Looking for the best cooling/sound performance options, that will keep me cool and quiet... running Athlon XP1800+, and GF4Ti4200 in antec case with 330W "Truepower" PSU.
The PSU is quiet, and the "Fan ONly" connectors keep the case fans at low/silent RPM's, but the current heatsink and GPU cooler emit too much noise for my liking (thermoengine V60-4225 (freebie) H/S on CPU with the stock AMD "low-noise" fan .. pha!)
SLK-800 seems to be the "mother-of-all" air-cooled heat sinks, and mated to a 80CM panaflo running half speed seems like a good option, based on the heatsink review on this site.
However, I was wondering if anyone had seen/done a comparison between that setup, and the stock watercool setup by thermaltake - the aquarius II.
Several cooling reviews for it seem to indicate that it would perform quite well - indications are potentially better cooling than the SLK-800 run at the same noise level.
http://overclockersclub.com/reviews/the ... ooler4.php
http://www.pc-arena.net/Review_full.asp?ReviewID=184
(those reviews make no mention of the SLK, but give an indication of 29 Decibels, and posts in forums indicate some pretty happy customers.
For me here in Oz, it's around $125 for the SLK, and $220 for the water cooled aquarius kit.
Problem is - i cannot find a like-for-like comparison - so was looking for opinions (or a site that's done the compare).
Example of current cooling - room temp is approx 25 degrees (Celcius), and MotherBoardMonitor indicates a case temp of 44, and CPU of 49 (2 case fans blowing in at half speed, and only PSU exhausting)... case fan suck/blow configuration makes little of no difference - these temps are after running for 2-3 hours.
so .. opinions, or better yet, experience anyone ?
ThermalTake Aquarius II versus Thermalright SLK-800
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MikeC
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29 Decibels -- assuming it is dBA @ 1 M -- is not quiet. hardly anyone here runs any HS with the Panaflo at 12V -- it's almost always undervolted to 8, 7, 6, 5V and even lower. My XP2000+ Palomino core, a real hot 'un, runs folding@home24/7 and it is usually 55-58C in a 20-22C room. SLK800 with Panaflo at 7V. At idle, the temp drops to below 40C. That's way below 20 dBA. Maybe 16. Still audible, but very quiet.
With your setup, you don't need the SLK800. The SK7 gets you within a couple degrees and is ~half the price in the US. Even if you ran it at 8V with a Zalman fanmate1, I bet it would keep max temps to no more than low 60Cs -- perfectly safe. And at that voltage, the Panaflo would be much quieter than the default noise floor set by your Antec330, which is probably somewhere in the 28-30 dBA neighborhood. You might even run the Panaflo at 10V and not hear it.
The Zalman ZM80 heatpipe GPU cooler is probably good enough to cool your case without active cooling if you have decent case airflow.
No need for WC, IMO. Unless you're after lower temps.
With your setup, you don't need the SLK800. The SK7 gets you within a couple degrees and is ~half the price in the US. Even if you ran it at 8V with a Zalman fanmate1, I bet it would keep max temps to no more than low 60Cs -- perfectly safe. And at that voltage, the Panaflo would be much quieter than the default noise floor set by your Antec330, which is probably somewhere in the 28-30 dBA neighborhood. You might even run the Panaflo at 10V and not hear it.
The Zalman ZM80 heatpipe GPU cooler is probably good enough to cool your case without active cooling if you have decent case airflow.
No need for WC, IMO. Unless you're after lower temps.
First of all Mike's suggestion is very sounding.
Secondly,
If I were you, I would budget myself first with few things in consideration.
1) how quiet would you like to go? (Believe me, it can get EXTREMELY quiet with $$$ and effort)
2) are you into OCing by anychance?
3) how often do you change system?
Now, to just keep few things in perspective since you think Truepower is quiet...
Your CPU fan would benefiting a lot from SLK-800 with panaflo (at lower than default voltage so u need some method of controlling fan speed as well). This will cost you about 45-50.
GPU-> Zalman HP-80A will do just fine with it. You might want to have Zalman fan bracket next to it with low V panaflo again. (30-40 total)
One thing you didn't mention is chipset... which you will notice immediately once you are done with this 2. (In fact, it is louder than Ti4200 in general)... Zalman chipset heatsink is another 10. (at this point I really recommend getting the fan bracket with panaflo to cool both chipset and gpu.
Total runs about 100 and will satisfy 80% of people at least.
Now, if you start overclocking things, all bets are off as you need to worry about heat consideration as well as power from PSU.
This can lead to additional spending which were not thought of and add to cost. Now, the aquaris II isn't going to perform much better than SLK800 with same noise level. (if better at all) And there is nothing you can reuse in that kit for upgrading h2o system later (all the fittings are too small, pump is weak, block is useless).
If you are into overclocking, I would look into danger den kit or something that are in $200 range with 3/8 ID or 1/2 ID tubing.
Secondly,
If I were you, I would budget myself first with few things in consideration.
1) how quiet would you like to go? (Believe me, it can get EXTREMELY quiet with $$$ and effort)
2) are you into OCing by anychance?
3) how often do you change system?
Now, to just keep few things in perspective since you think Truepower is quiet...
Your CPU fan would benefiting a lot from SLK-800 with panaflo (at lower than default voltage so u need some method of controlling fan speed as well). This will cost you about 45-50.
GPU-> Zalman HP-80A will do just fine with it. You might want to have Zalman fan bracket next to it with low V panaflo again. (30-40 total)
One thing you didn't mention is chipset... which you will notice immediately once you are done with this 2. (In fact, it is louder than Ti4200 in general)... Zalman chipset heatsink is another 10. (at this point I really recommend getting the fan bracket with panaflo to cool both chipset and gpu.
Total runs about 100 and will satisfy 80% of people at least.
Now, if you start overclocking things, all bets are off as you need to worry about heat consideration as well as power from PSU.
This can lead to additional spending which were not thought of and add to cost. Now, the aquaris II isn't going to perform much better than SLK800 with same noise level. (if better at all) And there is nothing you can reuse in that kit for upgrading h2o system later (all the fittings are too small, pump is weak, block is useless).
If you are into overclocking, I would look into danger den kit or something that are in $200 range with 3/8 ID or 1/2 ID tubing.
Thanks for the tips .. silence is my main priority - but don't want to go extreme (like ripping out the PSU fans, as i've seen on one or 2 sites 
) .. would also like to keep the temp under 55 (as it always is at the moment)
Based on the posts .. leaning towards the SLK.. the DIY Water cooler is tempting tho'... (eheim, make the block, mod a radiator to fit, and use spare drive bay for the reservoir - special
) ... just the wiring etc to the MBO that deterring me at this point.. damn the indecision!
ciao.
) .. would also like to keep the temp under 55 (as it always is at the moment)Based on the posts .. leaning towards the SLK.. the DIY Water cooler is tempting tho'... (eheim, make the block, mod a radiator to fit, and use spare drive bay for the reservoir - special
) ... just the wiring etc to the MBO that deterring me at this point.. damn the indecision!ciao.
What wiring? You mean hoses? The pump runs from 120v btw. The only connection to computer would be 5 or 12v power line for relay (which cost few bucks total for DIY).carbon wrote:Thanks for the tips .. silence is my main priority - but don't want to go extreme (like ripping out the PSU fans, as i've seen on one or 2 sites
Based on the posts .. leaning towards the SLK.. the DIY Water cooler is tempting tho'... (eheim, make the block, mod a radiator to fit, and use spare drive bay for the reservoir - special
ciao.
3/8 ID tubing will make it easier for installation in cramped cases.