neatly but remember that the SATA cables do not like sharp bends only smooth curves work with them. If your PSU wires are just more than you need there is a way to handle this but it is a drastic remedy, you will need to be carefull and cut each wire and cap it with a deadend cap until you have the unused cables removed but you will need to stagger these cuts about every 1/4" and leave about 2"-3" from the PSU case this way you can splice them back in if you ever need more connectors but as I said this is a drastic route to take.

Stefan the water cooling split is good. Its meant to keep the load temps way lower then air.

As for the gpu temps well thats what you get for stuffing a high end gpu into an SFF case. You have way lower air movement in there thus the card is going to run hotter. If you can crank the fan speed up and live with the noise then do it.

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Thank you folks, for giving away your time, to people who just want you to go on and on with tiny technical details and philosophies of headscratchingly dull things like wire ties and power supplies and...

I have a question that is not about water cooling.  But Hoghauler, you might have answered it here.  Can one safely splice a little extra length into a cpu power cord? 

I know enough about electricity that I have to laugh at myself for even bothering to ask.  But I know far less about microelectronics.  And this is the first machine I've ever built out of shiny new parts!  I got a combo deal on a very nice nzxt case, mostly because I thought I was best to replace the PSU when I got a new motherboard.  (Several of the capacitors surrounding my Duron 1GHz were... are leaking yellow dust, and a few others are looking mighty fat.  Still works alright, but when it's time, it's time.)  The case was the thing I liked and was going to keep on using for sure.  So the new case (the one packaged with the Logisys PSU), mounts the power on the bottom.  And the CPU supply line will just reach... if I don't mind straining the wire and plug, and so long as I never get a PCIe card.  Well, I do mind, and I someday I might.  If I'm allowed to graft in two inches of wire, then everything's golden.  If not, well then maybe I have to get Newegg to credit me the cost of the PSU toward a different one with longer lines.  And maybe they would, I don't know.  But then I have to wait even longer before I get to play with brand new toy, that is almost 100% in my hot little hands right now!

And a secondary question.  What does one test for to determine if a PSU is still healthy?  Or am I silly to even consider it a possible culprit or accomplice in the case with the exploding capacitors?

Thank you again, so very much.

Hey noneYet,

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the subject matter, but to be honest, I think proper etiquette suggests you start your own thread.  I guess this is what happens when you dont mark your threads resolved...

 Thanks,

Stefan