Holding off on my build

[SARGE]

This will prolly be my last, for several reasons, and stupid me it's not financial as with everyone else; I waste money and rationalize by saying I spent entire life poor and now ain't. I always spent everything on others. You needed my shirt, you got it. When I got Win95 with what was it - 8mb of ram? then Win98, went from Pentium II to Pentium 4, then my last couple of builds, each time thinking this will be the last because it can't get any better. An addiction I guess but not like the other one that kicked my ass for 40 years.

Enough of that. I spent most of the day looking for an excuse to not use the Cooler Master Hyper 212 aftermarket cooler for my cpu. Afterall, I have the greatest mobo Asus Sabertooth P67 with 1155. It's still unopened. I don't want to fool around and leave a gap where I'll always wonder - what if? The cooler gets good reviews mainly because it's cheap and does ok - a good thing. However it's severe negative is the pain in the arse trying to install, something I don't need, and I'm sitting here looking at it on the table.

Gal bud said since my birthday, go for what you want. I have 2 inches of paper from so many reviews and this one wins. Opinions and experiences appreciated of course.

I want the Noctua NH-C14, top of the line evidently. A board like this and a cpu and chip shouldn't have to settle for a stock Intel heatsink. Some of the scores I saw left the stock way, way back in the dust. Way back.

Top 5 Intel & AMD Heatsinks on Frostytech

[RevCLB]

Write your book.

[rwest]

Sarge if you want something more expensive just because you want it, and you can afford it.....I say go for it. Nothing worse than having regrets about something you have control over.

On the other hand, the Hyper 212 was not hard to intall. Really. What I did was to mount the back plate and then kinda just fiddled with the bracket to see how it lined up. then I inserted my cpu. Before I put any paste on the cpu, I set the heat sink on top and went thru the motions of mounting with the heatsink in place. I just didn't tighten it down. Took it off and then did it again with the thermal paste.

The 212 is a great buy. But if it's not really what you want, then yeh get something else. It would be worse to install the 212, and then decide to get something else. First off, I doubt you could return it. And second, I would hate to have to tear 'my' pc apart I just built, because I did not get what I wanted in the first place.

[birddog_61]

The nh-c14 is a great cooler, you won't be disappointed in it.

[jdeb]

It is real easy to install just a massive amount of parts because it can go on just about anything. Anyway, if you want something that is easier, go for it. The one your thinking about is a good one and NewEgg makes it easy to send back.

You crack me up Sarge

I would use this if I had money to burn. But they are not easier to install than the 212+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181013

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by jdeb It is real easy to install just a massive amount of parts because it can go on just about anything. Anyway, if you want something that is easier, go for it. The one your thinking about is a good one and NewEgg makes it easy to send back. You crack me up Sarge I would use this if I had money to burn. But they are not easier to install than the 212+ Newegg.com - CORSAIR Hydro H70 CWCH70 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler

The hydro h70 actually doesn't cool any better than the high end air coolers. It does have an advantage though in that it is smaller than the high end air coolers. Even though its closed loop it would still make me nervous to put a liquid inside my case.

[David M]

The enthusiasts sometimes find it hard to understand why the bang for the buck people are so cheap and the bang for the buck people sometimes don't understand why the enthusiasts are so wasteful.

I think it's okay to be some of both and to not go to either extreme. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot be how much of either that you want to be.

[SARGE]

Too much research in 3 days for this. Plus gal bud hollering and rooting all day watching March Madness and dog barking everytime she did, and me trying to get mind in gear and seeing my new Asus still in its wrapper. I need a vacation.

I came close to the Corsair H50 or 70 but don't want, at this time, water in hoses flowing across my mobo. A radiator hose on a car leaks on the ground; on a mobo it might leak where you don't want. What's that smell?? They say only 1/2 of 1 percent of water coolers have a problem. I ain't ready for the half. The P67 may turn out to be a piece of junk, but it's getting the best I can give it. The winner is:

Newegg.com - Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

[birddog_61]

Good choice sarge, glad you finally found one you like. Just keep in mind if your ram has a taller than normal heatsink it probably will not fit with that cooler. I agree with you about the h70, I still am not comfortable with water inside my case. I have wanted to build a water rig for awhile now but just can't make myself take the chance at this point.

