HELP 24 hours b4 BIG BUILD!!!

[Bokranator]

Hi everyone. Sorry, I've been away tackling many Vista pcs. It's time to build again and this time I'm building for my bro.

Long story short, after hours of designing it for him, I realised one flaw I had with the cooler. As he wont be using the pc for anything special, just music etc really but I don't want to use the core 2 duo e6550 stock cooler (although I don't really know how well it works) and opted for a Freezer 7 Pro. However I don't know if it will fit in the case shown below:

Be cool! Be Aerocool!

If it doesn't fit, could someone suggest a cooler that will keep the e6550 cool and fit please? Time is of the vanilla essence. lol.

P.S. Does anybody know where I could get a black gigabyte gz-m3 in the uk? And is in stock?

[garetjax]

I don't see why you feel compelled to go with an aftermarket cooler if you yourself said that he won't be using the computer for anything but music and the like. The stock Intel coolers are not bad, but they aren't fantastic either. They do what they were designed to do which was to keep your processor from burning into a flaming pile of molten slag.

With that said, why not just use the Intel cooler and see how it performs? If nothing else, you can swap it out later once you take some measurements from inside your case and find the exact maximum dimensions that an aftermarket cooler will fit in it. I dunno, I've always felt that it is better to measure twice and cut once. In this way, you don't run the chance of buying something, realize it won't fit, then have to go through the hassle of RMA'ing it.

[Bokranator]

I know this sounds stupid, but my p4 has made me a tad paranoid of heating woes and I can’t seem to find anywhere which will tell me if the Intel stock coolers have improved for the Core 2 Duo series, but I heard certain coolers use stock coolers for this cpu use different more lenient materials.

My p4 finds windows media player a challenge reaching temps of 48 idle and 65 at load and that’s with its dusty Intel cooler, which at many a time failed to cool it as temps rose to 80 degrees and shutdown.

With htpc's cooling is a major issue and I’ll have a silent pipe Gigabyte 8400 GS in there, so I need to be confident that all will be well.

[Yellowhello]

Maybe a Zalman CNPS 8xxx cooler if you were to go aftermarket. I'd try what Dave (garetjax) said also.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Bokranator

i know this sounds stupid but my p4 has made me a tad paranoid of heating woes and i cant seem to find anywhere which will tell me if the intel stock coolers have inproved for the core 2 duo series but i heard certain coolers use stock coolers for this cpu use different more linient materials.

No, you don't sound stupid, rather you sound like a concerned enthusiast that wants to be sure that their components will be sufficiently cooled. Admittedly, you do have a strong case for Intels P4's (I assume you are referring to the Prescott line). These procs ran extremely hot, and were difficult at acheiving high overclocks without resorting to other means of cooling because of this.

However, with the advent of Intels C2D's (Core 2 Duo's), Intel has ensured that the heat signature of these processors are much lower than their older Prescott bretheren. Suffice to say, since the C2D's run so much cooler than the Prescotts's, using a stock cooler for your Q6600 will be plenty good enough for what your brother wants to do with his computer.

So rest easy my friend. Your C2D heat concerns, while important, should have no problems when matched with Intel's stock cooler. If it makes you feel any better, I was able to overclock a C2D E4400 from 2.0Ghz to 2.6Ghz while using Intel's stock cooler. Sure, the temps at idle and load were higher (about 15 degrees difference in each case) but the system ran stable without a single hiccup.

[Bokranator]

thanks garetjax, trust me when uve seen a red hot hole appear on the side of a customers pc you will be scarred for life lol.btw i know its kinda off topic but if a motherboard says it takes ddr2 667 1.8v and u stick in ddr 667 cas 4 corsair xms2 2gb ram stick with a voltage of 1.9v what will happen?

a) the bios will recognise this and set it auto matically (btw is this overclocking?)

b) you smell something and see that uve just built a toaster with windows vista installed?

[Yellowhello]

It will probably boot fine, just be sure to set the voltages manually (if you motherboard can). My G.Skill kit is rated at 2.1v and it booted at 1.8v just fine.

[Bokranator]

ah ok thanks yello :)

[fstroupe]

Just looking at the case I would say that the Freezer 7 Pro probably won't fit.

HTPC cases definitely are not made for high-heat situations. The Tt Bach I reviewed recently has an 80mm intake, and a pair of 60mm exhaust fans. That's it. It is doing ok on the non-overclocked rig I have in it, though. The 60mm fans are surprisingly quiet...for 60mm fans, anyway.

It has a stock cooler on it...I really don't think a cooler with perpendicular fins will fit in it. An aftermarket cooler really isn't a priority for that rig. Actually, it is the only rig I have built that I used the stock cooler.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Bokranator

thanks garetjax, trust me when uve seen a red hot hole appear on the side of a customers pc you will be scarred for life lol.btw i know its kinda off topic but if a motherboard says it takes ddr2 667 1.8v and u stick in ddr 667 cas 4 corsair xms2 2gb ram stick with a voltage of 1.9v what will happen?

a) the bios will recognise this and set it auto matically (btw is this overclocking?)

b) you smell something and see that uve just built a toaster with windows vista installed?

1.8v is just the standard voltage for DDR2, and most motherboards will set it automatically. The only bad thing that would happen is if the motherboard doesn't adjust it automatically and the computer locks up when trying to boot into windows; at which point you just go into the Bios and set the voltage and timing manually. The higher voltage setting is just to help the RAM keep stability at it's lower then norm latency (the normal being around CAS 5), and it's not overclocking since 1.9v CAS 4 is what the sticks are rated for.