Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3 Waterblocks

[Ruler2]

I'm gonna have to get a liquid cooling system if I want to be able to play any good games, even AH will sometimes overheat my pc since I got a new GPU. I've been looking at CPU waterblocks, and I am currently looking at The Swiftech XT, GTZ, or maybe an Apogee. Are there any better waterblocks for an AM2+ CPU? Or is the Swiftech XT the best one out there right now?

[TequilaChaser]

Ruler2,
sometimes acquiring a better ventilated Computer Case is all one needs to do...... what type of PC Case do you currently have/use?

what is the reason you think you need "water cooling" / "Hydro Cooling" ? I am curious.........are you overclocking your CPU?

[Ruler2]

Ruler2,
sometimes acquiring a better ventilated Computer Case is all one needs to do...... what type of PC Case do you currently have/use?

what is the reason you think you need "water cooling" / "Hydro Cooling" ? I am curious.........are you overclocking your CPU?

It's an Antec P-190+1200, I woulda thought it had plenty of fans. I think I need H20 cooling because 1: my system was already running hot, and 2: now that I have a new,larger GPU, the PC has started to overheat.
And yes, I am overclocking my CPU from 3 to 3.4GhZ.

[38ruk]

I'm gonna have to get a liquid cooling system if I want to be able to play any good games, even AH will sometimes overheat my pc since I got a new GPU. I've been looking at CPU waterblocks, and I am currently looking at The Swiftech XT, GTZ, or maybe an Apogee. Are there any better waterblocks for an AM2+ CPU? Or is the Swiftech XT the best one out there right now?

Here is a great site for all your cooling needs

http://www.frozencpu.com/

[Bronk]

 

What air cooler have you tried? I'm telling you before you spend $$$$$ on a water set up try the coolermaster hyper 212 plus.  $30 and it works great.  Ambient room temp is 68 f cpu at idle is 77 f.  I'll check game temps for you this evening.

As for a case I'm using an old crappy chieftec and case temp is 73f.

[1701E]

I'm going to have to agree about trying to improve Airflow first, Water-cooling is expensive and I've heard has some risks (leaks? not sure how true they are).

I have an Aerocool M40 Cube case and if you've seen it, you'll know it is not an air-flow king.  It has 1x 120mm Intake at 110CFM and 1x 60mm Intake at 31CFM, and 3x 80mm Out-takes at 30-45CFM each (I really need to replace those).  I use an AMD Athlon [64] X2 4850e OC'd to 2.9GHz and an NVidia GeForce GTX 260 OC'd to 680/1466/1100.  Temps for these parts are never even close to getting Hot (GPU never exceeds 55C).

I would suggest checking your airflow: Make sure no wires are blocking it, make sure all the fans work properly, make sure they are all at 100% (Including GPU fan) and make sure they are clean.  If you have heat troubles with them all working properly, something is wrong...even the Phenom II X4 and HD 5870 you have shouldn't "need" Water-cooling.

Just some things to check before you spend a lot of money on Water-Cooling.

[MadHatter]

What 1701E says about risks with water cooling is true. You can get leaks, and that will mess up your system. One trick we used in the USAF was to use "de-ionized" water. That way if it dos leak you won't run the risk of frying your system. I would check the air flow first too. If you have ribbon cables look at replacing them with Cobra cables. Bundle all the wires together (avoid bundling power and data together tho) and check if your exhaust is comparable to your intake. You can bring in all the cold air you want, but if the exhaust doesn't match up, it will just sit there and heat up.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Watercooling is a hobby. Therefore it doesn't matter if it costs a little more or if it's risky.

[38ruk]

Water cooling isn't that dangerous i've had liquid cooling for the last 4 years without any damage. You can use non conductive liquid for added saftey but i've always used distilled water with some water wetter .  If your into overclocking it's a no brainer .  My last system was a 4400 AMDX2 that was overclocked from 2.2GHZ to 3GHZ . It ran that 800mhz overclock for almost 4 years .......24/7 .... until i swapped it out.

[Ghastly]

While they sell coolant specifically for water cooling, after my first changeout I simply used the premixed "RV winterizing" antifreeze. It wasn't florescent UV reactive blue anymore, but hey. My biggest concern with using water (of any sort) is that you wouldn't get the corrosion inhibitors. 

My current system is watercooled, but that's solely because when I rebuilt it (or more precisely, when I gutted the Socket 939 installation which I put into another aluminum case, and re-used my current case for the new E8400 based system) the motherboard I had chosen already had a watercooling block installed for the chipset, and I already had everything else except the CPU block to do it - and it was already installed on the case.  If I had been starting from scratch, there is no way I would have bothered to watercool my current system - I did so originally because I was in a house without central A/C and the AMD's ran very warm under the best of circumstances.

<S>

[Spikes]

I'd hope you try a better air cooler before going water...even for a system like that water is not necessary...a good air cooler works wonders.

[38ruk]

While they sell coolant specifically for water cooling, after my first changeout I simply used the premixed "RV winterizing" antifreeze. It wasn't florescent UV reactive blue anymore, but hey. My biggest concern with using water (of any sort) is that you wouldn't get the corrosion inhibitors. 

My current system is watercooled, but that's solely because when I rebuilt it (or more precisely, when I gutted the Socket 939 installation which I put into another aluminum case, and re-used my current case for the new E8400 based system) the motherboard I had chosen already had a watercooling block installed for the chipset, and I already had everything else except the CPU block to do it - and it was already installed on the case.  If I had been starting from scratch, there is no way I would have bothered to watercool my current system - I did so originally because I was in a house without central A/C and the AMD's ran very warm under the best of circumstances.

<S>

My 939 system was my first water cooler too .   I originally did it because my office was next to the baby's room so 10 80mm fans @ 5000 rpm wasn't ideal lol. I've grown to love the silence thou , now when working on customers PC's even one or two fans drive me nuts .   As far as coolant goes ...i've used a few .  First was thermaltake coolant and then after i changed the system i used premixed antifreeze .  The last time i had the system open was 3 years ago when i filled it with distilled water and water wetter .  I see a chunk of algae every once in awhile fly threw the lines lol... I need to flush it and fill with something decent .  The pump is 4 years old so i can't imagine its got alot of life left in it .