PC cooling help

[Kanzo1]

I will forewarn everyone and tell you I am a complete idiot when it comes to PC building and generally anything PC related. With that out of the way, now my question. I am 95% sure I am going to invest in a gtx 480 for my PC build. Ive been reading they run really hot, but what exactly runs hot? I plan on getting the corsair h50 for cooling purposes will that take care of my issues? I don't plan on overclocking anytime soon until I force my self to become more PC literate. Thanks

[Pandum]

h50 should be more than fine and if the temps arent stable normally use MSI afterburner to set your own fan controls

[Jojimbo]

Corsair are/have released the H70, an upgraded version of the H50. it costs £77 or so apparently (about £20 over H50).

[Senji]

The h50 only cools your cpu. Watch the installation video for it 3-5 times closely and it will be easier.

A good case will take of cooling your gpu. Basically.

Post up some cases your looking at and people will tell you if they suck or not, or just tell you what they have/ want you to buy anyway.

[Odesseiron]

I have an Antec 900 case. There are 4 fans in the case. I also have a GTX 480 SC. When I run stress tests on it, it hits as high as 85-91 C. The cards threshold is 105C. Unless it's covered by tons of wires and crap, you shoudln't have anything to worry about. Really, these cards are made to withstand the temps. You don't really need water cooling for a system unless you plan on doing SLI config and overclocking. As someone else said, H50 is for CPU. Water cooling is also very expensive. Hope this helps

[Adajer]

Get 2 460s for the price of 1 480. Unless hardware doesn't permit SLI. The 460s are same price as 1 480 and will outperform a 480 in SLI and run cooler.Space them out if you can.

[fishstix]

Get 2 460s for the price of 1 480. Unless hardware doesn't permit SLI. The 460s are same price as 1 480 and will outperform a 480 in SLI and run cooler.Space them out if you can.

I havent been keeping up with the newer cards so I checked out the validity of this and it seems to be true, according to this at least http://www.fudzilla.com/reviews/revi...sli-vs-gtx-480

As far as noise in 3D goes, 2-way SLI with GTX 460 768MB cards is much quieter than a single GTX 480.

Unlike the GTX 460 cards which weren’t noticeably loud, the GTX 480’s fan was so loud in FurMark that we couldn’t wait for it to end. Furthermore, not even all this noise and fan-work managed to push temperatures below 93°C.

so yea, motherboard/psu permitting, this looks like a better option

[Wulfgang]

Unless you OC the 480 or have a lit oven as your computer case, your GPU will be fine on the stock cooler. The bigger issue with 480s is often having an insufficient power supply.

[Olo401]

I have an Antec 900 case. There are 4 fans in the case. I also have a GTX 480 SC. When I run stress tests on it, it hits as high as 85-91 C. The cards threshold is 105C. Unless it's covered by tons of wires and crap, you shoudln't have anything to worry about. Really, these cards are made to withstand the temps. You don't really need water cooling for a system unless you plan on doing SLI config and overclocking. As someone else said, H50 is for CPU. Water cooling is also very expensive. Hope this helps

Video cards are made to run hot, but not that hot.. Sounds like it has a bad cooler unit. I would call the manufacturer and see if they'll give you an exchange.

[Evanos]

While generally speaking H50s are a decent low-end water cooling system and cool the CPU decently, that is about where their cooling ends. Generally they tend to make your north-bridge and other components run much hotter. Tomshardware did a comparison article awhile ago about little water vs. big air, and generally, especially on the value per dollar front, big air wins. I'm not sure if your case can handle some of these massive coolers, but if you have the airflow in your system then generally you can get better long term performance with a big air cooler.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ge,2401-6.html

In the article they even leave out some of the best air cooling options and the big air still generally outperforms the H50.

I should note that I personally have an H50 and do enjoy it, but in retrospect wish I would have opted for a big air cooler instead. I am currently using a push/pull setup (which they don't do in the tests, but I have seen compared on other forums and generally still do a little worse than the best big air) and get very good temperatures on my i7. My graphics card generally rests much lower in temperature than the one you are planning on getting though.

[Baha]

In the article they even leave out some of the best air cooling options and the big air still generally outperforms the H50.

While many readers voice a preference for cases that have power supplies at the bottom and huge fans on the side or top, most real-world systems use the classic mid-tower layout.

Flawed. If you're going to build a powerful system, it's going to run hot. You should get a case with good airflow regardless of your choice of CPU cooler. Those will help keep motherboard components, graphic cards and HDD's running cooler. Your choice of CPU cooler might still have an impact, but it'll be limited.

I'd say cases with bottom mounted PSU's and large top or side fans are the real world standard, with 900's and HAF's type designs.

[Evanos]

Flawed. If you're going to build a powerful system, it's going to run hot. You should get a case with good airflow regardless of your choice of CPU cooler. Those will help keep motherboard components, graphic cards and HDD's running cooler. Your choice of CPU cooler might still have an impact, but it'll be limited.

I'd say cases with bottom mounted PSU's and large top or side fans are the real world standard, with 900's and HAF's type designs.

Yeah, people have pointed to that flaw on other forums (namely Overclock.net) and done similar testing of their own, also adding things such as different pastes with H50 and still came the same general findings as this study even with good airflow cases. In most cases, the air coolers gained the most from the airflow and H50 didn't see the same gains.
Personally, I think the biggest disappointment with the toms test is that they didn't do a push/pull on the H50 as that is the biggest way to see a jump from that cooler. When I went from a push to a push/pull with mine I saw an average of 5c drop at same ambient temp, and lapping dropped another 2c.

[Boyiee]

Video cards are made to run hot, but not that hot.. Sounds like it has a bad cooler unit. I would call the manufacturer and see if they'll give you an exchange.

lol, oh you.

[Senji]

Toms sucks

[Evanos]

If you do plan on getting an H50 they are on sale at Bestbuy's website for $59.99 + free shipping.

-->> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+...&skuId=9503771

[Kanzo1]

Thanks for all the input, the case I have is the Antec 900 two. I am doing a lot more research before I buy everything, but I am sticking with the 480. If Price and performance being equal, I would rather be able to SLI two 480's or something like that in the future, if an upgrade is needed. Also have with the case a 750w corsair psu, which from what I read should be sufficient for the 480 and all my other components

[Adajer]

Price and performance are not equal.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,2694-10.html

I was going to go for 2 480s myself until I saw that. Now I am looking to SLI 460s but I am waiting on the 475s to make the purchase. 2 480s would be super overkill to any game for any upcoming game. And overkill to your power bill and temps. But if you have your heart set on it, by all means go with what you want.

[Kanzo1]

The two main games I am gonna be playing are FFXIV and the Star Wars game coming out, do they both support sli? I read somewhere some games don't support it, but it does seem like a better bang for my buck. thanks again for all the help

[Adajer]

I have heard things, I am not sure. But if FFXIV will be supporting multi-monitor displays and nvidia nvision 3D, then it has to support SLI. I am assuming.

[Bast]

GPUs normally run hot. The 480 runs particularly hot. Clean it regularly, along with your case, and make sure you have proper airflow and you'll be fine.


If you want CPU cooling (NOT GPU like the 480)

Hyper 212+ for budget (<30$)

H70 (more info this weak) for 110$ but boasts more than 10C change in temp from the H50. Thicker rad and such.