Corsair H60 Water Cooling Help

I plan on getting a Corsair H60 Water Cooling cpu cooler
for my AMD3 socket MB. my mother board only has 4-Pin CPU_FAN and 3-Pin CHA_FAN I am wondering if these two will be compatible with this CPU Cooler...

my mobo's name is Asus M4N68T-M V2
and the cooler is Corsair H60

do any of the fans need to be installed on a PWR_FAN because I dont have any of those on my motherboard.. just the two mentioned above...

 

Use the 4-pin to have the motherboard temperature control the fan speed and plug the pump in the the 3-pin to have %100 pump function for the quietest operation. At least that's the way I installed my H-50 some 3 years ago on my i7 930 in my sig running @ %100 load 24/7. Are you going to be overclocking?

 

i might overclock my 3.2 to around 3.6 but nothing crazy

 

You don't need it then, as the stock HS/F can handle that easily unless you like the 'clean look'.

 

really the stock can handle that? and how should I go about overclocking it with some sort of software or bios? im kinda a noob when it comes to OC but I am very tech savvy.. my main goal is to play battlefield 3 smooth which is very demanding of the CPU. the software that comes with my mobo only allows oc of .1 ghz I believe so i may need to find a way to safley oc to a stable 3.5 or 3.6

 

Try that, I have ASUS motherboards and they have decent overclocking apps though I don't know the AMD side these days. Do take care when OC'ing though, watch your CPU temps to make sure the HS/F when it's running at load. Search for an OC guide for your chip from a reputable site. It takes time to get a good OC safely.

 

You must understand that Intel and AMD OEM coolers are actually excellent coolers. They have to be as they are warranted for 3 years along with the CPU. Most aftermarket coolers are only warrantied for 1 year. Plus, the AMD and Intel CPU warranties for their CPUs that come boxed with a supplied fan stipulated they must be used with the supplied fan, and neither Intel or AMD want to replace a CPU because of fan failure.

Note too that it is the responsibility of the case to expel hot air. The CPU cooler only has to toss the CPU heat up into the "flow". So of equal, or even greater importance is ensuring your case provides good front to back flow through the case.

 

Quite right. For example, I was able to OC my stock Intel i7-930 from 2.8 to 3.4 gigs when the heat reached 70C which I will not exceed even though the Intels can take more heat than that but I will not push it to the bleeding edge of Tcas.

@john I had an AMD X2 and the HS/F worked as excellently. A minimum of %20 increase in heat if not more so a modest increase of %8 will not ever risk burning the CPU. However, whenever OC'ing, one has to accept the risks involved, shorter life etc., or blowing memory up as it's very sensitive to voltage increases.

Up to you john though I think you should be just fine. If your FPS is good at stock speeds then don't bother OC'ing it unless you're willing to cough up more cash if and when something does go wrong.

 

Yeah, the only real problem I have with OEM coolers is they tend to be a little louder than some after market coolers when running full speed. But then again, besides providing cool air, a good case will suppress fan noise too.

I have an i7 860 modestly pushed from the stock speed of 2.8GHz to 3.15Ghz and my temp currently is 51°C. So no complaints here.

I must confess, however, even though the TIM (thermal interface material) pads that come on OEM coolers are much better than plain ol' silicone "grease" of years past, I just don't like the idea of paraffin melting about my CPU (even though I know full well most of the paraffin evaporates away). So I always remove the pad and use Arctic Silver 5.

Yup. And another problem with alternative cooling is design. Motherboard designers intentionally surround the CPU socket with heat generating/heat sensitive devices so they can take advantage of the turbulence caused by the expected "OEM" HSF assembly. Using a cooler with a different fan orientation or a fanless CPU cooling alternative may result in heat/stability issues with the motherboard's chipset (system), or voltage regulator circuits. So again, case cooling becomes even more critical.

 

Totally agreed again. When I replaced the 930's stock HS/F with a H50 on the eVGA 3x SLI mobo, there is a vreg heatsink that got real hot because of that lack of air circulation. I think I have the record on the eVGA forums with vreg temps of 105C!:eek :-D I don't know what they're rated at but I got really nervous. Got it solved with a side fan but still hotter than normal.

EDIT: Trials and tribulations of overclocking.:-D

 

We're on a roll today!