New to Overclocking. Need some tips and answers.

Mr_Smiggers

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Oct 11, 2013
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Well, about 5 or so months ago i bought myself an Asus Z77 Mobo and an I5 3570k Processor, I also have an Zalman Z9+ case. I am wanting to start overclocking soon, but before i do that i have to ask some questions.
1.) Does my case fit any Water coolers? If it does what is the best one i can get? But if it doesnt what case should i get?
2.) If i need a different case what one should i get? and What water cooler is the best for around 150$ or less?
Any tips aside will be much appreciated.
 

Mr_Smiggers

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Also another thing is, what about the Thermal paste already on the CPU? how do i clean it off? and do i take it out of the socket to clean it or can i just keep it in there when cleaning?
 

chosen12k6

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Feb 3, 2012
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Okay, unless you like the look water cooling is not a necessity. Some people live and die by water cooling/liquid cooling I am not one of them.

I only see it as a necessity if you live in like India, Iraq, South America anywhere that normal temps are in the 100s during the day and humidy is high.

If you live in North America and have a decently A/Cd house all you need is a decent case, and an Air cooler. Save that $150 and get an SSD or a couple new games.

It doesnt seem like you are going to be overclocking everything attached to your mobo so I see no need for Water cooling. Especially if you are just starting out with Overclocking.

Get yourself an Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo ($40) no new case bingo presto.

Next your case can support liquid cooling. At least the edition I saw on Newegg. Look at the back of your case where all of your ports are. See those two holes with a rubber mesh looking material right below the fan yeah that means it was built for a liquid cooler.

Thermal paste, all you need is the strongest isoproyl alcohol you can find at CVS/Rite-Aid or Walgreens. I think they sell like 98% idk I bought a huge thing of 99.9% on Amazon.

Anyways get some q-tips the actual brand Q-Tips generic ones flake off too easy. Barely dip it in alcohol and on the TOP of the cpu make circular motions rinse and repeat until all of the thermal paste is gone.

Artic Silver is a great brand of thermal paste and for $7 usually will drop your temps 3-4 degrees celcius. Personally I reapply paste every 6 months. But I have my Phenom II x6 OC 4.0Ghz from a stock Phenom IIx4 3.0 ghz.

If you are really dedicated to getting watercooling/liquid cooling Corsair makes a good one for like $99 sometimes $60 with rebate and coupons on newegg. I have one in my mega rig :D but it is in an area of my house called the garage HAHAHA! yeah I was banned out there after cursing too much on BF3, WoW and SWTOR. Hope that helps
 

chosen12k6

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Forgot you do not need to take it out of the socket. Tbh I highly discourage ever taking your CPU out of the socket unless you absolutely have too 1 bent pin can ruin a cpu.

Make sure you have had your PC running for a bit before you take of the stock cooler. Need to heat up that thermal paste :D then pop it off and begin cleaning. Remember you want to dab a Q-Tip in the alcohol grab an additional dry Q-Tip to clean off the residue. You want all of the thermal past gone before applying new thermal paste.

 

Mr_Smiggers

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Chosen thank you so much! you have helped me greatly. think i will be able to have nice 4.2 GHZ OC on my I5 3570k? lets see XD. I heard that is about normal with those air coolers.
 

chosen12k6

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I have never had an issue using Q-Tips, I did with the generic cotton swabs. I found a coffee filter to work but was awkward to use. mr. Smiggers Pick a Solution to solve/close the thread.