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Finally doing my first SFF: cooling issue

S

Synthetickiller

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
285
Parts list (typical stuff):

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 LGA 1156 (putting copper sinks on the PWMs and mosfets)
CPU: Intel i3 530 (plan on OCing the heck out of this chip)
Ram: G.Skill Eco Series 4GB 2x2gb DDR3 1600 (7-8-7-24-2N)
Video: 8800gts g92 512mb (will either upgrade to a dx11 5770 or similiar or my gtx260 from my desktop rig)
Case: SG05/06 (can anyone justify the $30 extra cost of the 06?)
Intake Fan: Scythe GT 1850rpm
HDDs: own two 160gb 5400 rpm laptop drives (will upgrade later)
ODD: may buy in the future, if I need it.

Here's my problem:

1. What type of cooling for CPU & H55 chipset?

GeminII seems ideal since I want and need active cooling and the 120mm fan fits under the PSU, but the Corsair H50 seems to be a quick fix and should provide good temps. I do not want a Geminii dual 120mm since I need active cooling and retain all slots for hdds (I'll be dropping three 2.5" drives into this rig).

2. As well, do you guys feel the H55 needs active cooling (like Extreme Spirit II) besides the 120mm GT blowing cool air in from the front?

3. One other easy question, will the 300w PSU be enough for this set up (with 8800gts card)? I'll get the 450w if by some miracle it's bundled in the US, if not, I may buy it later as an upgrade for higher end video cards.
 
If you are going to use the Sugo 05/06, you will have to get creative to fit a H50 radiator in front of the 120mm fan without losing drive bays. You'll be fine with air cooling -- check out the AXP-140 thread in this sub-forum for some ideas on the space constraints.
 
Synthetickiller said:
Case: SG05/06 (can anyone justify the $30 extra cost of the 06?)
Click to expand...

If you ever decide to get HD5870, you can fit it in SG06 with little mod but you can't with SG05 and SG06 said to be little quieter than SG05. Other than that, I can't find any other reason to get SG06 unless you prefer the look of SG06.


Machupo said:
If you are going to use the Sugo 05/06, you will have to get creative to fit a H50 radiator in front of the 120mm fan without losing drive bays. You'll be fine with air cooling -- check out the AXP-140 thread in this sub-forum for some ideas on the space constraints.
Click to expand...

You can refer to my build log for H50(I should update soon) but if I would to do it again, I would rather keep intake fan as is and either get AXP-140 or Big Shuriken. It's much easier and less mod that way. Here is my build log
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1469728
 
Thanks guys:

Case: I like the aluminium front, but it's not THAT important. $30 could be better spent on a better processor or cooler. I'll have to think about it. Thanks for the reply!

Cooler: I'll negate the H50 (somewhat gladly) since it costs $80 and I need my drive bays and would rather only do a case mod in terms of painting this time around.

I won't be using this as a main rig, so I may always keep the video to a 1 pci-e 6pin power consumption card to not stress the psu and if I am doing a lan game, I don't care since I'd be running 1680x1050 (main rig is where the money goes for cards anyways; my main monitor is 30" NEC 2560x1600,lol)
 
Synthetickiller said:
Parts list (typical stuff):


1. What type of cooling for CPU & H55 chipset?

GeminII seems ideal since I want and need active cooling and the 120mm fan fits under the PSU, but the Corsair H50 seems to be a quick fix and should provide good temps. I do not want a Geminii dual 120mm since I need active cooling and retain all slots for hdds (I'll be dropping three 2.5" drives into this rig).

2. As well, do you guys feel the H55 needs active cooling (like Extreme Spirit II) besides the 120mm GT blowing cool air in from the front?

3. One other easy question, will the 300w PSU be enough for this set up (with 8800gts card)? I'll get the 450w if by some miracle it's bundled in the US, if not, I may buy it later as an upgrade for higher end video cards.
Click to expand...

1. The AXP-140 fits, not sure about the Shuriken. It might block the pcie slot. Here's my build thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1528717

2. H55 chipset does not need active cooling. The stock heatsink on the H55N is good enough.

3. The 300w will be enough. My build uses around 150W during load and 70W on idle. The all-black interier SG05 w/ 450W psu will probably never come to North America but the 450W SFF psu is available at NCIX. No stock yet.
 
Not too keen on the Shuriken. I owned the small one and just did not like the sink.

