CPU Cooling help

[bdmayne]

Hey guys,

I currently have a Corsair H60 sitting on an AMD FX-6300 OC to 4.5 ghz. Idle is around 23-26C and full load on BF4 at 46C. I'm kinda sketchy on the watercooling thing an looking for an air cooler instead. Any advice?

[Master Butters]

Why don't you like your water cooler? It's better than air cooling, and unless you're poking holes in the tubing, you shouldn't have to worry about them leaking on your stuff.

[Curroi]

I don't think you can get comparable performance from an air cooler, but take a look at some of the reviews at http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/ for example.

[CookiezFort]

you can easily get the same perfomance on air coolers. the be quiet! dark rock 3 or the Noctua are good ones.

[bdmayne]

Thanks guys for all your input. I just stuck with the H60 and added another fan for a push-pull config!

[Dibola]

The temps you've listed are actually quite good. Just always make sure to keep fresh thermal grease slapped on the cooler every so often. You don't even really have to buy the expensive stuff since it's been proven to only knock a few Celsius off, just gotta apply it right.

[ModJPB]

I have had watercooling for about 10 years and never had any major issues. Just check it so often to vaccuum/blow out the radiators for dust, algae buildup, water level, and cracks/leaks in parts. Putting a piece of silver metal in my cooling system has done the best job at controlling algae growth. I have had it in their for 2 years and nothing grows in the water AMAZING!!!

46C for CPU cooling is actually quite low, I would say you could actually overclock further. When you hit 50C then you should stop. If it every approaches 55C then you overclocked to much or something is wrong with your cooling system.

You could get the same cooling on air but it would sound like an air force jet engine.

[E.T.]

If it every approaches 55C then you overclocked to much or something is wrong with your cooling system.

My CPU runs at 55C for 6 years now. Box cooler, overclocked by 200MHz. Problem?

[z404Error]

I work on computers full time...

The numbers you are putting up require no action on your part. Until you hit ~80C - I wouldn't even sweat it... Save the $$$ for something else :)

[ModJPB]

50 - 55C doesnt mean it will damage the processor but that is the point of diminishing returns. After 50C the processor stops clocking higher and becomes less stable.

example. At 1.55v my processor hits 50C and 4GHz. If I put the voltage to 1.575v it can clock to 4.1Ghz but after a couple of minutes it hits 55C and crashes. I can put 1.6V which allows 4.2GHz but once again it heats up now to 60C and crashes. Sure I can run 1.6v but in order to keep it stable under load I would actually have to overclock less like 3.8GHz, which makes no sense. For denebs and thubans 50C is when the chip just wastes energy on heat instead of overclocking further.

Case and point 80C!!! only allows 200MHz overclock. I bet if you cooled it better it would go further.