CPU cooler for i7 930 in Antec 900

[soarwitheagles]

I think I'll go with the H50 for the size and weight reasons. I really don't like the idea of having a heavy metal thing pulling on my motherboard as the case bounces around in the car, seems like a bad idea. I also have a Nine Hundred and with the side fan I've heard many of the larger coolers don't fit. The H50 looks like it gives the same performance with a smaller sized unit and that alone makes it a great choice. It is sorta expensive but so are many air coolers so I'll probably go with the H50.

Since the Nine Hundred has all the intake fans (3x 120mm) would it make more sense to use a push-pull setup directed out of the case? The reviews I've read say to set it up as an intake at the rear which seems like a terrible idea.

Also, I know many people use other fans with the H50 and a good push-pull setup needs two identical fans. What are the best fans to use with this setup? Blue LED's would be nice but I'll take black fans if they work better/quieter. I'll most likely end up building a fan controller for all my fans so I will have control over the speed.

Calc,

Your choice of a light weight water cooling system is very wise given the fact that you are toting your system around in your car! If I was toting my system around in my car, a heavy weight CPU Air Cooler wouldn't even be a option in my mind. May I ask why you tote your system around in your car?

these are the meanest blue LED fans on the market. they are disscontinued and this is the only place i have found that you can purchase them from.

at 38dba you would propably want to go with a fan controller,

Cooler Master Y720DCD-25T1-GP 120mm Blue LED Silent Case Fan 110CFM 16dBA at SVC.com

Sean, if I had seen those earlier, I would not have purchased the SCyth F's! LOL!

I would like something from Newegg, preferably clear plastic too, I really don't care what color the LED's are because when I do finally get around to it I'll be building RGB (color changing) fan controllers for each fan. Didn't you say that 75CFM was the most you could get out of the H50?

Calc, I ran my two Scyth F fans sucking the air out of the case rather than into the case. Now, after seeing this Air Flow Chart, I am considering changing my system to suck cool air in. The reason for this is because I have a Storm Sniper and it has a powerful 200mm fan up top sucking hot air out. By having my Corsair radiator hot air coming into the case, I think the 200mm fan would suck it all out before it got a chance to circulate into the case.

Here's the flowchart I found at Corsairs forums:http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87658

Here are the two trains of thought on which direction to mount the fans:

Suck air IN camp:
Pro's: Air is cooler on the outside of the case, so sucking in cooler air will lead to lower CPU temps.
Cons: The suck air in set up will nearly always increase the overall temps of the case because it is exhausting your hot air from the radiator INTO the case rather than outside the case.

Suck air OUT camp:
Pros: Lower case temps: Air from the hot radiator in HOT, therefore it should be removed FROM the case rather than be shot into the case!

Cons: The initial air you are using is hotter creating a higher CPU temp: the air you are shooting through the radiator is already hot because most computer case temps are significantly higher than the ambient room temps.

Calc,

I found several charts that show the different temps using suck air in vs. suck air out. What was shocking to me was that there wasn't much of a difference at all[I think it was only 1-3 degrees]!

Final Note: Some people suck the cool room air in, then set up a sort of wind tunnel to exhaust the air out of the case. I did not like this because it appeared to restrict the overall air circulation of the entire case.

Calc, you can easily experiment with it because it only takes 2-3 minutes to switch the direction of the fans.

PS Calc, may I ask why do you tote your computer around in your car? I've never heard of that! Unless of course you are going to LAN parties!

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

How else do you tote a computer? When I go back to college there's no way I'm leaving my PC here! However on long breaks I want to bring it home so I can game with friends. I don't want to have to disassemble it every time I go somewhere so the easiest option is to just put it in the back seat and buckle it down with the seat belt. I obviously didn't mean I leave the PC in my car all the time, just that I move it from home to school and back a lot.

As for airflow, I'll try all the different options. Right now I need to know what a good LED fan that Newegg sells is, I want something fairly cheap but also something that will last. It has to be clear plastic and have 4 LED's (5mm) for the fan mods I plan to do. I have a Masscool 120mm fan but it's only 65CFM.

