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I'm building a computer and was wondering if i could get a few ideas on cooling solutions. I have an AMD 2700+ and an at7-mx2 mobo. i plan on overclocking in the future. should i go to water cool or can i stick with heatsink/fan? i kinda want something quiet. any suggestions?
also. anyway i can keep an ati radeon aiw9700 cool? i heard it's a problem- heat.. oh and power supply. 430W enough????

thanks
dez

I've never used water cooling so I can't comment on that. However, some great solutions would be the SLK800, SK-7 or SLK900. With them you can choose the fan you want, and a quiet fan with them still cools very well. The slk900 does fit a 92mm fan while the others specs say they only fit an 80mm fan, but a 92mm also fits on them.

A 430w psu is enough, as long as it is a good qualty one like Antec/enermax. Lower-end psu's that say they are 430w are in fact less, usually.

I don't have a 9700 though I'd imagine they come with sufficient cooling. Perhaps others can better answer that.


Welcome to pca

I'd leave the AIW alone, in the terms of cooling. They aren't really made the best to allow really high overclocking. And, I don't think the 9700 pro's even need to be overclocked. Believe me, cooling is sufficient. if it isn't, with stock cooler that is, then you can complain to ATi, and probably RMA it. but, it should be suffient.

In the terms of CPU cooling, water cooling is something I have yet to experiemnt with, mainly because I don't have the time. Watercooling is expensive and a little risky. If you don't get high quality pump, for example, it could stop workin in the middle of the night, and find it dead in the morning. :-\ But, there are a few people that can offer more insight there.

Also, I would ask around, I don't think the 900U would fit on that abit mobo. I'm not sure, I've heard it doesn't fit on the A7N8X mobo, because capacitors are in the way.

If it does fit, which would be awesome, I'd get that and a 35-37 dba 92mm fan with a small one fan speed controller (just to control the speed of the heatsink fan, but make sure it doesn't turn off, you don't want someone turning off your heatsink fan). Then you can turn the speed down when idle, and boost it up in games and stuff. A 92mm at 35 dba would probably diliver 50cfm. Not sure though. You could probably get a 92mm 35 dba down to 27 at 7 volts. Anyways, if a 900U fits, I'd suggest getting that a nice 92mm fan!

I want a 92mm fan. Anyone know if 92mm fans fit on the 800U? With a bit of modding?

Good luck!


Oh, and welcome to PCA!