Passive corsair h50 and core i3 530?

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kjeldoran

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Jan 17, 2010
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Hey everyone,

I am going to be building a new mitx system this summer.

Specs will be:
Antec ISK 310-150
PicoPSU 150xt
ECS mitx h55
Core i3 530
4GB of DDR3
Low profile Radeon 5570
Slot loading DVD RW
Either an SSD or a 2.5" HDD

Now, since I am using a PCIe video card I can't really use anything wide (Scythe big shuriken, etc) so I am thinking about using the corsair H50 passively. I will remove the stock PSU in the system and place the H50 there. I want to use the pico PSU because it saves space and it is way more efficient than the stock PSU from the reviews I have read.

So, do you think a passive H50 could sustain a core i3 530 at stock settings? This system will be crunching 24/7 as well. I don't mind if temps are that high (70's) but noise is an issue for me. Also, the video card is so she can play L4D2. It is the only game she plays.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

Edited: changed do to don't
 
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What video card? don't think you can run many video cards with a PicoPSU, maybe an ati 5450.

About the H50. I think It won't be very good at it.There is this thing about watercooling, It NEEDS airflow. Otherwise it's even worse if there is no airflow to the rad.

It would be better to use an SG05 and an H50 with a fanmate I guess.

The SG05 PSU is not noisy.
 
fr500 said:
What video card? don't think you can run many video cards with a PicoPSU, maybe an ati 5450.

About the H50. I think It won't be very good at it.There is this thing about watercooling, It NEEDS airflow. Otherwise it's even worse if there is no airflow to the rad.

It would be better to use an SG05 and an H50 with a fanmate I guess.

The SG05 PSU is not noisy.
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Well, I already own an SG06 but she wants a smaller system and the antec isk 310 is smaller than the sg06 and she likes that size...

I think the PSU will be fine with a core i3 530 and a radeon 5570. The 5570 has a tpd of ~43W and the i3 has a tdp of 73W. That leaves about 40W left over for the rest of the system, but I doubt I am going to be pushing a full 150W with this setup.

I noticed that the core i5 661 review at SPCR had about 46W of power consumption when the CPU was fully loaded. I think the i3 530 will pull a bit less. Given that all of the energy will not be going to heat, I think the H50 could possibly go passive since it is not that much energy.

Thanks for your input, anyone have any other thoughts?
 
fr500 said:
Well HWmonitor says 73w on full load on an microATX build i just made.

Load CPU (OCCT) 108W/48c CPU

You can read this here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1507271

Maybe I need to check the voltages and lower them
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Well, on the SPCR article they measured directly from the atx connector so they were just getting the power consumption of the CPU and the VRMs. That explains the lower power consumption. Also, your numbers are from the wall which is AC, but it is converted to DC which will be based on the PSU's efficiency. I'd imagine your actual power consumption is probably a bit more than 70W with the CPU stress test. This also includes the the motherboard, RAM, video card, HDD and everything at idle. Given that you are using an mATX system I'd imagine your system power consumption at full CPU load is a bit higher than an mITX system.

On the SPCR review they also test full system power consumption with a velociraptor and a geforce 9400gt and they had 78W full CPU load. I think the power consumption while gaming in L4D2 will probably push around 100W since it does not use 100% of the CPU and GPU.
 
While I agree, apparently clarkdales report temperature it seems, and HWmonitor said 73w for the CPU @ full load, I may be mistaken so don't take my word for granted.
 
To be safe, I'd consider using one of those ultra-thin 12mm scythe fans (120mm diameter) to generate "some" airflow if they fit. If noise is the concern, undervolt the fan to something like 600 rpm and you'll have trouble hearing it. Regardless, the pump noise will be your main problem not the fan, so you're not losing anything by doing this. Other options could be to look for heatsinks that you could bend to make fit (sythe mini-ninja doesn't fit?) and would be capable of going passive simply based on the airflow of the exisiting 80mm fan.

Saying that, it could be that running an H2O passive will be fine for cooling (and the pump will not be too distracting), but that's just a guess, so consider options if it isn't.
 
echn111 said:
To be safe, I'd consider using one of those ultra-thin 12mm scythe fans (120mm diameter) to generate "some" airflow if they fit. If noise is the concern, undervolt the fan to something like 600 rpm and you'll have trouble hearing it. Regardless, the pump noise will be your main problem not the fan, so you're not losing anything by doing this. Other options could be to look for heatsinks that you could bend to make fit (sythe mini-ninja doesn't fit?) and would be capable of going passive simply based on the airflow of the exisiting 80mm fan.

