cooling a computer and its chips?

Question

If I want to add a heatsink to an AMD Athalon64 3000 what should I buy? Also, is this water cooled stuff expensive? Do I need another fan for any of the above?

Answer 1

Go with the manufacturer's recommendation. Water cooled seems pretty drastic. It just smells of trouble, maintenance and worry.

If you are building a desktop.... there is no such thing as TOO MANY FANS in the case.

Answer 2

You can always purchase extra cooling fans. The no need for water cooling- that's an expensive undertaking for maniacal overclockers. For the Athlon 64 3000+, the stock heatsinks are usually fine. But you could always look into a Spire Kestrel King VI copper-base or Spire DiamondCool II heatsink. The Zalmans are very highly regarded, too.

Answer 3

I agree with the two opinions above. Are you overclocking your CPU? If not, socket 754, 939, and AM2 all come with good stock heatsinks. If you want your computer cooler, put more case fans in. They are cheaper and lower maintenance. I haven't even touched water cooling so I can't advise you on it. I just know it's very expensive.

Answer 4

I really don't think that you should get your comp water cooled. If you are putting in a new heatsink, maybe you should replace your fan too.

Answer 5

The Thermaltake Big Typhoon is good, water cooling is expensive and only truly necessary if you are a big overclocker.

Answer 6

CPU coolers arent too expensive now adays unless u want watercooling, wich is only if u intend to seriously overclock.

The best price/performance cooler i know of is the Zalman CNPS7700.

Answer 7

Buy colling stuff from AAvid Thermolyod