Water cooled VS Air cool
- Thread starter Sick Boy
- Start date
matt
Local caffeine junky
For a standard PC, air-cooling is fine, and the CPU will come with a heat-sink and fan as standard. If you want to overclock your machine and put lots of super high-end stuff in that runs hot, then you get into the whole water cooling thing. From the looks of what you're looking for in a PC, I'd say don't worry about water cooling.
For the power supply, the wattage depends on the power consumption of the components you're putting in it, so if you're putting in a few hard drives, and a high-end graphics card, you'll need a bigger power supply. You will probably be fine with 550W I would think.
For the power supply, the wattage depends on the power consumption of the components you're putting in it, so if you're putting in a few hard drives, and a high-end graphics card, you'll need a bigger power supply. You will probably be fine with 550W I would think.
matt
Local caffeine junky
I would put in one 1TB, or a 1.5TB. It's more cost effective in terms of Rand / GB, and it'll take less power because it's only one drive, so less demands on your PSU requirement as above
Xero
Official Zombie Slayer
Water Cooling is not cost effective unless you plan on overclocking to such an extent that Air Cooling simply will not cool the components enough
In regards to a PSU, as Matt said, depending on what you intend to have running in your case a standard 500 / 600 watt psu might not be enough
In regards to the HDD's I always opt for Raid 0 so my opinion would be 2 x 500's but as Matt mentioned there is a cost penalty on not using one single 3.5" HDD
You can buy 2TB Internal HDD's for under R600 Bucks, so possibly look at that?
In regards to a PSU, as Matt said, depending on what you intend to have running in your case a standard 500 / 600 watt psu might not be enough
In regards to the HDD's I always opt for Raid 0 so my opinion would be 2 x 500's but as Matt mentioned there is a cost penalty on not using one single 3.5" HDD
You can buy 2TB Internal HDD's for under R600 Bucks, so possibly look at that?
kerbyross
New member
Hi Matt.
I find that watercooled is only for people who really want to overclock their cpu.
I dont recommend people overclock anything as it brings down the life of any hardware.
At most I recommend reading up on air cooled heatsink cpu coolers and fitting the best air cooler you can get your hands on.
As for powersupply, the more hardware you have in your case the more WATTs you need.
if you would want to add some more drives to your rig and you upgrade to a power hungry graphics card , you need to take all those things into consideration.
My Rig right now = 1000watt psu , 4 hard drives with a very power hungry HD4870x2 (x2 as in dual gpu card)
when I first bought the graphics card I only had 1 hard drive in the case with a 300watt psu, the graphics card is so powerhungry it made my pc die on bootup. I thought maybe the card was faulty , lucky for me it was just hungry.
Also keep in mind (and forgive me if this is extremely obvious , some people dont think about this) ,
if you are going to be running your pc for extended periods of time your electricity bill is going to go up.
Im telling you this as a mate of mine was moaning about how quickly his pre paid power went down.
He has a 800watt PSU , thats like bioling 3 kettles non stop.
Anyone whos ever used a power generator will be able to tell you how you can hear the difference when you power a kettle from one. Some kettles are so power hungry the generator wants to die when you switch the kettle on.
Theres some extra info people usually wont give you to think about.
Do the math before buying a PSU.
Read the specs of the GPU and the hard drives , see how much power they need , that should give you an idea at the maximum power requirements you might be looking at.
(Or just buy a 1000watt psu if you arent too bothered with your electricity bill , I only play for 3 hours a night so I'm not bothered and my reasoning for getting the 1000watt psu was that I can upgrade my rig at any time without needing to worry about having enough juice)
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The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
Closed loop coolers are ideal for any set up, as they cost around R600 for a good one and they will out perform their airbased rivals no problem. Yes they are more effective for oc'd rig, as water is obviously colder than the air in your case, that said..They do have a little issue which is,if you run a OC'D 2600k, the closed loop coolers actually get warm, so let's say on a 4.5ghz 24/7 oc the temps will actually rise, as the water gets heated up, that is really the only downside to closed loop coolers.
