Hi folks, Been a long time since I posted on avsim! So work/family life has slowed down enough for me to actually think about flying the desk again, but jeez there is sooooooo much that I've missed out on over the past 9 months! I was planning on buidling up a sweet system last year, which actually did happen, minus the CPU. So last week, I finally bought a P4 3.4C to hopefully speed things up a little. On to my question:I am not really planning on overclocking this CPU (well, maybe someday I'll try to get 3.6GHz out of it if I can) but I am planning on watercooling it for a few reasons. One of which is I want this system to be quiet. Second and most importantly is because I am an engineer and enjoy doing stuff like this. . .it's a challenge! :-) So, does anyone have any recommendations on brands, or components, or materials, etc that I should be looking for? Any further input would be great. I have been reading a lot, but prefer to hear from fellow simmers. . . Thanks all!-drew-

Well, therse is this new heatsink on the market called Thermalright XP-120. You get the cooling effect equivalent to water cooling and it is practically silent. I wanted to get it but quickly realized installation of this heatsink on my motherboard would require getting on the other side of the board - too much of a work for me on my already assembled desktop-case system. So yes, installtion of this heatsink does present some challenges if you want one (read motherboard compatibility list). But if you like to appreciate engineering "beauty" certainly this product is unlike any other cooling system. I ended up buying Thermaltake's Venus-12 because it was a very simple installation on my system - I was definitely not looking for any challenges in this area.Michael J.WinXP-Home,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8, Radeon X800 Pro,WD 36GB Raptor,1 GB PC3200 http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

If you're not planning on overclocking much then good air cooling should work just fine. One of the reasons I use Thermalright CPU coolers is because they can handle fan sizes up to 92mm. Mine is very quiet AND keeps the system temps nice and cool. The downside, as Michael mentioned, is having to remove the motherboard from it's tray to install the cooler mounting plate. But once you've done this you'll be glad you did. Coolers that use this sort of installation are far better mounted (read: safe and secure) than using the standard CPU cooler snap clamp arrangement.Zalman also makes some very good CPU coolers in their CNPS7000 series. Again, you'll have to remove the MB to mount this cooler.Though installing the mounting plate for these high end air coolers is a hassle, I believe it might be easier than installing a water system (though I can't be sure... I've never installed water cooling. Perhaps those that have can weigh in here). Certainly, the air cooling option is less expensive than water and can offer great bang for the buck. Especially if you don't intend to get too radical with your overclock.Cheers,Greg

Greg,On the other hand it is outright silly that case designers did not think of a simple "trap" door in the back. This way instead of spending 5 hours installing the heatsink I could have done it in 15 minutes.Michael J.WinXP-Home,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8, Radeon X800 Pro,WD 36GB Raptor,1 GB PC3200 http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

Hi Michael,"On the other hand it is outright silly that case designers did not think of a simple "trap" door in the back."Indeed. In fact it wouldn't even take that... all they'd have to do is make an opening in the motherboard tray large enough to allow placement of the mounting hardware. Probably something on the order of 6" X 6". All the end user would have to do is remove the right side case cover and the install would be a piece of cake.Cheers,GregEdit: I just took a few minutes to study your MB. It already has a backing plate in place. And that cage around the CPU socket looks to be pretty stout (far better than previous AMD cooler mount designs).I'll have to study more about the AMD 64 cooler mounting design. I'll be upgrading in a few months and the 939 will be my choice.

Hi Drew.have a look at my posts on this subjetc, I did this a short while ago, and the results were astounding, quiet / temps are better than I have ever seen before, and stability has improved to the point where I now have NO problems whatsoever.I hope this will be of interest to youSteve.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=8969&page=2

A good place to start looking for watercooling products is www.cooltechnica.com and www.dangerden.com . I took the water plunge a year and a half ago, and I will never go back to air cooling even if someone paid me. Quietness, stability, excellent temps and terrific overclocking headroom are a few of the benefits. Sure it can leak, however if you take time setting up the system, and let it leak test for at least 48 hours, you should not have any problems. I have yet to have a single leak in all this time running. Mike :-wave P4 3.2E @4.00ghz 250FSBDFI Lanparty Pro875B Rev B1gb Corsair XMS PC3500 2-3-3-6 @2.75vNvidia BFG 6800 Ultra OCSB Audigy2 Platinum ExSony CPD-G520 21' MonitorLiquid Cooled GoodnessPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002 (NEW Gallery FS9@ 2048x1536!!!)

Thx everyone! I actually did get all of my components (courtesy of Danger Den) and just took my comp apart last night. No more heat sink on the northbridge, the CPU sink mount is gone, and the GPU heat sink/fan is gone. . .guess there is no going back now! Out of curiousity, did any of you guys put a block on the NB? When I took the sink off, there was a thermal compound that doubled as an adhesive. Any suggestions on how to clean that crud off? I'll be pre-fitting the system in the case (which I have to modify now. . .doh!) and then start the leak test process. Take care y'all! Hopefully I'll be simming on a quiet beast soon!-drew-

I never cooled the North Bridge via water (didn't like the way the tube bended from the Video Card), just used a silent 80mm hovering over it (lol don't ask, but I'll show ya a pic hehe).You can try cleaning it off with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. Don't drown the NB in it, just use a little on a cloth and do it slowly.Patience here is a true virtue.Good Luck Bro!Mike :-wave