Keeping a System Cool while OC

[emx61193]

I am thinking about doing some oc to an i7 950 from 3.03 to about 3.7 nothing major. I might do some minor oc of the gpu also but not much.

a few of my parts
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Will I have to do water cooling or with adequate air cooling can I keep my system as a whole under 70C? I know that this GPU can get warm underload with stock cooling?
And in the future i might run two of these in sli which would create even more heat
Im not sure if I will purchase this card if air cannot keep it pretty cool since Im a little afraid of water cooling

 

[aznshinobi]

Well... The GTX 465/470/480 all have really big problems with keeping cool, but there should be no problems keeping the 950 and 470 cool with just air. However! if you plan to get to 3.7 on stock cooling for the 950, don't even try. It's way to hot. I suggest getting a Hyper 212+, great cooling for air on a budget.
Hyper 212+: http://www.guru3d.com/article/cooler-master-hyper-212-plus-review/7

It's only 30$ at Amazon and 23$ at Microcenter if thats near you locally. So... That's really all you need to do.

For ocing with GPU get EVGA percision to oc it or msi afterburner. The 470 should get hot, but not to hot in a single slot. ITS RARE when you need to have to get water cooling. I mean you can but its a waste unless you have at least 400$. -_-

 

[Twoboxer]

If you haven't purchased the 470 yet, you might consider the 1 day-old HD6870. Performance-wise it appears to give about 90+% of the 470:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-23.html

while generating less heat due to far less power consumption:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-22.html

Its priced appropriately less, too.

As for a cooler, if I were to push a 950 that far 24/7 I'd probably grab the best air cooler available. The Hyper 212+ is great and a real value, but this one appears to be the best:

http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=86421

 

[Twoboxer]

The HAF 932 is a good case. But if you haven't purchased it yet, you might take a look at the Silverstone Raven 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163154&cm_re=silverstone_raven-_-11-163-154-_-Product

Here's why:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/09/30/my_quiet_galaxy_geforce_gtx_480_sli_build

 

[emx61193]

yea i was def. planning on a purchasing a a cpu cooler ill look at those few.

And thanks for the idea on the gpu. Also, would i need purchase a better cooler for this gpu.

Can air cooling also keep those 6870s cool if they are in cf

Thanks for the idea on the case will check it out.

 

[emx61193]

The HAF 932 is a good case. But if you haven't purchased it yet, you might take a look at the Silverstone Raven 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163154&cm_re=silverstone_raven-_-11-163-154-_-Product

Here's why:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/09/30/my_quiet_galaxy_geforce_gtx_480_sli_build

hey so you think the way this case is designed it is better for cf or sli. I was thinking about getting some ati cards which seem to run cooler yet do not have the same preformance as the nvidia ones. Im still afraid that air cooling will let it get too hot. With this case would this build be ok or could I even go with the gtx sli if i get the sr2 and gpu specific cooling

 

[aznshinobi]

Wait... So you HAVEN'T bought the GTX 470 yet?

The case is fine, it'll cool either Nvidia or ATI cards too be honest. HAF stands for High Air Flow. Sooo... I mean, I've used it before and it does actually have very good case air flow. Anyway, its not that ATI cards and Nvidia cards cool any different. It's just that Nvidia made the 465/470/480s run really hot.. So if you ever plan to SLI your going to have SERIOUS heating problems with the top card in SLI with any of those 3. The thing Nvidia did get right though is the GTX 460, because they fixed the overheating problems in single and sli and fixed the power consumption as well.

Any build would work with the HAF tbh. Its full tower, and really... I think I've seen every build work in that case.

Now I wouldn't actually recommend CF 6870's mainly because, their REALLY LOUD. I mean in comparison to the 6850 and GTX 460 1GB it's much louder and runs hotter than 460. (the 6870 runs a tiny bit hotter). I think you'd be better off with CF 6850s as the price it would total up cheaper. Plus its the best bang for the buck now.

Review: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6850_CrossFire/4.html
EDIT: Look at that scaling, beats out the 5970 and gtx 460 at half the cost.

 

[Twoboxer]

From all the reviews, it seems pretty clear the Raven 2 is the best case for air flow and cooling. Don't misunderstand, the HAF cases are great. And a good sli/xfire build will work in them just fine. But the Raven follows the laws of Physics, uses BIG fans to move air quietly with low rpms (noise), and lets hot air rise with "no" gpu heat reaching another gpu or the cpu.

As for 6870 noise - well, noise is relative. Its still quieter than a 470:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-22.html

Further, in a Raven case the fans will likely use lower rpm or you will likely be able to adjust the fan profile on the gcard to do so. In either case, as shown above the 6870 uses almost half the power of the 470. There's not nearly as much heat to deal with.

As for crossfire results . . . well, I guess I don't trust a review that shows crossfire scaling at greater than 100% (Bad Company2, 1920, 4xAA, 42.6FPS vs 85.5 FPS). The reviewer in the Techpowerup review neither noticed nor explained the result - maybe they were in a hurry.

So I prefer these results:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,2776-20.html

Still very good, except for the anomaly of lower minimum frame rates . . . twice the gpus and you get a lower minimum frame rate, eh? Which this reviewer both noted and said needed explanation.

I'd prefer not to do a fresh build using sli/xfire when the budget allows a single vid card that's up to the task. YMMV.