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building a PC: CPU heatsink fan & thermal grease questions

richard.mac

richard.mac

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 2, 2007
6,292
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51.50024, -0.12662
im planning to build my first PC for gaming and general Windows stuff soon and i have a few questions. this is the only computer forum im a member of so i hope its all right to post on MacRumors and in the Community Discussion thread (not sure where to post). so Mods feel free to move this if you wish.

heres the parts i plan to buy on Newegg. the 2.5GHz Core 2 Quad Yorkfield is just a place holder until the 2.66GHz is available & i forgot to put in the case which is the Antec Solo.

Screencapture 1.jpg

i want to overclock the quad to 3.0GHz. is the stock Intel heatsink fan enough to cool the overclocked quad? or should i buy an OEM quad core and get a third party heatsink fan? i searched around and found the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro was good for the performance and price so i plan to buy this if a third party cooler is needed.

the Freezer 7 Pro has thermal paste pre-applied on the copper base so do i need to apply anymore on the CPU? also if i use the stock heatsink do i need to buy a thermal paste syringe separately and apply it when i build the PC or is the CPU and stock cooler enough?

and if my parts arent compatible or if anyone recommends a better & cheaper part feel free to post.

thanks
 
I'm not sure about the performance of the heatsink vs. a third party one, but I think the Thermal Paste on the heatsink right now should do alright. If you find it's running too hot, you can always add more, but putting too much on can be a bad thing I've heard.
 
hey thanks for the reply. i havent bought the parts yet and dont plan on until a couple of months time.

so if i use the stock Intel heatsink do i just order a syringe of thermal paste and apply all of it or just some? ive never built a system before. do you actually need to apply the paste or is it just for extra cooling when overclocking?
 
We used Scythe (http://www.scythe-usa.com) fans while rebuilding the Mac Pros, and our guru uses Scythe HSF's on every machine that requires a standard HSF that he builds. I use their case fans as a replacement for some of my 'ready built' machines. If the HSF (especially an Arctic one) has paste preapplied you don't have to do a thing.

Regarding the Solo, recently I needed a machine to run as an additional communications server and seeing as we had PSU's, RAM and CPU's handy I threw together a simple system in a Solo and an Intel MATX mobo. I appreciated the attention to detail on a low-cost case but wasn't so impressed by the silence - the lack thereof - fan noise comes through quite well on this case, and the included fan is too noisy for the amount of air it moves.
 
Having built a PC i guess i might as well put my word in.

The stock heatsink should do fine for cooling the over clocked processor but... I would seriously consider getting a better one. I mean really, your already spending 1,200+ why not do it right the first time?? I will refer you to www.silentpcreview.com for some heat sink recommendations (just search for the recommended list). I personally use a Scythe Ninja heat sink and like it. The mounting can be a pain on intel boards cause of the crappy pushpin design but once it is on there it does seem to hold just fine. I would also suggest getting some real thermal compound. The stuff that come with the scythe is not that great. Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Silver Ceramique work the best. The first works the best but is conductive so you have to make sure not to get it on the board. Ceramique is non conductive but does not quite work as well as AS5. In all practicality you probably won't be able to tell the difference in performance.
 
why were you rebuilding Mac Pros? do you have a Scythe heatsink that you would recommend? some of them dont have fans so theyre silent but are these ones good coolers?

i thought the Antec Solo was a relatively quiet case? it comes with a 120mm fan and space for 2x 90mm fans so i might replace these with Scythe fans.
 
Ok, what type of stuff are you doing? A quad core is not good for gaming. If it's gaming and like HD video, get a fast Dual core. If it's lots of editing and multitasking, get the quad. As far as heatsinks go, get a really good one, and Arctic silver paste. You don't want to take any chances with the heatsink. The original heatsink will hold the processor at stock speeds, but a new one with decent paste will help. Once you overclock it, get rid of the original heatsink and upgrade, it will be worth it.

Edit, just read that you want it for gaming. Get the dual core.
 
im not a huge gamer i only play NHL, Tiger Woods and San Andreas on my MacBook Pro atm. i mainly want to use Windows for office & Windows only apps for Uni so i can remove Boot Camp from my MBP, torrents and HD video watching so a bit of multitasking but also suitable for playing the latest games and i want to keep the system future proof.

i saw this article on digg so i know duos are better for gaming than quads are.

silbeej said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
It comes with paste on it, but if you are good with this stuff, take it off and put Arctic Silver on.
Click to expand...

wouldnt i buy the OEM core 2 duo and then attach the heatsink fan or should i buy the retail and hang onto the stock heatsink fan?

-Alan- said:
You'd probably get a lot of nice help here. The only thing I'd suggest is over specing your memory if you want to overclock.
Click to expand...

thanks. what do you mean by over specing? im planning to buy Corsair Dominator 2x1GB 1066MHz
 
Hang on to the retail fan. It's good when it comes to resale of the processor. I use the Freezer 7 Pro as well and my Q6600 rarely breaks 60° C at full load.
 
Eidorian said:
Hang on to the retail fan. It's good when it comes to resale of the processor. I use the Freezer 7 Pro as well and my Q6600 rarely breaks 60° C at full load.
Click to expand...

your quad is only 2.4GHz or have your OCd it? im planning to OC the 2.66 to 3.0 and hopefully have a full load temp of high 40s to 50s C. is this possible?
 
If you decide to apply your own heat sink compound, you must completely clean off the existing compound or pad from the cooler, and wipe it down with alcohol so it is mirror-shiny clean. Then you apply no more than a grain of rice sized amount of compound and spread it very thinly with a credit card or other plastic implement. More compound is not better.
 
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