Upgrading CPU, MB, VGA coolers possibly case, advice??

BigDu21 · Post by **BigDu21** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:50 pm

Hi all; Thanks to Mike C. for the great site!!

I'm a newbie and built my first computer for myself ~15 months ago. And was greatly pleased when I turned it on and found I had created a jet engine.

That pleasure, of course, wore off quickly and I'm now getting around to looking at quieting it down.

My current specs are: Gigabyte 7N400Pro (v1); AMD 3000+@400 mHz (no OC), Thermaltake volcano 11+, 1 GB 3200 RAM, eVGA GF 6800GT, SB Audigy2, Enermax EG365P-VE, 3 Vantec Stealth 80 mm fans. All in a Chenming AE601 case.

So having done a little research, I've come to the conclusion that I want to look at replacing the CPU, MB, and VGA coolers, and maybe trade the case out for something else. Once I do that, I'll reevaluate things and go from there. The box is mostly used for gaming, so keeping it cool will be important--I don't need it at 0 db, just down somewhat from the jet engine level its at now.

Here's the options I've come up with so far; any comments/thoughts/actual exerience input would be helpful.

CPU cooler: Problem here is that this motherboard doesn't have mounting holes

so I'm very limited in what I can put on here--zalman, swiftech, and thermalright are all pretty much out....I saw a Nexus cooler at endpcnoise.com <http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/axp-3200.html>. Anyone tried this one, or heard of others that might help my situation?

MB cooler: getting the zalman little doo-hickey. seems like the obvious choice.

VGA cooler: I've read the reviews and such, and everybody seems to have a different opion as to whether to get the zalman, artic silencer, or thermaltake--anyone had experience on what's best for a 6800GT?? My other concern here is that my northbridge chip is close (I'm guessing less than 1/2 in.) to the AGP slot, so I want to avoid conflicts between the zalman thing and whatever option I pick here.

Case--I've narrowed it down to the evercase 4252B-PCT from newegg.com, the Antec 3700BQE, or the nexus breeze. I saw somewhere here that one person who tried the breeze wasn't all that impressed with it--anyone else tried it or seen a review someplace? Also any thoughts on which of the 3 has been most used by people building quiet PCs??

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Tyrdium · Post by **Tyrdium** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:59 pm

I've got the NV Silencer 5 on my 6800GT. It's not particularly quiet, but it's certainly better than the stock cooling. Still, I'd suggest the Zalman or Thermaltake with a good, quiet fan on it.

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:40 am

Cases - also check out the Antec SLK-3000B, to which you can add a Seasonic Super Tornado or Nexus 4090 PSU for best results. The NV Silencer 5 is okay when fanmated, but check that it won't obstruct your proposed chipset cooler.

I'm not sure which Socket A CPU coolers don't use the motherboard holes, but I'm sure there will be something good that fits.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:33 am

Or the SLK2650-BQE; there's more to this case than would be indicated by first glance. I have just submitted by review of this wonderful little enclosure.

-Ed

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:42 am

Socket A CPU cooler-with-clip-mounting king seems to be the Thermalright SI-97

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:02 pm

I've recently installed an Aerocool HT-101 on my socket A mobo (clips only). In spite of it's height it's not too heavy to risk damaging the mobo/CPU die. Mine's got a 7V Panaflo on it which keeps it around 44C at idle, more than cool enough. It is also helped by being directly in line with the 120mm fan in my PSU.

Great heatsink, I recommend it. Although according to this System Cooling article, the SI-97 performs marginally better than the HT-101, plus you can use a 92mm fan on it.

BigDu21 · Post by **BigDu21** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:12 pm

Brilliant. Thanks for the help all, now I get to make some decisions and go buy the parts.