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Question

Desktop cooling

Mar 7, 2013 1:16AM PST

Hi, this is just a quick question. In a few months i will be assembeling my gaming pc.

Specs:

i5 3570k
gtx 660ti
8gb ram
1tb hdd
500gb hdd
600w psu

I need to know weather i should choose liquid or air cooling heatsink for my psu.

Also could you tell me if all liquid heatsinks have to have water replaced?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Here I use the stock cooler.
Mar 7, 2013 2:47AM PST

Are you in some climate where you have a room over 38C?

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Answer
Cool PSU, keep the fans
Mar 8, 2013 1:01AM PST

Cool the PSU? You don't want any liquid by the PSU in case it fails(leaks). As for water, most tend to add some anti-fungi killer(anti-freeze) in order to control the growth of such. AND/OR use a specialized liquid that maybe part of the kit or some additive. While you can water cool, having back-up air fans, will do fine just to keep it all together.

I wouldn'ty cool the PSU offhand, but everything else can be. However, I tend to think, BIG PC case in order to mave room and additional areas to place fans and/or mount whatever. Plus, a decent case may lend itself to custom builds thus you start from the ground up rather than thinking GPU and CPU stuff, having a good case and PSU is a must, IMHO. Further, once you start stuffing the case, you rather not move it over to something better later, you'll probably keep the case as it came, so having a better case from the beginning is a good idea.

Of course, you could think "oil immersion" placing entire PC in oil vat. google for examples. Wink

tada -----Willy Happy

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sorry
Mar 8, 2013 10:59PM PST

sorry, typo error.
cool cpu not psu
sorry again

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I put high-performance aftermarket HS Fans on everything
Mar 9, 2013 1:34AM PST

I build and I don't use them for gaming. A few dollars to keep that CPU running cool and reliably is money well spent for me.

You can check out the HS CPU options over at http://www.frostytech.com

VAPCMD

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Fans galore
Mar 10, 2013 4:40AM PDT

There are plenty of 3rd party cpu replacement fans. Just be sure its rated for use with your cpu and it will fit inside the case, sometimes its a tight fit. I mention that as some fan and heatsink setups are huge or unique arrangements of sorts. Check online vendors for sources. IMHO, a few or well placed case fans help greatly and its best to do all this when you're building rather than later. Heat stress is a killer of gaming PCs.

tada -----Willy Happy