[jdeb]

I like it too Sarge, good choice.

[David M]

Overclocking enthusiasts do buy the large CPU heatsinks with the RAM with the tall heatsinks. What they do with a Dremel is to grind down the RAM heatsink where it needs to clear a heat tube.

[SARGE]

Originally Posted by David M Overclocking enthusiasts do buy the large CPU heatsinks with the RAM with the tall heatsinks. What they do with a Dremel is to grind down the RAM heatsink where it needs to clear a heat tube.

Oh geez, now I have to worry about that.

[David M]

No worries Sarge. Just get plain Jane RAM without the tall heat sinks. You already know that overclocked RAM does very little for overall system speed. 1600 is plenty fast and I think your board will natively clock 1600 RAM which keeps you from having to fuss with your RAM.

[SARGE]

Received it today. Oh my... very intimidating looking cooler. Hard to imagine a couple of pounds hanging off the side of my new mobo. I hope Asus doesn't use balsa wood.

[David M]

I wonder if mobo manufacturers are beefing up the area around the CPU mount because of these enormous heatsinks? That's quite a lot of torque being applied to such a relatively delicate thing. I don't think I would put that combination in something that shakes or moves like a car or a boat.

Oh I forgot...am I making you nervous again?

[SARGE]

Originally Posted by David M I wonder if mobo manufacturers are beefing up the area around the CPU mount because of these enormous heatsinks? That's quite a lot of torque being applied to such a relatively delicate thing. I don't think I would put that combination in something that shakes or moves like a car or a boat. Oh I forgot...am I making you nervous again?

Me nervous? Yeah only 'cause ain't ever traversed these waters b4. Latest stuff (1155), me sorta new kid on block with it, wants the best for it (Crucial Real SDD 6gbps) an Asus Sabertooth P67 as The Man suggests, so very many high-end heatsinks laying around, even water cooling plus all sorts of DDR3 memory. But it's no big deal. Something to keep my aging mind challenged and I will do that one way or the other anyway - would rather it be on building a PC. Main thing is not to move the case around after mounting the beast, you know, like tossing a ball perhaps. In the end, if it breaks, I'll try something else but be very pissed. Am now looking at Arctic Silver 5 and IC Diamond, both on the desk. Once I decide...checkmate. BTW, always loved chess. Such a game of strategy, not unlike all this.

[David M]

Your in a nice situation Sarge. Retired with enough money to build high end rigs. I look forward to being there one day. I will probably do the same thing, build a high end rig every time a new generation of hardware comes out and probably sell the old computer for a fraction of what I paid for it or give it away to a neighborhood kid who is into gaming.

I have so much fun assembling and then tweaking a high end computer to see how fast I can make it go.
As far as a hobby goes, there are far more expensive hobbies than this.

[bhamil77]

I have an AMD system I built about two years ago that has a Noctua cooler. It only just fits in my mid-tower case, but it has worked so well, I will probably not look at other brands of coolers. Good luck with the build!

[SARGE]

Originally Posted by David M Your in a nice situation Sarge. Retired with enough money to build high end rigs. I look forward to being there one day. I will probably do the same thing, build a high end rig every time a new generation of hardware comes out and probably sell the old computer for a fraction of what I paid for it or give it away to a neighborhood kid who is into gaming. I have so much fun assembling and then tweaking a high end computer to see how fast I can make it go. As far as a hobby goes, there are far more expensive hobbies than this.

If you only knew that retirement ain't all it's cracked up to be. Trips to Cancun, Cozumel, Vegas gets old after awhile and you want some structure back into your life, like 9-5 - really. Staying in bed 'til almost noon, and biggest decision to make all day is where to eat brunch, and staying up all nite on the Net ain't much of a life. I don't want to get started there. Anyway, I do have a closet full of previous mobos with ram and cpu installed, all going to waste. This one I'm keeping as my spare when build the beast this week. Any ideas on what I can do with others? Good stuff.

[glc]

Donate the old computers to charity.

[SARGE]

Originally Posted by glc Donate the old computers to charity.

They aren't ready to go stuff. Just mobos with cpu and ram.