How are you guys cooling your systems

[LePaul]

Razer and I have been having a discussion about this(http://forums.checksix.net/showthread.php?t=4281 if you want to see his setup, etc).  His system seems to be running rather hot and is thinking about liquid cooling.

The reviews I've seen about it seem rather...well...uninspiring.  I know for some folks, it works great and gives good results.  And I know others who have seen little real change compared to a regular system.

So...we're kinda looking for what others are doing.  Water. Air.  Cooking oil (kidding!)

Thanks

[OOZ662]

I'm thinking it all depends on the quality of the cooling system and the know-how of the user. A frigid cooling system won't function efficiently if its got tiny blocks or blocks made from a nonconductive material. Huge blocks won't work well if they've got tiny hoses supplying them. Then, even if you get the perfectly matched set, installing them improperly will dunce out the heat transfer.

Though, all of that's common sense. All I've got; sorry.

[BaldEagl]

I just built my new system;

Coolermaster mid-tower case (front 80/rear 120 fans + side duct and side vent)
PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU (rear fan)
EVGA 780i Motherboard (stock north bridge fan)
Intel E6750 2.66 Core2Duo (stock Intel CPU fan)
2 Gig Kingston DDR2800 High performance memory (with heatsinks)
EVGA NVidea 512 8800 GTS (seperate cooling slot)
250 Gig Seagate 7200 RPM SATA 3 HD
200 Gig Seagate Ultra ADA 100 HD
160 Gig Seagate Ultra ADA 100 HD
(front fan blows across all 3 HD's)

Those are the basics.

Exiting he game my temps according to the NView monitor are:

PSU <40C
North Bridge <50C
GPU <60C

At idle:

PSU <30C
North Bridge <40C
GPU <50C

I do manually turn my GPU fan speed up to 65-75% otherwise my GPU runs hot (60+ at idle).

One day last week I my machine was acting up.  I seemed to get it working again and went to play for a while.  When I exited I checked my temps and my CPU was running 90C!  I pulled the side panel off and my CPU fan had quit running.  Pulled the plug and re-plugged it and it's working again.  I'm guessing it came loose with all the opening and closing and pulling out and sliding in and laying over, etc. I've been doing as I built this and swapped some HD's around.  Thankfully, Inel built in a few fail safes into these PSUs to first throttle them back, then cut voltages to them if they start to overheat.

[Roscoroo]

water's the best , but can be sort of a pain .

1  always go with 3/8's hose min. size I.D. , 1/2 inch is ok but it can take up alot of room .(a mix of sizes seams to work best as for it allows the water enough time to cool )
2  dont mix more then 15% coolant or 20% water wetter... ALWAYS  use distilled water !!! (you have been warned)
3  keep air flow thru case with at least a fan for the HD's and a fan cooling the Ram, and video card if not on water too.

 optional water secrets , run a seperate 12 volt transformer for your water .( in my case it runs the radiator fans also)

run a Magnetic impeller type pump .

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Phase change (Vapochill for example) is definately the best method. Water with peltier comes next and then traditional water cooling.

Currently I use air only but I have my watercooling rig ready for installation (had a moment of insanity I guess).

[Condor]

In AH I am seeing CPU temps in the low to mid 40s (centigrade).  I am using a Zalman 9700 CPU cooler in an Antec 900 case. The Antec case has 4 fans. 

[Ghosth]

Well if it was me & I could afford it, I'd take one of those under the counter bar refridgerators.
Make a hole in the top for cables to enter and exit, run a power strip in & secure it to the back wall.
Then I thought I'd cut a block of 2" pink foam with holes for the cases. So you could open the door and have access to DVD Drives, power buttons, etc. Without letting all the cold air out.

Set the thermostat to 35 - 40 degrees F and you have a 2 case cooler to beat all coolers.
Plus it would be virtually dust free.

[NHawk]

While I can appreciate the effectiveness of water cooling, 20+ years as an electrical engineer tells me water and electronics don't mix. One leak and your fancy rig is toast. 

I'll stick with proper air cooling.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Well if it was me & I could afford it, I'd take one of those under the counter bar refridgerators.
Make a hole in the top for cables to enter and exit, run a power strip in & secure it to the back wall.
Then I thought I'd cut a block of 2" pink foam with holes for the cases. So you could open the door and have access to DVD Drives, power buttons, etc. Without letting all the cold air out.

Set the thermostat to 35 - 40 degrees F and you have a 2 case cooler to beat all coolers.
Plus it would be virtually dust free.

IIRC a standard small refrigerator can't handle the heat load from a computer when you count in the power supply etc. A larger fridge would probably work in this way. Some DIY guys have built cpu coolers using a freezer compressor.

Btw: that cooking oil comment is not 100% joke, some guys immerse their computer (well, not the cd/hd duh..) in silicone or cooking oil for cooling.

[NHawk]

IIRC a standard small refrigerator can't handle the heat load from a computer when you count in the power supply etc. A larger fridge would probably work in this way. Some DIY guys have built cpu coolers using a freezer compressor.

Btw: that cooking oil comment is not 100% joke, some guys immerse their computer (well, not the cd/hd duh..) in silicone or cooking oil for cooling.

I have read about oil cooled (submerged) systems. It makes sense. The proper oil is non-conductive and a good coolant.

[LePaul]

Good posts.

I think the high end XPS Dell systems use some sort of refrigerant? 

[BaldEagl]

Oops

Exiting he game my temps according to the NView monitor are:

PSU <40C
North Bridge <50C
GPU <60C

At idle:

PSU <30C
North Bridge <40C
GPU <50C

I meant CPU not PSU

[HomeBoy]

I built my system a year ago and just recently got serious about cooling it when I decided to overclock a bit.  I'm very pleased with the air cooling I ended up with.  Here are pictures:

http://snomhf.exofire.net/myComputer.html

[Skuzzy]

Air, one 120mm intake, one 120mm exhaust.  E4500 @ 3.2Ghz running under 40C at full load with stock Intel HSF.  7600GT video card.

[Fulmar]

Air, one 120mm intake, one 120mm exhaust.  E4500 @ 3.2Ghz running under 40C at full load with stock Intel HSF.  7600GT video card.

An OC'd C2D at under 40C at full load with the stock HSF?  Are you running a fairly barebone system (i.e. minimal expansion drives -> low number of cables in the case to allow greater airflow)?  Aluminum case?  Arctic Silver?