Saying that, it could be that running an H2O passive will be fine for cooling (and the pump will not be too distracting), but that's just a guess, so consider options if it isn't.
Click to expand...

The ISK 310 has about 96mm width so the mini ninja won't work since it is 115mm tall. I think I have about 65mm for the heatsink, but the problem is the placement of the socket so I cannot use any wider coolers like the shuriken, etc. Maybe my nexus low-7000 with the scythe 12mm fan would work if I placed the bent part of the heatpipes facing the video card. Not sure how that would do for cooling though...

I did think about having a fan on the H50, but due to how it will be setup I think the fan might cause some turbulent noise.

For example if this was my setup

|{ }[]

The | is the side of the case, the { } is the rad and the [] is the fan. There is not a vent on the case wall so air would be coming to/from gaps between the case and the rad. I think this will create some turbulence with so I wanted to avoid it.

It was kind of going to be a ghetto mount as well...lol.
 
I think I may have found a solution. The Silverstone NT-01E may work if I bend the heatpipes. It is 88mm tall but I think if I bend it a bit I can get it around 65mm tall.
 
Indeed that may be the solution everyone is looking for on H55 boards!, bending to fit in the isk300...I'm skeptical but may fit an SG05 really well, I plan using ISK300/310 for some builds, keep us posted please
 
fr500 said:
Indeed that may be the solution everyone is looking for on H55 boards!, bending to fit in the isk300...I'm skeptical but may fit an SG05 really well, I plan using ISK300/310 for some builds, keep us posted please
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It will be sometime during the summer I imagine. Depends how funds are during that time since I need about $1000 since I am going to buy myself a HP ZR22w.

Honestly, for the SG05/06 I think it could work with the H55 boards if it was bent a bit since there is about 76mm of clearance under the PSU. The only reason I never thought about using it is due to the fan size for the nt01e. It uses 60mm fans which, IMO, can be quite whiny. However, I am think about keeping it passive for the core i3. I think if it was placed on an i5 or i7 quad it would need active cooling.

I think for the ISK300/310 it will be fine passively because I am going to have the case standing vertically. The heat will be going towards the fins which is already going up...and heat rises. There is an option for 2 80mm fans at the top which I can have exhausting air and that should keep temps on an i3 fairly decent.

However, on a quad I don't think it would be a good idea...I know my q9650 was blistering hot in the sg06 with a nexus low 7000 with the fan at 7V. Passively...I don't even want to know lol.
 
Read the SPCR H50 review. The H50 sucks for silence, the pump would heave to run all the time anyway so there would be no point in not adding at least a silent fan.
 
Zink said:
Read the SPCR H50 review. The H50 sucks for silence, the pump would heave to run all the time anyway so there would be no point in not adding at least a silent fan.
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Yeah, I just read that after I made the OP. It is a pain trying to find the perfect heatsink lol. Actually, I think I might have to axe the nt01e since I made a mistake in reading the dimensions. It is 109mm high. I think that it could be bended for the sg06, but for the isk300/310 I think it would be pushing the pipes and how tall the case is. :(
 
I find the H50 silent enough though, you gotta remember it's a far more subjective matter than cooling ability and those guys are all in for silence.
 
I'd b concerned about using the H50 passively.

The loop is narrow and low flow. I think you'd find the heat would build and run away over time - if you think the computer will be used for a hour or so at a time max it maybe ok. I'd monitor it closely and be prepared to have to add a fan.

Also worth remembering the pump isn't designed to run with high temp coolant running through it; anything over 60 degrees for extended periods will degrade and eventually kill it.
 
This really calls for o proper worklog with lots of pics :D

What video card? don't think you can run many video cards with a PicoPSU, maybe an ati 5450.
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My pico 150W managed to pull hd 5770 and an e8600.


if ur planning on a passive system, undervolting is tha way to go. get a mobo that allows u to do that.

as an example my e8600 dropped 25W by lovering vcore from 1,225v to 1,10v. that made all the difference in the ISK 300
 
leifeinar said:
This really calls for o proper worklog with lots of pics :D



My pico 150W managed to pull hd 5770 and an e8600.


if ur planning on a passive system, undervolting is tha way to go. get a mobo that allows u to do that.

as an example my e8600 dropped 25W by lovering vcore from 1,225v to 1,10v. that made all the difference in the ISK 300
Click to expand...

Yah, undervolting helps a lot with going passive. I'll need to look around to see if the ECS board allows undervolting...I know my zotac 9300 d-e didn't allow undervolting.

