Getting a new computer. Need advice.

[MrGiggles]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Air cooling is especially effective if you know how to shape air.
If you can get the airflow to be perfect then it's way more efficient.

Unfortunately, the way my computer is set up some fans (most notably my GPU fan) blow in the opposite direction of the general airflow, which keeps me from playing games with the fans set on anything less than high and raise my idling temps a good couple of degrees. Oops.

But I'd heard that watercooling will bend air cooling over and rape it silly, without exception, in terms of straight up efficiency.

EDIT: Oh wait you meant way more efficient than air cooling where the airflow is ****ed. Like mine. Yeah, if you can manage to turn your case into a wind tunnel you're set.

[MrRubix]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

What would the weak points in that system be, if any?

[MrGiggles]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

What would the weak points in that system be, if any?

In terms of cooling? It could be better, but the company that designs and builds that premade will have made sure that it can handle the heat.

If I had to pick out specifics? It looks like it has a 120mm outtake fan in the rear. I can't really see the what's right in front of the HDD's, but it appears to have another 120mm intake fan in the front there. Hopefully it has a dust catching mechanism in front, my last computer died of a dust overdose. That arrangement seems pretty solid for a case that size. The issue that jumps out at me are the side vents. Side vents just plain suck and I don't know why any case has them. They collect dust like hookers collect diseases and they hurt the overall front-to-back airflow.

EDIT: Uh, it looks kind of like the side vents are outtake vents for the CPU fan. That removes the dust issue but it still interrupts airflow. Not as much as if they were intakes, but still.

In terms of bottlenecks, I don't see any. The HDD, maybe? But that's minor. I don't think there's many things out there that will redline any of your components yet, so it's tough to tell.

[Zageron]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

If your into fast then you could get a SSD. That would improve your speeds by a lot.
(Faster load times, faster windows bootup, faster file access etc...)

[Solid Dreams]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Water cooling also gets algae in it.

[MrRubix]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

In terms of cooling? It could be better, but the company that designs and builds that premade will have made sure that it can handle the heat.

If I had to pick out specifics? It looks like it has a 120mm outtake fan in the rear. I can't really see the what's right in front of the HDD's, but it appears to have another 120mm intake fan in the front there. Hopefully it has a dust catching mechanism in front, my last computer died of a dust overdose. That arrangement seems pretty solid for a case that size. The issue that jumps out at me are the side vents. Side vents just plain suck and I don't know why any case has them. They collect dust like hookers collect diseases and they hurt the overall front-to-back airflow.

EDIT: Uh, it looks kind of like the side vents are outtake vents for the CPU fan. That removes the dust issue but it still interrupts airflow. Not as much as if they were intakes, but still.

In terms of bottlenecks, I don't see any. The HDD, maybe? But that's minor. I don't think there's many things out there that will redline any of your components yet, so it's tough to tell.

How long does it take for dust to build up in a tower with suboptimal air flow (ballpark figure)? I figure if I just open the case up every once and a while and blow everything out, it should help everything last longer so I don't have dust holding in needless heat.

[Red_Comet]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

best to open it up once a month for air cooling and clean it out if it's not in an environment that restricts airflow, you can clean it every 2-3 months though if you aren't a neat freak. but yeah try to stay within the 6 month frame of cleaning out your pc.... it gets dusty one way or another.

[MrGiggles]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

How long does it take for dust to build up in a tower with suboptimal air flow (ballpark figure)? I figure if I just open the case up every once and a while and blow everything out, it should help everything last longer so I don't have dust holding in needless heat.

There's a lot of variables in how quickly dust builds up. If you keep your tower on the floor, it builds up faster. If you keep it on a rug or carpet it builds up even faster. If the front of the case has a washable air filter it makes things loads easier, but opening up the case and getting rid of dust with some compressed air is a good idea every few months or so.

[Zageron]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Yeah, if you have access to an air compresser (One used in the woodwork industry) they're so handy. Open up your case and let loose, staying at least 4 inches away from any component.

If you're more comfortable with computer hardware by the time you do this you could even take the RAM, Video Cards, and PSU out.

