Noob at WC! Anyone have any tips&tricks for me?

A

asguitarplaya

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Messages
177
Hey guys!
So I just bought myself a corsair H100 for my rig.
Right now my rig consists of:
Quad core i7-960
Asus sabortooth x58
Nvidia GeForce gtx 260
16gb DDR3 ram
1tb hard drive
All in a coolermaster elite 430 case


Right now I have a zalmon heat sink CPU cooler, but as mentioned I bought a h100 so what are some tips I would need to make the switch.
 
The Corsair H series is pretty easy to set up.

My only recommendation is 3 fold. I'm assuming you have the room for H100.

1. Apply third party thermal paste. I recommend MX-2 or MX-4.
2. When applying thermal paste be somewhat generous and apply it as a straight line top to bottom
3. Position the fans to exhaust the warm air from the radiator, not inside.
 
My housing has a dual vent on the top that can fit up to 120mm fans. Perfect to exhaust the heat from the radiator.

I do have some thermal paste, I believe it's artic silver.
Is there a different paste for Hydro cooling?
BatJoe said:
The Corsair H series is pretty easy to set up.

My only recommendation is 3 fold. I'm assuming you have the room for H100.

1. Apply third party thermal paste. I recommend MX-2 or MX-4.
2. When applying thermal paste be somewhat generous and apply it as a straight line top to bottom
3. Position the fans to exhaust the warm air from the radiator, not inside.
Click to expand...
 
asguitarplaya said:
My housing has a dual vent on the top that can fit up to 120mm fans. Perfect to exhaust the heat from the radiator.

I do have some thermal paste, I believe it's artic silver.
Is there a different paste for Hydro cooling?
Click to expand...

No that will work just fine, make sure to clean the old thermal paste off before you put the new on. wipe it off and then use something like rubbing alcohol to remove any residue and then apply the paste, if you want to make sure you get a even amount of paste you can apply a small pea sized dab of thermal paste and then use something like a plastic bag over your finger and just spread it out as evenly as possible. If you need to add more as your go it is ok just dont go crazy with the amount you put on as you only need a thin layer applied.
 
Thanks for the tips!

kirk121 said:
No that will work just fine, make sure to clean the old thermal paste off before you put the new on. wipe it off and then use something like rubbing alcohol to remove any residue and then apply the paste, if you want to make sure you get a even amount of paste you can apply a small pea sized dab of thermal paste and then use something like a plastic bag over your finger and just spread it out as evenly as possible. If you need to add more as your go it is ok just dont go crazy with the amount you put on as you only need a thin layer applied.
Click to expand...
 
kirk121 said:
No that will work just fine, make sure to clean the old thermal paste off before you put the new on. wipe it off and then use something like rubbing alcohol to remove any residue and then apply the paste, if you want to make sure you get a even amount of paste you can apply a small pea sized dab of thermal paste and then use something like a plastic bag over your finger and just spread it out as evenly as possible. If you need to add more as your go it is ok just dont go crazy with the amount you put on as you only need a thin layer applied.
Click to expand...

It is a well known fact pea size trick doesn't work as well as a straight line. You don't get as much coverage. And the straight line especially works better on the Intel chips, as the CPU is positioned as a straight line.
 
BatJoe said:
It is a well known fact pea size trick doesn't work as well as a straight line. You don't get as much coverage. And the straight line especially works better on the Intel chips, as the CPU is positioned as a straight line.
Click to expand...

While this is true, if he uses the wrapped finger smear trick, it really doesn't matter..
 
I thought the spreading/smearing was to prep the surface (to fill in the micro-valley's)? Here is how I did mine:

Thoroughly cleaned the surface of the block (using rubbing alcohol).
Smeared Arctic Silver around the block, really trying to fill all the micro-crevices.
wiped the entire block off with a lint-free cloth (you could still see some gray from the AS in the micro-crevices)
Applied AS per the instructions


I haven't had any problems, and no overage/overuse of the product (squeezing out the sides of the block due to applying too much).
 
I have done some watercooling for my computer, I wrote an article on my site http://www.hobbyware.org/Computer/IV Inferno/ivinferno.aspx. It has some tips and tricks as a go through the build, so this may be of interest for you.

EDIT: Just noticed you are using a Corsair H100, so most of the article won't apply. Do some stress testing afterwards. I recommend Intel burn test, and use real temp to monitor your temperatures. You will get a good idea of how much head room you will have should you want to try overclocking. The first gen i7's are the fun ones to overclock you have so much control over your overclock. Should you not want to overclock your CPU will be cool and last longer. Enjoi!
 
Last edited:
Kelvarr said:
I thought the spreading/smearing was to prep the surface (to fill in the micro-valley's)? Here is how I did mine:

Thoroughly cleaned the surface of the block (using rubbing alcohol).
Smeared Arctic Silver around the block, really trying to fill all the micro-crevices.
wiped the entire block off with a lint-free cloth (you could still see some gray from the AS in the micro-crevices)
Applied AS per the instructions


I haven't had any problems, and no overage/overuse of the product (squeezing out the sides of the block due to applying too much).
Click to expand...

I am also a firm believer in properly prepping both surfaces with a spread/wipe (lightly, leaving plenty of residue in the micro-valleys), but I don't know what the mfg suggests spread for some processors but dot for others. Perhaps the internal architecture is different enough that lack of complete IHS coverage is more detrimental than air bubbles. Would like to see some testing/raw data on this from a respectable manufacturer sometime; but until then I'm happy with the enthusiast community providing the details I need.
 
Okay so looks like this is getting some attention! Haha
So should I spread or no?
Last time I cleaned my heat sink I put pea sized drops and then spread the paste with the heat sink making sure every area was covered and applied more until it was.
Was that a bad thing????
 
T3rr0rByte13 said:
I have done some watercooling for my computer, I wrote an article on my site http://www.hobbyware.org/Computer/IV Inferno/ivinferno.aspx. It has some tips and tricks as a go through the build, so this may be of interest for you.

EDIT: Just noticed you are using a Corsair H100, so most of the article won't apply. Do some stress testing afterwards. I recommend Intel burn test, and use real temp to monitor your temperatures. You will get a good idea of how much head room you will have should you want to try overclocking. The first gen i7's are the fun ones to overclock you have so much control over your overclock. Should you not want to overclock your CPU will be cool and last longer. Enjoi!
Click to expand...

You're not the only one who thought that. :p

asguitarplaya said:
Okay so looks like this is getting some attention! Haha
So should I spread or no?
Last time I cleaned my heat sink I put pea sized drops and then spread the paste with the heat sink making sure every area was covered and applied more until it was.
Was that a bad thing????
Click to expand...

1 pea size drop is usually the best. Maybe a cross shape if you are paranoid.

The reason it isn't best to spread is the increased risk of either too much thermal compound as well as the risk of air being caught in bubbles around the centre of the chip.
These problems are usually avoided doing the no-spread pea method.
 
Sadly after all the chat the H100 didn't even fit :(
The space between the two fan spaces on my case were to far apart.
Time to sell it! Lol
 
My tip is to not give up on fitting stuff in a case and making a loop work. Sometimes with some thought you can find another way to mount something with the space given.
 
Thanks! Yeah I posted in the case modding section and they gave me some great idea on how to mod my case.
also I purchased a new PSU with removable cables which would help with management and give me room for my custom loop

SonDa5 said:
My tip is to not give up on fitting stuff in a case and making a loop work. Sometimes with some thought you can find another way to mount something with the space given.
Click to expand...
 
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