Thanks guys for your excellent advice, suggestions, and counsel.
Well, I will give is a little more thought before making a final decision on which CPU cooler to use...
FYI, I have had wonderful success with the Zalman LQ 315 and the Thermaltake WATER2.0 Performer.
I had an absolutely horriffic experience with Corsair's first gen liquid cpu coolers. Massive leak, massive damage, and initally a complete total denial by Corsair that anything was wrong with their H70 POS.
Learned me lesson since then and ripped out every Corsair Liquid Cooler I ever installed.
I understand others have had good luck with Corsair liquid coolers...on the other hand, I had massive numbers of people respond to my post at Amazon regarding problems with Corsair's liquid coolers. I'll continue to purchase Corsair's awesome PSU's, RAM, cases, etc. but I'll never touch another one of their liquid coolers.
I am posting a pic of my leaking H70 as well as the Amazon review that won me one of their top awards as a reviewer. I am also posting some pics of the modified dead cat cartoons that I posted after researching and discovering the Corsair Gen 1 Liquid Coolers used a cooling solution that was deadly to household pets such as cats and dogs...I kinda had fun with this...
Have a good one and thanks again for excellent info.
Soar
My Review
This review is from: Corsair Hydro Series H70 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060002-WW) (Personal Computers)
At first appearance, I was extremely excited about purchasing a Corsair H-70 Liquid CPU cooler. I totally liked the idea of how a massive CPU air cooler would no longer restrict the overall air flow in my new CM HAF 932. Also, just the thought of much less weight on my motherboard was very attractive to me. Finally, when I read the benchmarks on the Corsair H-70, and how it did a fairly good job of cooling, I was sold on it.
After reading many, many glowing reviews and absolutely stellar reports about Corsair's Liquid cooled H-70, I eagerly purchased one and installed it in my computer.
It worked well for about 30 days. Suddenly, one day when I can home I smelled the very strong odor of something similar to anti-freeze. My computer would not boot, and at first, I could not figure out what was wrong. Then I opened my computer case...
What I discovered was shocking. The Corsair H70 had sprung a leak at the point where the hose attaches to the water pump. I still could not figure out how and why I kept smelling a strong automobile anti-freeze like odor...and then I realized the smell was from the liquid the Corsair H-70 was dumping on my motherboard. After doing a little more research, I discovered that Corsair does not use water but Propylene glycol, also called 1,2-propanediol or propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol or double alcohol) with formula C3H8O2 or HO-CH2-CHOH-CH3 as the liquid inside their H-70 liquid CPU cooler. I am thankful that the leak only killed my motherboard. Propylene glycol is toxic to small animals. Veterinary data indicate that propylene glycol is toxic to dogs with a 50% chance of being lethal at doses of 9mL/kg, although the figure is higher for most laboratory animals (LD50 at levels of 20mL/kg).
I emailed and called Corsair, explaining the problem and requested a full refund for my purchase of a defective item that killed my very, very expensive motherboard. They outright refused. Instead, they insisted I package up the leaking H-70 and mail it to their factory so they could "confirm" that what I said actually occurred. I spent another $15 to mail the defective H70 to Corsair.
Finally, after 4 weeks, Corsair sent me an email, confirming the H-70 was indeed defective. They insisted on mailing me a replacement...something I did not care for.
After this experience, I ripped out every Corsair Liquid CPU Cooler I have ever installed [over the last 2 years, I've installed other Corsair liquid CPU Coolers in other systems]. I replaced these liquid coolers with simple yet effective CPU air coolers. The stress of wondering if my next system build would develop a leak was just too much. There is enough stress in the world and I did not want to needlessly add to the stress already out there by installing a component that would place the entire system at risk.
I realize many people are happy with Corsair's liquid CPU coolers. I am happy it is working out for them. For me personally, I will never trust a high end system to Corsair for a liquid cooled solution. I will continue to purchase their PSU's and RAM, but I will never touch their liquid CPU coolers ever again. Way too much risk, way too much stress and way too much irreparable damage with an accompanying deep disappointment.