What is it you want to achieve?
Maximum cooling? Maximum quietness?
For maximum cooling, there are hundreds of websites out there testing this. You'll probably end up with an AIO watercooler. Leaks haven't really been an issue since PC watercooling got out of it's duct-tapey infancy about 10 years ago.
For maximum quietness, you won't get around the HR-2(2).
With an unlimited budget, why didn't you get a better CPU? The AMDs have terrible thermal performance and even the 8-core chips are slower than Intel's fastest quads.
Best Heatsink, cost not a consideration?
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Re: Best Heatsink, cost not a consideration?
Maximum quietness.tim851 wrote:What is it you want to achieve?
Maximum cooling? Maximum quietness?
I've ruled out water cooling, not because it makes noise, but because it could leak, and I need absolute reliability.tim851 wrote:For maximum cooling, there are hundreds of websites out there testing this. You'll probably end up with an AIO watercooler. Leaks haven't really been an issue since PC watercooling got out of it's duct-tapey infancy about 10 years ago.
I just built this computer. I didn't know that Intel's were doing better for thermal performance. I got the fastest processor Micro Center had in AMD - feeling wary of it's heat as I did. Figured I'd solve that later, I needed a computer. I made all the system design decisions in one day, just got it over with. I did not research it. I let the people at Micro Center tell me what they thought was good, saving checking into it myself (I guess I could have asked on forums first). Had the whole thing built in a few hours actually, from no design plan to having it going. I did over rule their ideas though. They thought Gigabyte motherboard, and I just said Asus, it's more expensive. They said cheap ram, I said Corsair, it's more expensive. Where did I mess up... I accepted cheap on the processor. Shoulda said, it's cheap, lets get more expensive.tim851 wrote:With an unlimited budget, why didn't you get a better CPU? The AMDs have terrible thermal performance and even the 8-core chips are slower than Intel's fastest quads.
I have to admit, I did anticipate heat going AMD though, because gamers like AMD, and most gamers could care less about heat and noise. While at the same time, wanting to save money on their computer. I wasn't trying to save when I got this processor... I guess I just went with their value oriented recommendation. Shoulda listened to my misgivings. However, replacing the motherboard and processor just because I did that seems a little of a waist at this point, a few months after buying it. It's just a bit hot, and a bit unstable as it gets hot. It is quite fast though.
I hope so. Seems like it should work well with a Silverstone FT02 case.tim851 wrote:For maximum quietness, you won't get around the HR-2(2).
Re: Best Heatsink, cost not a consideration?
Gamers do care about performance though, and game performance is an area where AMD hasn't done very well in for a while now. Unfortunately, you ended up with a processor with a higher thermal output, which is also not as good for gamingNetTechie wrote: I have to admit, I did anticipate heat going AMD though, because gamers like AMD, and most gamers could care less about heat and noise.
Don't be afraid to swap out your RAM and resell it. You'll get some of that "back" by not spending as much on a still very effective cooler. Even after a lot of research, I'm currently losing some money (restocking fees) on refunding taller RAM and getting lower profile RAM. Sometimes it's better to just fix the mistake properly