As for PSU. Always try buying 80+ certified PSU's, doesn't matter which brand they are, as long as they are 80+ certified, that said its also really important to leave some head room when buying a PSU, there is no point in getting a 600W if your system pulls 550W under full load. There should at least be 200W headroom. Remember a PSU is probably one of the most important things you can buy for you're pc, If they blow they usually take other parts with them.
As for PSU. Always try buying 80+ certified PSU's, doesn't matter which brand they are, as long as they are 80+ certified, that said its also really important to leave some head room when buying a PSU, there is no point in getting a 600W if your system pulls 550W under full load. There should at least be 200W headroom. Remember a PSU is probably one of the most important things you can buy for you're pc, If they blow they usually take other parts with them.
matt
Local caffeine junky
The thing to keep in mind as I see it is that sick boy has about a R6 500 budget if I recall correctly, so this is probably going to be a mid-range PC. There's no chance of a high-end power chowing GPU in that budget, and I don't think he's going to be over-clocking, so it might be better allocating the budget to a better GPU or CPU than an overkill on the PSU or cooling.
But as has been said, check out the power requirements for all your components and leave yourself a bit of room on the power supply.
Oh, sick boy, a nice resource for your research: http://www.tomshardware.com, you can compare different aspects on all sorts of components
Eg, graphics cards comparison on gaming
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3DMark11-Gamer,2659.html
Also charts on power draw, temp and a bunch of other stuff
But as has been said, check out the power requirements for all your components and leave yourself a bit of room on the power supply.
Oh, sick boy, a nice resource for your research: http://www.tomshardware.com, you can compare different aspects on all sorts of components
Eg, graphics cards comparison on gaming
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3DMark11-Gamer,2659.html
Also charts on power draw, temp and a bunch of other stuff
HavocXphere
New member
I'd stay away from the 500gigs...they tend to be slower than the 1tb drives. Not sure why though...either cache difference or there was some tech leap.
matt
Local caffeine junky
Thanks for the info and like Matt, More great news agian my wife upped the budget for me to R15000.00 but I msut get everythign with that like the screen and mouse and all the rest of it but I am so amped, I think I might get some thing desent know
Ooh, now that's a pretty decent budget. Have a look at the spec The Joker put together here
http://mygaming.co.za/forum/showthread.php/17060-Good-spec-Pc-vs-Good-spec-Laptop
You can save a few grand on that set-up and still have a kick ass machine
Prometheus
Banned
Let me see...
A good quility built PSU that can handle its maximum rating is what's most important and the larger it is the bigger the chance usually it takes your whole setup with it if it blows.
Water cooling is only really a consideration if you are overclocking or don't want the noise. Downside is you still need a fan to cool the whole thing down but one large fan doing a good job is going to make less noise than a bunch of smaller ones spinning like jet engines to try and keep everything cool. Also if there are any leaks it usually doesn't end well and if you go too cold condensation becomes a problem.
Not a lot actually. These super 1000W power supplies are mostly for show. A lower wattage 550W good quality PSU is usually better that a larger one and in some case can handle more than their rating. Not many people will tell you this but while you need to leave some headroom it doesn't have to be that much. In most cases your components won't all draw maximum power all at once and already provides you with ~100W of headroom quite easily.
A good quility built PSU that can handle its maximum rating is what's most important and the larger it is the bigger the chance usually it takes your whole setup with it if it blows.
If you want the performance 2x 500GB in raid. Otherwise a single larger drive is going to be less hassle. You can still have multiple partitions if you use a chunk for storage so you can format the OS drive without worrying about losing anything. Take a look at the 2TB Barracuda LP drives. Fast enough for general use, large enough for storage, and really low on power and heat like I've never seen before. Just don't get scared when it starts clicking because for some reason they tend to do that.
fayainz
New member
I disagree Watercooling can be inexpensive and in someways cheaper, depending on the solution you want. I was also looking for a new cooler for my new i7 recently, and the CPU fan I wanted was really just a Heatsink for R700! Two of my friends are using the same cooler and they have both showed me how well they work so it was my only option at the time.
