System cooling?

A large range of makes and types including the concept of having an air conditioned case for the high cost there. For most with some going for liquid coolers for cpu and video cards even memory adding more or larger case fans, a larger cpu cooler then stock, and a few other things will be tried. To get some ideas on how many products and various types are available browsing through a few vendors at cooling and accessories can give you an idea.
 
I think water cooling is overrated if you have the right case fan set-up. If you have a big enough case with enough options for fans (ie multiple intake and exhaust 120mm fans) then there is no need to water cool unless you're really going to be pushing your machine to its limits. Also, and maybe its just me, I'm not thrilled with the idea of water running all inside my computer so I'd stick with a good fan set-up.
 
A friend comments he won't go for any liquid cooling setup ever saying: "those things leak at times! I hear the complaints on that." probably where someone put one on backwards and saw a mess. The thing about new boards is the need for more air flow while the newer model cpus are actually designed to use less power then a model like a P4.
 
Liquic cooling is what i suggest. MY kit is awesome its in tha Sig. You wont get leaks if you tighten and run without the motherboard and parts in your case first to check for leaks. Once everything is good than install your parts. EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY
 
Water cooling is complete overkill if put on the wrong system.

The first question here should really be what system do you have? That way we can look at what would be most appropriate for what your using.

Air cooling works perfectly fine for the most part, if you are looking at heavy overclocking on a powerful rig then watercooling might be the way to go, but its not always the best solution
 
If I was 100% reassured that my liquid cooling would NEVER leak which would be a lie to say id buy one without hesitating. The day it's fool proof il get one in a flash.

Pceye air conditioned units in the case for a pc? Never heard of that but it sure sounds pwning.

I suggest you just set up your case and it's fans right. Works very well when set up perfectly.
 
You must have a bunch of case fans and a nice aftermarket cpu fan (zalman?) like I said I've never water cooled so maybe I'm just being paranoid... but really it seems you can go either way and keep your system at good temps.
 
watercooling PWNS air on today's modern C2D/Quad overclocked systems. Its very easy to maintain, and even if you spill, its distille water and doesnt effect anything. Its safe, easy, and provides excellent results.
 
cheburns said:
You must have a bunch of case fans and a nice aftermarket cpu fan (zalman?) like I said I've never water cooled so maybe I'm just being paranoid... but really it seems you can go either way and keep your system at good temps.
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Its a Zalman CNPS9700, the case is a p180 with 4 120mm fans in various places, all tidy inside so that its got decent airflow throughout.
 
hpi said:
If I was 100% reassured that my liquid cooling would NEVER leak which would be a lie to say id buy one without hesitating. The day it's fool proof il get one in a flash.

Pceye air conditioned units in the case for a pc? Never heard of that but it sure sounds pwning.

I suggest you just set up your case and it's fans right. Works very well when set up perfectly.
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It's not air conditioning units you add to a case. It's cases that already come air conditioned like the NexTherm model seen at http://www.xoxide.com/nextherm-air-conditioned-460w-psu.html

The current build with the AeroCool AeroEngine 2 has the 140mm front and 120mm rear where I added two 120s on the side cover. Lately Ive seen the cpu as low as 28C after being on all day and night and gaming for several hours on top of that. Besides the Zalman CNPS9500 sitting on the cpu the large case fans getting that air moving is the real key.

Too many cases lack even seeing front or side vents needed to draw in cooler air. Those are models where you might consider water cooling not on NZXT or Antec Nine Hundred or other gaming cases with good air flow working for you.
 
jimmymac said:
yup, i have a quad core running here at 26 degrees celsius, all running on air :)
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I am jealous, my C2D reads 30c, with a zalman 9500.

I have an Antec 900 and the only fans are the ones included with the case. The zalman does the rest!!
 
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to be fair the fan on the zalman is hardy even spinning here, theres two outtake fans surrounding the CPU and Heatsink. Intake fan on the front, gfx card is covered by its own ventilation block, psu is seperated by the case itself with its own 120mm fan. Motherboard has plenty of passivecooling around north and southbridge....
 
The new system here will be in an Antec Nine Hundred case with those fans and the Zalman 9700 sitting on the 6000+ X2 125w cpu. This build will see a video card with a larger/faster heat pipe cooled vpu as well. The side cover offers a vent that looks like a 120 could be mounted there for some extra intake or exhaust. The twin 120s in the front were the thing looked at over the single 140 on the present case.
 
i'm goin watercooling myself, as ill be running a quad core amd system (two 125W CPUs generate a bit of heat!) from doin some reading up though I believe you should only go water if:

1. Even the best air coolers aren't working for you (thermalright 120 i think is best- http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2941&p=6 )

2. you can justify the cost vs the colling needed to be achieved

3. if you install the very best working bits only (DTEK FuZion or Swifteck apogee gtx CPU blocks).There seems to be a significant advantage these blocks have over the lesser waterblocks

I reckon if you gonna decide to go all out and invest in a watercooling option, then at least do it well!
 
I love the Antec man, I let the computer control all the fans but its still really quiet. Its definately one of the best cases I have spent money on. My MSI tells me temps and I know its screwy because it says case temp is 31 and CPU is 30. I have a different temp program that actually verifys the 30 on the CPU but it does not have case temp.
 
SpeedFan is a freeware that will show cpu as well as board and hard drive temps. That has worked out quite well when comparing temps to the bios hardware monitor and Asus TempProbe II for the board here. But if you are seeing cpu temps down in the low 30s when a good load is placed on it what's daa... worry? :P

Seeing temps in the high 50s and 60s even would then be a concern unless you just applied a thermal compound and are seeing the breakin time go by. Seeing a board temp higher then the cpu's in one case at 48C and then seeing 31C in another case does grab attention however. Why? Simply having that increase in air flow not just a Zalman 9500 sitting on top saw that.
 
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