Upgrading Cpu cooler, case and psu a posibility.

[smokedyou911]

Hi, Im going to be uprading my cpu cooler from the stock socket 478 one wich has become extremely loud.

Im lookin gfor one that will be ready to go into a sockket 775 build eventually, along with the psu and case if I buy them now.

For the cooler I'm looking for one that will be farly quiet, under 40 dba and sockket 775 compatable.

For the case im looking at this, a cool master centrion and wondering if it would be good and keep a 7600gt or 8600 gts and e660 cool in the future. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1482411&CatId=1509

For psu im just looking for one that will be able to run a gig or two of ram, a 7600gt or a 8600 gts, a e660, 2 disk drives and one hard drive.

Also if the case and psu come to under 150 thats great, if not it dosent quiet make my budget and will have to wait. Thanks for the help.

 

[smokedyou911]

Any advice? Anyone?

 

[Onus]

I have found that most any case with a front and rear fan will keep a system cool enough, provided you're not doing a mad o/c and the PSU is up to the load (and has a working fan itself). Choose one you like that is within your budget. I've built three boxes this year using low-end Centurion Elite cases ($40?), and they've been fine.

The 7600GT is not a power hog, and won't add a lot of heat to your case.

For the cooler, find one compatible with both socket types. An adapter may be needed. Since you'll be moving the cooler at some point, get some extra thermal compound. Like many people, I've used Arctic Silver AS-5 and been happy with it. Clean off the old compound with 91% isopropyl alcohol, then apply a rice-grain sized amount of AS-5 and spread it around with a finger tip inside a plastic bag.

As for the PSU, don't use a cheap one, especially those that come with a case. If you want modular, check out the one in my .sig. Otherwise, mpilchfamily has written authoritative guides to PSUs in these forumz. FSP makes some decent ones that are relatively inexpensive; all three of those builds I mentioned used one, and came in at <$100 for case and PSU.

Edit: added links
Mushkin PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817812002
FSP PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817104953
Case: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119115

 

[smokedyou911]

thanks, is there a universal adapter or is it specific to each heatsink? I may be getting a 8800 gts or 8600gts, depending on when i upradge if its under a year or two i would be going with a 7600gt. I would be ocing the video card a fair bit, and pushing the e660 to around 3 ghz. I'm curently using as5, but it was friends bottle so ill need to get a new one. the psu may have to wait though because im not shure if i want to spend $100 on a hugher end one now then have to spend another 200 later when i uprade. After all this psu is atleast 4 years old, 300 watts and runs my cp.

 

[Onus]

A heatsink that will fit more than one socket type will typically come with the necessary adapter for each type it supports, although some may need an adapter kit that you can order from the manufacturer. Check the product specs.

The Mushkin PSU I'm using will support one 8800GTS, but the FSP one might not. FSP makes some bigger ones that will, for not a whole lot more money. You can spend $80-$100 now, and not need to upgrade later (unless you go SLI with monsters).

I don't know about the 8-series cards, but I put a Zalman vf-700 on my 7600GT because it seemed to run a little hot, and the stock fan was loud. Now it is almost silent and only hits 60c when gaming, although I didn't oc it.

 

[smokedyou911]

thanks for clearing that up,

Im using a 7600gs (agp right now) and it used to only hit 56ish at load, now it hits 58 idle. Im not shure what happened, fan and evrything seem fine but i think it is due to the cpu heatsink or the fans that i replaced.