Then I stumbled across some of the self-contained no maintenance water coolers that are made by Corsair and Antec and looked into them because I didn't want the hastle of buying all the components and setting up the water cooling myself, worried about leaks etc.
Turns out these self contained watercooling kits are really not that bad! I read some great reviews and after looking for availability in SA i was able to pick up the Antec KÃœHLER Hâ‚‚O 620 for just around R620!
My 2.8Ghz i7 runs at 3.8Ghz without problems and typically does not get any hotter than 50 degree's under full load.
IMO it was a good buy, makes the case look really neat inside and the performance speaks for itself. I can also strap on a higher performance fan to cool the radiator even more, but I am happy with how things turned out.
Watercooling can be inexpensive and in someways cheaper, depending on the solution you want. I was also looking for a new cooler for my new i7 recently, and the CPU fan I wanted was really just a Heatsink for R700! Two of my friends are using the same cooler and they have both showed me how well they work so it was my only option at the time.Then I stumbled across some of the self-contained no maintenance water coolers that are made by Corsair and Antec and looked into them because I didn't want the hastle of buying all the components and setting up the water cooling myself, worried about leaks etc.
Turns out these self contained watercooling kits are really not that bad! I read some great reviews and after looking for availability in SA i was able to pick up the Antec KÃœHLER Hâ‚‚O 620 for just around R620!
My 2.8Ghz i7 runs at 3.8Ghz without problems and typically does not get any hotter than 50 degree's under full load.
IMO it was a good buy, makes the case look really neat inside and the performance speaks for itself. I can also strap on a higher performance fan to cool the radiator even more, but I am happy with how things turned out.
that is correct. there are a number of close loop coolers around now, and they all work like a charm. Ive got the original H50 but there are a bunch of new revisions out, and upgraded versions. They make the inside of your case look MUCH neater (if you care about that). On that note, if you DO care, then make sure you get a full modular PSU, or at least a modular PSU. You wont regret it
I have the Corsair H50 and Im sitting pretty...
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=307orq0&s=7
having said that, I have upped my cpu to 4.5 and havent had a single crash since. played games the whole weekend
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fayainz
New member
Love these coolers! When i was doing some research I found a review showing the big boy version of my 620, the 920 i think, actually doesn't perform as well. For those of us who like to overclock, getting air cooling is quite an investment anyway, R700 for the heatsink, a good R100+ easy for the fan. These are really good alternates and they look awesome
PlainStack
New member
I've never trusted water cooling, but that's just me.
Can anyone suggest a cooler that has better performance than a CM Hyper 212+, that is in the same price class(+-R250)?
Can anyone suggest a cooler that has better performance than a CM Hyper 212+, that is in the same price class(+-R250)?
will1023631
New member
Hmmm I think there are some Zalman's out there that go for that price (will have to check again) they aren't too bad, though I need a change of case (the ventilation in mine is pretty lousy ATM with all the cables inside (even after tying then into neat bundles and putting them into their designated channels)).
I currently own this bad boy, since it was the only one that fitted my budget and socket type at the time. Plus I kinda like Zalman's. Thouugh thanks to the recent windfalls I got from a few freelance website jobs I've started looking into watercooling, though I can't seem to find anyone that stocks 1155 waterblocks locally =/
But investing a tad bit more can get you decent cooler that is reasonably quiet and isn't just a hunk of aluminium and copper that doesn't do it's job properly.
I currently own this bad boy, since it was the only one that fitted my budget and socket type at the time. Plus I kinda like Zalman's. Thouugh thanks to the recent windfalls I got from a few freelance website jobs I've started looking into watercooling, though I can't seem to find anyone that stocks 1155 waterblocks locally =/
But investing a tad bit more can get you decent cooler that is reasonably quiet and isn't just a hunk of aluminium and copper that doesn't do it's job properly.