So, I have some old parts that a friend gave me from a dead system. But, I figure that the system can't be "all dead" (cue in Miracle Max), so I decided to take what I was given, throw in some stuff I had, and see if the system would fire up.
Thus, I a have:
So, I lay the MB on a large padded envelope, cleaned all the remaining thermal paste off the CPU and H60, got a cheap AM3 cooler bracket, slapped in some DDR3 RAM, a generic keyboard, and a GT730 GPU, along with an old Dell 460W PSU (stock from an XPS 8700), and fired it up.
Well, it worked! The CPU and motherboard, that is - not sure about the H60. Now, I guess ideally, I'd run the fan on the HVAC for my house, and have the radiator laying on the floor vent, but I was in a hurry and it was late. The cooler was plugged into the CPU_FAN2 header, and I could hear a slight whirring from the cooler's pump.
Went into the BIOS, and really did nothing except for glance at menu options, etc. Also, looked at the hardware monitor. Saw the CPU temp slowly climb, and around 48C, I shut it down. I didn't know how effective liquid cooling was going to be with no airflow ambient room air of about 68F (20C).
So, my questions (I am in the US)
Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated, and thanks.
EDIT: While a suggestion for an air cooler would still be useful, the urgency is gone. I've been able to confirm that the H60 still works just fine by temporarily running the house HVAC fan on "continuously on" while the radiator of the H60 was lying on top of a vent. The temperature monitor in the BIOS showed the CPU temp slowly decreasing, and I could feel a slight movement or vibration in both coolant tubes.
Thus, I a have:
- FX-6300
- ASRock 970 Extreme4 ATX
- Corsair H60 54 CFM Liquid cooler
So, I lay the MB on a large padded envelope, cleaned all the remaining thermal paste off the CPU and H60, got a cheap AM3 cooler bracket, slapped in some DDR3 RAM, a generic keyboard, and a GT730 GPU, along with an old Dell 460W PSU (stock from an XPS 8700), and fired it up.
Well, it worked! The CPU and motherboard, that is - not sure about the H60. Now, I guess ideally, I'd run the fan on the HVAC for my house, and have the radiator laying on the floor vent, but I was in a hurry and it was late. The cooler was plugged into the CPU_FAN2 header, and I could hear a slight whirring from the cooler's pump.
Went into the BIOS, and really did nothing except for glance at menu options, etc. Also, looked at the hardware monitor. Saw the CPU temp slowly climb, and around 48C, I shut it down. I didn't know how effective liquid cooling was going to be with no airflow ambient room air of about 68F (20C).
So, my questions (I am in the US)
- How can I confirm that the H60 is working properly/still properly filled with coolant?
- The H60 is a 3-pin connector, but, if I continue to use it, should I have this plugged into the 4-pin CPU_FAN1 header instead, or is having it on the 3-pin CPU_FAN2 ok? (not sure if the BIOS/HW monitor has any particular expectations.
- Is there a reasonably effective, yet inexpensive air cooler readily available for the AM3+ socket? (I don't want to spend more for a cooler than this collection of parts is worth - also, the following note on ASRock's site: "For cooling the CPU and its surrounding components, please install a CPU cooler with a top-down blowing design.")
Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated, and thanks.
EDIT: While a suggestion for an air cooler would still be useful, the urgency is gone. I've been able to confirm that the H60 still works just fine by temporarily running the house HVAC fan on "continuously on" while the radiator of the H60 was lying on top of a vent. The temperature monitor in the BIOS showed the CPU temp slowly decreasing, and I could feel a slight movement or vibration in both coolant tubes.
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