Revamping my Alienware Rig...

[KNiGHTMaRe89]

Ok...so I am not too fond of the Alienware case and the Koolance Liquid Cooler, so I decided im taking a ride to the local Micro Center after work and going to flow with an Antec Nine Hundred Case and an Asus Silent Square heatsink...

I don't really overclock, but I have an auto overclock set to 10% on my ASUS board which jacks it up to 2.86ghz.

So what do you guys think??? The only reason I want to get rid of the Koolance Liquid Cooler is because I am afraid it has stopped working. The right tube doesn't appear to be cycling the coolant as the left one is pumping it in. The temps have stayed around 99F, but under load they got up to 102F when I was o/ced to 2.96ghz.

What do you guys think? Is it worth spending the money on a new case and heatsink? Or should I put the money elsewhere like a genuine copy of 64 bit Vista Ultimate and another 8800GTS?

 

[ThirdLeft152]

well its up to you on the rig and heatsink, and whether or not to upgrade. but i would suggest a different heatsink such as a arctic freezer 7 pro if you were going to get a new one.

also im not sure what 99F is in celcius im assuming around 35C or so? (generally we use C to talk about temps but its all good) a 3 degree change from idle to load in F sounds very good since that would only be a degree in C if not less.

personally i would keep the case and water cool just because i like the way the case looks but 35C doesn't sound like superior water cooling to me... someone correct me if im wrong. what kind of gts do you have? either way i'd suggest against sli because you'll probably be disappointed with the marginal performance increase.

 

[aspire]

Im not a fan of the Antec 900. Its a cramped ugly case.

Take a look at the Cooler Master 690, Gigabyte Aurora, Cooler Master Cosmos, or a Stacker.

All are great, well made cases.

Water cooling with a temperatures that low is perfectly normal and the fact that you cant see the liquid moving is also not a surprise.

If your pump stopped functioning your temps would likely be too high for the rig to run stably.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

Go w/ the Aurora

 

[NightSurge]

Just to revisit the topic of temperatures... the 102F is actually only 38.8C. So, unless you are VERY worried that this temperature will damage something or overheat (which normally won't happen until ATLEAST 50-60C) you shouldn't need a new cooling system. But if it looks like it isn't working properly then a new quality heat sink and fan wouldn't hurt.

 

[aspire]

In this day and age 50-60C is nowhere near the limits of technology.

Damage only occurs somewhere near 90-100C