Yeah, a pico 150W is way more than what this set up will need. My system was pulling around ~200W DC with a q9650, radeon 5770 overclocked and a geforce 9300 d-e...Given that the h55 is probably not as power hungry as the 9300 chipset, the i3 530 is more power effecient, and the 5570 is way lower in TDP compared to the 5770...I think I'll be fine. Hell, I could probably bump it up to a quad in terms of power requirements, but cooling...haha no way would I want that in an ISK 300.
 
For the OP: if you are already set on the case and the CPU, I suggest you try with the Intel stock cooler. I don't have experience with the one shipping with the Core i3, but I have used fairly decent ones (noise-wise) on socket 775 (Pentium E5300. With the E6300 and E8xxx they were awful).
 
NichoTL said:
For the OP: if you are already set on the case and the CPU, I suggest you try with the Intel stock cooler. I don't have experience with the one shipping with the Core i3, but I have used fairly decent ones (noise-wise) on socket 775 (Pentium E5300. With the E6300 and E8xxx they were awful).
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Well, I thought about using the stock cooler, but this system will be crunching 24/7 so I think the fan may get quite loud. So I was hoping for a better cooler that I could use passively. Some of the ideas I had in mind I already listed (h50, nt01e) but the others are the Swiftech MCX-VCore, a 1U copper heatsink, maybe a zalman cpns 8000, reusing a nexus low 7000 without a fan, and a crazy idea of using the prolimatech mk-13 VGA cooler (with some modding of course...).
 
kjeldoran said:
Well, I thought about using the stock cooler, but this system will be crunching 24/7 so I think the fan may get quite loud. So I was hoping for a better cooler that I could use passively. Some of the ideas I had in mind I already listed (h50, nt01e) but the others are the Swiftech MCX-VCore, a 1U copper heatsink, maybe a zalman cpns 8000, reusing a nexus low 7000 without a fan, and a crazy idea of using the prolimatech mk-13 VGA cooler (with some modding of course...).
Click to expand...

That makes absolutely no sense: a cooler with fan (Intel stock, Nexus Low 7000, even with their fans on low speed) will always be better than a passive cooler in such a small case with limited airflow: passive heatsinks require decent airflow (your CPU is going to 'crunch' 24/7: where is the heat going to go?) and seeing that the only fans you are can use are 80mm, to achieve good enough airflow for a passive cooler you will have to run them full speed, hence noise, which defeats the purpose of the passive cooler.
 
I think the meaning of passive was lost somewhere. If you say you're running an h50 passively that means you're not using a fan and not plugging in the pump. Depending on your fan, most of the noise is going to come from the pump. Either way this is sounds like a bad idea all around.
 
NichoTL said:
That makes absolutely no sense: a cooler with fan (Intel stock, Nexus Low 7000, even with their fans on low speed) will always be better than a passive cooler in such a small case with limited airflow: passive heatsinks require decent airflow (your CPU is going to 'crunch' 24/7: where is the heat going to go?) and seeing that the only fans you are can use are 80mm, to achieve good enough airflow for a passive cooler you will have to run them full speed, hence noise, which defeats the purpose of the passive cooler.
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Yes, I understand all of that. However, the reason for a passive aftermarket heatsink is because most of them are going to be taller than 65mm with a fan. Therefore, I just said I would run them passively. The stock heatsink will work and the fan will make it cooler, but how will the temps be with the fan at the lowest noise level? Now, if I can get a passive heatsink (with a little bit of case airflow) that can rival a heatsink with a fan why should I use the one with a fan? That is why I am looking around for the right heatsink for me.

As for the 80mm fans, I am looking at using two of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608006 undervolted of course. These should create little no noise (and of course less airflow), but given the heat output of the system I think it should be overall decent for the case temps. Now, my only gripe is the stock cooler for the 5570. It has a tiny little fan that could emit a whiny noise. I am still looking for solutions for a low profile cooler. I found one VGA low profile heatsink that would work, but it was for OEMs only. http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?Idx=297

RVWinkle said:
I think the meaning of passive was lost somewhere. If you say you're running an h50 passively that means you're not using a fan and not plugging in the pump. Depending on your fan, most of the noise is going to come from the pump. Either way this is sounds like a bad idea all around.
Click to expand...

Well, I was planning on plugging the pump in since it does need to have the water flow, but before reading the review at SPCR I had read that it was a fairly silent system, but SPCR's review kind of turned me off regarding the H50.

I meant passive as there was no fan directly on the heatsink/rad.
 
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