Help me understand if WC would benefit me
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:03 am
I currently have the air setup in my signature.
I am considering dabbling with watercooling to try and reduce the noise in my case from the CPU cooler.
I have the Zalman controlled by SmartFan so that at idle or basic office / surfing it is running at 40% (950rpm), once the temp goes over 45c, the rpm increases up to 70% (1600rpm), if the temp goes over 60c the rpm increases to 100% (1990rpm). This works well and keeps the CPU within the safe temps.
However it means that when doing normal work its quiet (almost silent - the hard drives are noisier than all the fans in the case), but load it up a little and it gets noisy.
Am I right in thinking a watercooled setup would keep the CPU cool without having to increase fan speeds? Or is it a similar setup to air?
I have considered the Corsair H50 as it looks dead simple to fit, and I have spare 120mm fans to setup in a push/pull configuration. Or alternatively go for a proper WC setup, if I could buy a kit for less than £100 that would cool my CPU and GPU, but am guessing this is asking a lot.
So would WC benefit me - or is my air setup of similar efficiency considering I am aiming for silence rather than overclocking potential.
I am considering dabbling with watercooling to try and reduce the noise in my case from the CPU cooler.
I have the Zalman controlled by SmartFan so that at idle or basic office / surfing it is running at 40% (950rpm), once the temp goes over 45c, the rpm increases up to 70% (1600rpm), if the temp goes over 60c the rpm increases to 100% (1990rpm). This works well and keeps the CPU within the safe temps.
However it means that when doing normal work its quiet (almost silent - the hard drives are noisier than all the fans in the case), but load it up a little and it gets noisy.
Am I right in thinking a watercooled setup would keep the CPU cool without having to increase fan speeds? Or is it a similar setup to air?
I have considered the Corsair H50 as it looks dead simple to fit, and I have spare 120mm fans to setup in a push/pull configuration. Or alternatively go for a proper WC setup, if I could buy a kit for less than £100 that would cool my CPU and GPU, but am guessing this is asking a lot.
So would WC benefit me - or is my air setup of similar efficiency considering I am aiming for silence rather than overclocking potential.