Looking at Newegg, here are some 75CFM or higher fans, any suggestions?

Rosewill RFA-120 White LED
Newegg.com - Rosewill RFA-120-WL 120mm 4 White LEDs LED Case Fan

Masscool BLD12025S1M Blue LED
Newegg.com - MASSCOOL BLD12025S1M 120mm Blue LED Case Fan

Scythe SY1225SL12SH Black (no LED but 110CFM)
Newegg.com - Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan

 

[Sean W.]

i have these on my H50 and they do an awesome job and they have an awesome glow and they are pretty cheap, i have 4 of these fans and i love them. for a blue LED fans going on a H50 Radiator, i strongly reccoemend these.

Newegg.com - Rosewill RFA-120-BL 120mm 4 Blue LEDs LED Case Fan

andihave those same exact scythe fans, and when i had 2 of those on my H50 radiator, i saw maybe, a 1 degree difference in temeratures, and they were louder than crap. do not reccoemend those, like i said on another thread, anything over 75cfm get exponentially louder with diminishing returns.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I'll probably get the White LED version of those fans simply because the plastic is clear instead of blue tinted. I want to replace the LED's with ones that can change color and blue tint only looks good with blue LED's. Just to make sure, they do have the RPM sensor wire right? I bought some Rosewill fans a few years ago that showed it in the picture and did not have it when I got them.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I'll probably get the White LED version of those fans simply because the plastic is clear instead of blue tinted. I want to replace the LED's with ones that can change color and blue tint only looks good with blue LED's. Just to make sure, they do have the RPM sensor wire right? I bought some Rosewill fans a few years ago that showed it in the picture and did not have it when I got them.

Color changing fan leds sounds cool.

i have these on my H50 and they do an awesome job and they have an awesome glow and they are pretty cheap, i have 4 of these fans and i love them. for a blue LED fans going on a H50 Radiator, i strongly reccoemend these.

Newegg.com - Rosewill RFA-120-BL 120mm 4 Blue LEDs LED Case Fan

andihave those same exact scythe fans, and when i had 2 of those on my H50 radiator, i saw maybe, a 1 degree difference in temeratures, and they were louder than crap. do not reccoemend those, like i said on another thread, anything over 75cfm get exponentially louder with diminishing returns.

I do not recommend any fan with a sleeve bearing for a CPU involved fan. I would recommend the ball bearing fans [or better] and there are lots of them out there.

My Scyth fans are the "F" series and they are inaudible [I cannot hear them at all]. They have the "Fluid Dynamic Bearing" technology. They seem to do ok. They are suppose to give 1600 rpm' s but I am getting 1500 and 1530. So they are lower than the corsair's 1700's.

In regards to cfm's, I am not sure what to say. Maybe there is an engineer here that can help us understand that. My concern is having a fan with higher cfm's [110 cfm] nearly flush against the face of the corsair radiator might be counter productive and cause a higher dBA as well. Yet I am not sure about this at all.

How else do you tote a computer? When I go back to college there's no way I'm leaving my PC here! However on long breaks I want to bring it home so I can game with friends. I don't want to have to disassemble it every time I go somewhere so the easiest option is to just put it in the back seat and buckle it down with the seat belt. I obviously didn't mean I leave the PC in my car all the time, just that I move it from home to school and back a lot.

As for airflow, I'll try all the different options. Right now I need to know what a good LED fan that Newegg sells is, I want something fairly cheap but also something that will last. It has to be clear plastic and have 4 LED's (5mm) for the fan mods I plan to do. I have a Masscool 120mm fan but it's only 65CFM.

Looking at Newegg, here are some 75CFM or higher fans, any suggestions?