The AXP-140 is NICE and is confirmed to fit, albeit, pricey.

Glad to hear the H55 doesn't need any active cooling. Saves me some money there. I think the mosfets get hit harder with a high OC anyways, so copper should help.

I did read about the 450w not coming to the US, which sucks. Thanks for the heads up about where to get one if I ever need it.
 
It should be coming in the following weeks.

If you don't mind losing the 3.5" bay getting the H50 is eeeasy
 
Synthetickiller said:
Glad to hear the H55 doesn't need any active cooling. Saves me some money there. I think the mosfets get hit harder with a high OC anyways, so copper should help.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I never considered the temps from overclocking. I might consider putting some copper on the board as well. Do you have a pic of where they should go? I don't know which ones get hot and I'm afraid to touch them with my finger lol.
 
2ltr5a8.jpg


See where the red arrows point to? ALl those chips, lol. Some may be overkill, but I'll be pushing the hell out of this board.

I'll be running Win 7 and OSX on this box (OSX for kicks more than anything) so the entire rig is a project, even past the build phase.
 
Home Depot makes neoprene washers that will fit over normal washers, so that's a super safe solutoin and cheap too.

I'm still up in the air about what cooler to get. I have a month or two, so research is in order.

I guess a better question would be to know how much cooling does an i3 530 actually need to get between 4.0ghz and 4.4ghz based on typical voltages? The AXP-140 might be enough "passively" or with that 12mm fan.
 
i'll have a prolimatech samuel 17 on the way as soon as I get an "in-stock" notification
 
There has been a bit of discussion about this board and what coolers work. Your setup (and several others) is very similar to the one I'll be building. My research points to the AXP-140 being able to clear the graphics card and a french(?) reviewer confirmed that the Prolimatech Samuel 17 will fit as well. Apart from those two, I can't confirm anything. The socket is dangerously close to the pcie slot :\
 
Synthetickiller said:
I guess a better question would be to know how much cooling does an i3 530 actually need to get between 4.0ghz and 4.4ghz based on typical voltages? The AXP-140 might be enough "passively" or with that 12mm fan.
Click to expand...

The AXP-140 was not designed to be a passive fan so temps will go very high. The fins are too close together for any air to flow between them without a fan. Passive sinks usually have their fins spaced further apart.

With my i3 530 at stock speed + AXP-140 w/ 1200rpm fan + front case fan all on max it idles at 28C and 50C during Prime95 Blend test.


WiLLiSTER said:
The socket is dangerously close to the pcie slot :\
Click to expand...

Close but not too close. ;)

IMG_3585.JPG
 
That's what, a 12mm fan? How much air does it move? I've had fans that shallow and their air movement sucks.

I'd think geminII S would move more air since it can actually use a 120x25mm fan.

The Prolimatech Samuel 17 seems tiny. I can't see it compared to the GeminII S.
 
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The kaze jyuni slim can actually push alot of air but they get rather loud depending on what version you have. I have 2 of these fans running at 1200 rpm in push pull through my coolit eco and it keeps my core i5 750 at 27 to 35 degrees idle with an ambient temperature of 20.
 
Synthetickiller said:
That's what, a 12mm fan? How much air does it move? I've had fans that shallow and their air movement sucks.

I'd think geminII S would move more air since it can actually use a 120x25mm fan.

The Prolimatech Samuel 17 seems tiny. I can't see it compared to the GeminII S.
Click to expand...

I have the 1200rpm version. Moves 24CFM which isn't much and it have very weak static pressure. I actually want to replace it with the 1600rpm one. The GeminII S may cool better with a 25mm fan but it won't fit on H55 boards if you plan on using the PCIe slot.
 
Kazei said:
I have the 1200rpm version. Moves 24CFM which isn't much and it have very weak static pressure. I actually want to replace it with the 1600rpm one. The GeminII S may cool better with a 25mm fan but it won't fit on H55 boards if you plan on using the PCIe slot.
Click to expand...

I see why the CPU placement is an issue.

The Samuel 17 compares how well to the geminII S? I can use a GT 1850 as an intake and the heat sink fan.

I guess the real question would be Samuel 17 w/ 1850rpm scythe GT vs AXP-140 w/ 12mm thick 120mm fan. Which is better?
 
Sorry can't really help you as I have no clue how the Samuel performs. I would say the Samuel since 25mm fans have a lot more CFM and pressure vs the 12mm Slims.
 
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