Cooling methods

[pym]

The main thing for me is a silent computer and since I do not want to invest in extreme cooling systems (water, gas), I am not overclocking my system and still keep it quiet enough with good fans...

[liqnit]

fans is good enough for me - i would rather complete silence but with limited budget it is a problem.
but still i try to get them all with speed control or temp control

[zachig]

I'm running my PC watercooled, hehehe :lol: .

Since I'm overclocking my Barton 2500+ to 3200+ (210x11=2.31Ghz) I need to run my CPU watercooled.

I'm currently using a home-made watercooling system which cools down my CPU to 29C-Idle and 45C-Load.
My watercooling system currently consists only one waterblock for the CPU only. :(

And beside that, I like my PC to be quiet, altough I still have 5 fans installed in my case (to cool down the Case, Video Card, Northbridge and Southbridge) :lol:

[pym]

although I still have 5 fans installed in my case

zachig, that's pretty funny...
You have a home made water cooling system (which is cool(!) by the way), but you still have 5 fans in your case.
I guess you overclock your system badly if you still need 5 fans after water cooling the CPU

I only have 4 fans, CPU, GPU, Case, PSU...

[zachig]

Hehehe :lol: . Technically you're right but my Watercooling system uses 'only' one waterblock to cool down the CPU only. I still need to cool down the other components in order to keep my case temperature low (and they are pretty low - ~23C).

I currently have: 2x80mm fans intake fans at the front of the case, 1x80mm exhasut fan at the rear, 1x92mm blow hole fan at the top of the case, 1x40mm fan on the northbridge chipset and a Zalman VF700-Cu cooling fan on my XFX 6600GT Video Card (so it's actually even 6 fans, if you include the video card :wink: ).

Oops, and I totally forgot the 2x120mm fans (intake and exhaust) assembled to my Radiator (which is actually located outside my PC case). :D

So, I guess afterall, I prefer lower temps than silence. :wink:

[tomato]

I would prefer complete silence and a fanless cooling solution, but I could live with some fans if (and most likely) needed.

I'm not a fan of the water cooling method... something about having a liquid in such close proximity with computer components just doesn't seem right to me, no matter the supposed protected/sealed casing.... :?

[werty316]

Good ol air cooling is good enough for me but as more and more prodcuts become faster and faster watercooling might be a standard.

[Bio-Hazard]

Seeing as I'm a water cooling junkie, I just had to add my 2 cents worth.
I cool most all my systems with water (CPU/GPU), although I have one that switches back and forth depending on what I have going on at the time. I just like the extra cooling power of water and if I really need/want silence, I can turn all the fans off (except the NB) on my main rig and still stay below 40c while gaming (totally passive with dual radiators)............ :shock:

[Schwarz]

Well i'm using Fan cooling so far.
But I would really like to try "gas".
By Gas you mean Phase-Change right ???
The new OCZ phase-change coming out looks awesome...

[PUTALE]

i am using fan cooling just becasue that I can't afford to have the expensive cool/quiet watercooling.

[Null]

I am a fanboy, but since I am also a cancer, I am ignoring my true nature.

I am torn. I see myself at the sea.

It calls to me. It calls my name.

Waterboy.

Come to the wet side.

The water waits for you.

[pc_man_iac]

Yeah water cooling seems good and all I am just to paranoid of a hose breaking or leaking and screwing my hole pc.So I am just gonna stick with my good old fan and heatsink, now I am clearly getting higher end traditional heatsink adn fan cooling like Tt Big typhon and stuff so yeah if I wasn't so paranoid about having my system fry dur to a hose leaking I would instantly get water cooling

[Bio-Hazard]

Water cooling is basicly very safe if you install it correctly and but high quality parts, but as with anything in the world, stuff happens and even the best parts and fail.............. :shock: I can honestly say that I've been water cooling for more than a few years and have yet to have a leak while the system was running. I've seen a few leaks while leak testing, but that's what a leak test is for, to find them before you run it in a live system.
The key to water cooling is to install it correctly, take your time while installing it, run your leak tests properly and last but not least, buy high quality parts. That doesn't mean that you have to buy nothing but top of line performance parts, it means buy high quality parts from known quality manufactures and retailers.

[BlackStar]

I've got one PC watercooled, the other with only stock fans. The Big Water was just for looks and for my oldest son and I to tinker with the PC.

[Fantasma]

I love fans, I have the thermaltake volcano 12 over my barton ( I can regulate the fan between 2000-5500rpm) and 5 fans in my case.
I only would choose watercooling if it could be cheaper

[digitalwanderer]

Fans, oodles of fans. Cheap, easy, low-maintenance, and I just love the hum of a decked out rig in the background. 8)

[pc_man_iac]

Yeah I know that in theory if oyu do everything right that the watercooling will be fine but it still scares me that I just might have gotten the one cable that didn't meet regulation standards and my whole pc goes to that PC heaven in the sky

[Makubex_GB]

Fans, at least for now. After I graduate from college and get a decent paying job, then I might make the jump to water cooling since I'll have the dough to back up any misshapes.

For now my Thermalright XP-120 and Arctic Cooling Silencer are good enough for me. :D

[3D_Mind]

I have a ThermalTake SLK-900(A) CPU cooler that does the job fine on my XP-3200+ CPU, but the fan attached is a Silicone Acoustics 80mm silent fan. It is indeed silent, but not good enough for cooling the CPU, even on stock. The solution was to open the case permanantly and place an old 24V(I run it at 7V) industral fan on top that never lets the CPU reach 40C even on hours of full load. The fan compliment is as follows:

24V industral fan
80mm Silicone Acoustics CPU
Stock ATI Radeon 9800 fan
2 80mm PSU fans from the Antec TruePower 330W
HD and CD drives add even more noise, but it is all still "acceptable" if not a little too much if I am watching a movie or in a quiet game environment.
Although the idea of water or gas cooling is cool(get it? haah :roll: ), it is just too expensive and "exotic" for my taste, so fans get the vote!

[Bio-Hazard]

I do have one rig running on air right now and I will admit that it is alot easier to work with inside the case and all. It gets pretty good temps at stock and mild OC's, but for the high runs, I really like the water.

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/7571/234mt.th.jpg (http://img56.imageshack.us/my.php?image=234mt.jpg)http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1007/226az.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=226az.jpg)

[Makubex_GB]

I would watercool if I had the cash to backup any mishaps, but because I don't it's fan-topia for me. :p

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4502/insidemypc9ri.th.jpg (http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=insidemypc9ri.jpg)