Rosewill RFA-120 White LED
Newegg.com - Rosewill RFA-120-WL 120mm 4 White LEDs LED Case Fan

Masscool BLD12025S1M Blue LED
Newegg.com - MASSCOOL BLD12025S1M 120mm Blue LED Case Fan

Scythe SY1225SL12SH Black (no LED but 110CFM)
Newegg.com - Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan

Ok, I see why you take your computer with you! Well, it sure makes sense then to use a CPU cooler that is light weight, yet effective. Corsair H50 sounds like a perfect match for your needs. I just made a huge mistake. FIve weeks ago I finished a new build with a massive CPU air cooler. Then I put in in a box and shipped it to Asia. It should arrive there this week. My concern is that it ripped right out of the MB and maybe even did some permenant damage to the MB. I think this could have easily occurred if someone dropped the box during shipping. So, I should know in the next couple of days...

BTW, which school do you attend and what is your major?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I'm going to Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO, studying computer engineering. Electronics has always been one of my main interests and last year I started playing around with microcontrollers (cheap programmable chips). I made an RGB LED (red/green/blue) fan controller earlier this year for my server case that only has one LED fan. It turned out awesome so that's why I'm going to mod the new fans, need a different design to save space though.

I'll probably go with the 75CFM fans. They are sleeve bearing but I take care of fans pretty well, every once in a while I'll take the sticker off and put some oil in to keep them running well, sometimes I've had to take the blades off to clean out residue. I'll just buy the Rosewill ones and use them, if I find a ball bearing fan later I can replace it and use the Rosewills for case fans.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I'm going to Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO, studying computer engineering. Electronics has always been one of my main interests and last year I started playing around with microcontrollers (cheap programmable chips). I made an RGB LED (red/green/blue) fan controller earlier this year for my server case that only has one LED fan. It turned out awesome so that's why I'm going to mod the new fans, need a different design to save space though.

I'll probably go with the 75CFM fans. They are sleeve bearing but I take care of fans pretty well, every once in a while I'll take the sticker off and put some oil in to keep them running well, sometimes I've had to take the blades off to clean out residue. I'll just buy the Rosewill ones and use them, if I find a ball bearing fan later I can replace it and use the Rosewills for case fans.

Wow! You have chosen an excellent school and excellent major/subject matter! And awesome job on that fan controller! Congrats on excellent choices Calc!

Have successful and prosperous time there!

Soar

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Ordered my H50 today along with 2 of the white LED Rosewill fans. Stupid thing was that the fans had $2.99 shipping and the H50 had free shipping, but ordering the H50 and two fans together would have over $7 shipping. I placed two separate orders and the shipping for the two fans together was only $2.99, the H50 was free, so I saved on shipping.

I did also get my CPU running a bit cooler on the stock heatsink by turning core voltage down and QPI voltage up, running a 145 BCLK stable while before I was only able to use 138-140. Hopefully this effect scales so I can achieve an efficient overclock with the H50.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Ordered my H50 today along with 2 of the white LED Rosewill fans. Stupid thing was that the fans had $2.99 shipping and the H50 had free shipping, but ordering the H50 and two fans together would have over $7 shipping. I placed two separate orders and the shipping for the two fans together was only $2.99, the H50 was free, so I saved on shipping.

I did also get my CPU running a bit cooler on the stock heatsink by turning core voltage down and QPI voltage up, running a 145 BCLK stable while before I was only able to use 138-140. Hopefully this effect scales so I can achieve an efficient overclock with the H50.

Calc,

Glad to hear you ordered the H50. I believe you will be very happy with it. Not sure what to say about the Rosewill fans except I think they should work just fine for you [Let us know after you put everything together]!

In regards to the Overclocking...I have no clue whatsoever what is good or bad in this realm. So the best thing I can do is keep my mouth shut and do my best to learn.

You have an awesome weekend Calc!

Soar

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Got my H50 today

I put it all together (a bit more work than expected but it did eventually go together) and it's now running at 50C load under the settings it was at before and is much quieter. The only problem is that the hoses are a bit long and are taking up more room than I would like, they're also stiffer than I expected. I also heard some "gurgling" noises coming from it as if there were air bubbles or something. It seems to have gone away after running for a while though.