Watercool my PC

[BlairH]

Hey guys. My Core 2 Duo has a bit of a heat problem.

It's sitting idle right now at 50 degrees (Intel TAT). It's being cooled by a Zalman 9500LED. I've decided that I'll probably be wanting to move to water cooling if I am to overclock this beast.

Since I've never watercooled a PC before, I'm a complete n00b.

My relevant specs are:
Silverstone TJ03 Temjin "Nimitz"
EVGA 680i
Core 2 Duo 6600
Geforce 8800GTX

What watercooling kit would be best for my purposes? I don't want to mod the case in any significant way. How is the reserator 2? It looks fairly easy to install.

OR

To save me money, would upgrading the rather weedy pre-installed Silverstone fans help?

 

[WJA96]

The Reserator 2 is only really as good as the very best air coolers. The most commonly recommended kit on here is the Swiftech Apex Ultra. It's good kit and when you come to upgrade (and you will) you'll be able to sell the individual components on Member's Market very easily to help fund the new parts.

You also have 3 other options in my view;

However because your CPU runs so hot, maybe you should look at the Titan Amanda TEC Cooler.

It's party piece is a Peltier Thermoelectric Cooling (TEC) plate, but it only really kicks in when the CPU goes over 50C, which makes it pretty useless for many users, but possibly ideal for you.

You could also lap the IHS, but I would caution against that as it's not guaranteed to work (although it usually does) and it reduces the resale value of the CPU because it raises one very important question about the CPU - the person who lapped it wanted to reduce the temperature - WHY?.

The final option (and the one I would recommend) is to sell your CPU. You should easily recover 80% of the cost of a new one meaning that you can buy a new chip for about £40 to change. Better yet - place a wanted ad in Member's Market and advertise for a cool running known good overclocker. That way you might only pay £20 or so to change.