Let loose at the PSU and completely empty it of dust, carefully (from a distance) clean out the RAM and PCI slots, and then remove and clean any fans on any device in your computer. (If they're case fans try to blow from the inside -> out.)


I also heard somewhere that you can, for a very good cooling solution, submerge your board in a distilled water or vegetable oil environment. The liquid must be 100% distilled and must NEVER contain any physical particles. Then all you do is rapidly pump the liquid through a cooling device and push it back into the case.

This obviously sounds retarded, who would submerge their computer/board in water. But it's been done, and it works. (The reason electrical devices short out are because of the physical particles in liquid.)

I'm not pulling this out of my ass a friend who's taken a crapload of computer sciences courses told me this.

[MrGiggles]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Yeah, if you have access to an air compresser (One used in the woodwork industry) they're so handy. Open up your case and let loose, staying at least 4 inches away from any component.

If you're more comfortable with computer hardware by the time you do this you could even take the RAM, Video Cards, and PSU out.

Let loose at the PSU and completely empty it of dust, carefully (from a distance) clean out the RAM and PCI slots, and then remove and clean any fans on any device in your computer. (If they're case fans try to blow from the inside -> out.)


I also heard somewhere that you can, for a very good cooling solution, submerge your board in a distilled water or vegetable oil environment. The liquid must be 100% distilled and must NEVER contain any physical particles. Then all you do is rapidly pump the liquid through a cooling device and push it back into the case.

This obviously sounds retarded, who would submerge their computer/board in water. But it's been done, and it works. (The reason electrical devices short out are because of the physical particles in liquid.)

I'm not pulling this out of my ass a friend who's taken a crapload of computer sciences courses told me this.

I think he's mistaken. Distilled water will short out your components no matter what really. Mineral oil is what some people submerge their systems in. Mineral oil doesn't really conduct electricity so it keeps your components safe and cool.

I don't really know that much about it, but I've seen mineral oil setups floating around on /g/. It's a novelty cooling system really, it's even trickier than watercooling and requires more maintainance.

[Red_Comet]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

building off of zag's post: removing hardware to be cleaned can cause esd if there is dust on any of the contacts, it's because the "dust" that has been touching the electronic can store a large amount of electricity and without a proper contact point will release all that energy causing either the hardware on which it is touching to be instantly fried, or in rare occassions will also destroy your mobo in the process if for some odd reason the grounds fail you, which they shouldn't.

and distilled water is very hard to keep pure in a non-sterile environment, which most PC's are located in but yeah you can submerge electronics in purified water and certain mineral oils, that's what professionals do when they can fit it in the budget and AoO the hardware is tied to.

[MrRubix]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

I think I'll stick with air cooling for now. I don't mind blasting out the dust from time to time. Liquid cooling seems like it's asking for trouble if it's not done properly. It's quite easy for me to open up the case, see dust, and blast said dust.

I am probably going to get a better keyboard, perhaps, and a better mouse to go with all this. And a monitor at some point. At least 24" according to SD.

[Nightfirecat]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Yeah - definitely get a 22" monitor at the least, and get it just about as high resolution as you want. Just make sure it's 2ms (or less) response time, high contrast rate, etc. Usually, it won't make a huge difference, unless you're planning on doing graphics design, but yeah - get a big monitor.

[MrGiggles]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

and distilled water is very hard to keep pure in a non-sterile environment, which most PC's are located in but yeah you can submerge electronics in purified water and certain mineral oils, that's what professionals do when they can fit it in the budget and AoO the hardware is tied to.

Well, maybe I'm wrong about distilled water after all. Like I said, I don't know a whole lot about submerged setups, I've just seen pics floating around.

[MrRubix]

Re: Getting a new computer. Need advice.

Maybe I'll submerge my computer, overclock everything to the max, and use the liquid to boil some ramen. Hell yeah. Dinner with your game.

Seriously though,

Any recommendations for a good 24-28 inch screen, or a keyboard/mouse/etc? I know these must be very annoying questions, but I've only grown up with so many computers and I really don't know what people use nowadays.