Watter coolong -Vs- Heatsink & fan.

Which is better, Heat sink and fan or water cooling? I like the heat sink and fan because it's simple but from what ive heard of water cooling, it keeps things way cooler than a heat sink and fan does. What kind of differences in temperature are we looking at between the two though?

 

Water cooling is the best but it costs alot. $400+

heatsink and fan is much cheaper and you can get good temps with a quality heat sink and fan.

 

what kind of heat sink would you recommend for a socket 478?

 

You looking for a replacement one or something?

What are you doing with the cpu? Overclocking?

 

No, it just seem's that any CPU i put in this thing ends up running hot. a lot of times it's at 30 to 35c but theres been times even on idle it'll run at 40+, Is it normal for an APP like facebook's farm ville to use 100% CPU usage (2.5GHZ P4) and spike the temp up to 60c + ? I had the same problem with my old 2.0 CPU.

It never takes a whole lot to reach 100% CPU usage...
I could scroll this page up and down right now and probably get 100%; With nothing else running.

 

30 to 35c is ok

I wouldn't suggest anything over 65c

P4 cpu's run hot. I think the max temp for a P4 is around 70c

IF you haven't changed the paste in some time you may want to replace it.

The CPU usage problem is software related.

 

So it's because farmville sucks and maybe something is wrong with my firefox? lol.. I can just scroll a page and get 100%. Yeah I installed a new cpu a couple days ago and paste along with it.. what should i do about the software problem; or how do i find out what software it is? I'm guessing like i said farmville is just like that but.. maybe something is wrong with firefox?? beats me..

 

I would make a post in software

 

ok, thanks.

 

The best air cooling solution will compete with and beat the worst water cooling solutions.
example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150097
would be beaten by:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...ocket_LGA_775_LGA_1366_LGA_1156_AM2_Xeon.html
with a good 1-2 fans on it.

There are many "gimmicky" cheap and nasty water cooling solutions out there but the same can also be said for air cooling.

pclover is right that for a semi decent water cooling solution (that will be superior to air) will cost from $300-400USD and will provide "better cooling for the CPU", but it should also include the Video Card and Chipset H20 blocks. Some can make the mistake of just H20 cooling the CPU but then neglecting the rest of the system cooling and suffer hardware failure (your RAM, HDD, Video Card and chipsets still need a cooling solution). Another potential problem is "water and electricity" and I have read on several occasions of leaks occurring and "killing" other expensive hardware ($700-800 Video Card).

If done properly (lot's of homework required) it will lower temps by at least 15-20C and generally allow stable 4+GHz OC.

After water comes "Phase Change Cooling", basically like a fridge/AC mechanisms focused onto a CPU HS plate and allows temps upto -100--150C:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1793

Then the C02, LN2, Liquid Helium for the "very extreme cooling" sessions, like the world OC championships.

Here is a complete run down:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cooling

 

I HIGHLY recommend the corsair h-50 water cooler, it's an all in one kit ready to go out the box, it out performs nearly all air coolers and costs less than the high end air coolers ! Only £55!!

Burrell