okay... ive been doing research on cpu cooling, but i cant figure out which of high end hsf and low end water cooling is better?? common sence tells you that of course water is better, but some of the sites ive visited show some wierd statistics of certain hsf actually having better cooling than a few water cooling systems.... i am getting a xp2100 tbred-b and i want to push it as far as it will go without spending over $120 on a WC system, but i want to know if there are any hsf that can keep my cpu almost as cool, ??or cooler??

Everyone here seems to always be talkin bout the SLK-700 , I dont have it but am going to get one soon.

http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/cas...0/slk700.shtml

The alpha Pal, swiftech and the whole thermalright line (sk7, slk 800, slk 900 etc.) will all cool equal or better than crappy water cooling like the Ahanix Iceberg or TT Aquarius.

$120 is real thin for any kind of decent W/C setup, personally, I think you would do better with a thermalright slk-800.
There are some water pro's on here that can give you a little more insight on the topic, but I am putting together a w/c setup right now. I plan on spending over $200 on it.
good water block is around $50 (can get one for as cheap as $35, but whats the point?)
decent pump is about the same $35-50
Heater coil you can pick up for $30
Tubing is about 10 bucks
Misc connectors another 10 bucks
at least 1 120mm fan (I am using 2) 15 bucks
and your up to $150 already, and thats really the bare min.
Also there is no res in that, I am building my own res, cost me about another 15 bucks it.

If you could squeeze another 30 - 40 dollors you could very well build a quality w/c setup, but for 120 you are really cutting it thin IMHO.
Hope this helps
Casper

High end heatsinks blow away low end watercooling. I didn't get into water for the performance, but just because it was something I hadn't done before. Since then I've learned a lot and now have a high end water rig, which blows away any heatsink. If anyone wants to get into watercooling, I would advise them to do a lot of research first.

Adsolutely right. water cooling is not generally something that you want to go "Low End" on.

A top end air cooler is much better then a low end water rig.

Here is the reasoning:

A low end water setup is more expensive, more maintance intensive, (which increases the risk of damage just because you are messing with it more), and will not out perform a top-of-the-line air cooler with a good fan and good case ventilation.

It just isn't worth it. With water there are ways to cut some corners, like Caspertg said. But you can't get out from under the quality / capability requirememnt. It has to perform better or it isn't worth the cost and the head-aches. Not unless you just want water and performance / maintance / cost doesn't matter.

Few of us here recommend water cooling unless you have special needs. But there are many of us who will help you out with it if you want to do it.

If your going to jump anyway, then we will do our best to see you land on your feet. But do yourself a favor, don't try anything out of the ordinary without asking about it and waiting for an answer. "Bump" your question if you don't get a few answers right away. An example, without naming names, one guy wanted colored coolant, he told us after he did it, that he added food coloring instead of asking about coolant dyes. Well, I think we caught it in time, but we new of another guy who had done the same thing at another site and it clogged his pump, burned up the pump, and toasted his CPU. So ask us, and get an answer, one will come if you give it enough time.

Choose

EDIT: Oh !, and get a second opinion, and a third, and if you can, a fourth is always nice. I am one of the main guys here for water cooling questions but don't just listen to me, I have biases and differences just like every other guy here and there are others worth listening too

swiftech makes a high end air cooler with a built in peltier, that's about the best you can get with air...

MCX 462+T is the model for amd, for intel it's the mcx4000+t

okay, i think i will get either a slk700 or slk800.... but what is a good fan that doesnt go above 55dba, or will any 70mm or 80mm fan be sufficient

Good choice.

My advice would be to get a fairly highoutput fan. (55db would drive me out of the room.) And run it through a rheostat. You can buy fans with built in speed controls. Or get something like the Zalman fan controller. Or as I would suggest...run it through a baybus or rheobus. Sunbeam makes a good rheobus that will handle even the most powerful fans. Just don't get a Nexus fan controller.

That way you can turn it up when your gaming...and crank it way down when your surfing the web. And save you hearing.

what is considered high out put for this heatsink? ive seen some as high as 84cfm and others around 35cfm.... what kinda difference in temps would i be likley to see in oc'ing a 2100 to about 2700, with different cfms? is there a huge difference in temps when using 50cfm vs. 75cfm?

OK, now we are definitly moving away from water and back to air and now we are dealing with different issues.

First off, if you want an optimum solution then you will still want to concider some ducting for the CPU. Remember that you can get the same air flow with much less noise out of a good 120mm fan then out of an 80mm. But there are no 120mm HSF units on the market.

There are however some heatsinks that will take a 120mm fan adapter. You may want to think about adding a 120mm fan mounted to the outside of the case and ducting it to the CPU. The difference in the air temperature will allow you to use a lower CFM 80mm on the heatsink itself.

The easiest heatsink to use would be the Swiftech MCW462 with a good Panaflo 80mm M1A fan on the CPU and a Panaflo 120mm L1A at the other end of the duct feeding it. Other heatsinks can work, and the Thermalrights only require a little moddification for solid mounting of the fans and duct so you have some options.

Although the Swiftech HSF + Peltier model that Buzz mentioned is very effective, it is also loud and requires special condensation and power conciderations. It also runs close to $100 last I checked, but it could be ducted as well and if your power is up to the job, and you want to live on the edge a little, then it is something to concider, but be sure you know what your getting into and ask us more about it before you think about getting one. Done right it could be awsome, done wrong it will be a big disappointment and could damage equipment.

BTW: What motherboard, RAM, and PSU will you be using ? They all play a part in your requirememnts and capabilities.

Does anyone have the TT Volcano 7? I'm using it, and am thinking about cutting off that stupid thermistor and putting in a rehostat instead to control the fan.

Just so you know, you'll probably want to look at the SK-7 over the SLK-700. The SK-7 accepts a 60, 70, or 80mm fan whereas the SLK-700 will only fit a 60, or 70 (or 74 for those TMDs). I have the SK-7 w/ a 75cfm fan on my 2100+ rev. b & it does a great job.
Also, like the others said, just about anything in the Thermalright line will beat cheat watercooling. This article puts a bunch of cheap WC kits against each other & all of them get thrashed by an SLK-800.

Slider, go for it.

i have a 400 watt powersupply and 512 pc2100 memory
im getting an epox 8K9AI mobo and an xp 2100+

would ducting the cpu get lower temps than geting an adapter for a larger cpu fan?

not to get off of the cooling subject, but you might want to invest in some better(faster) ram since you want to overclock.....

Ducting cooler air to your CPU seems better than getting a bigger fan to circulate hot air.

Personally, when ever it is possible, I replace smaller case fans with a 120mm (right now I have 2 120mm's and 1 80mm) as case fans. This has considerably cut down my case noise. Now, I don't have a rheobus to control them yet, but just replacing them helped out a bunch, and my temps even dropped a few degrees.


Casper

yeah i will probably get new ram also, but choosing ram is much simpler than choosing a heatsink & fan

is there any difference in performance between the sk-7 vs. the slk700? other than one can hold a larger fan......