How do you beat the heat? Fans and water cooling thread

[plasticbathmonki]

Since there are about 100 advice threads out there, I figured I'd start a thread cooling because as any PC gamer worth his or her salt does, heat=bad.

And I won't lie, I'm using the craptacularly loud Intel stock fan that came with my Q6600, so my reasons are selfish. I want to steal your ideas ;)

Anywho, how do you keep your box nice and cool? Leave your hints, suggestions and bragging rights here.

[Dufran3]

One of my buddy's uses this CPU fan, he said he likes it and it works well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

[SOSTrooper]

I'm using this one: Thermaltake V1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106102). My E6750 overclocked to 3.2GHz (from 2.66GHz) is running at 25C with ambient temperature at 20C. Full load usually around 35C - 40C. I'm also using Artic Silver 5 thermal compound and my case is Antec P180 with all case fans mounted. Here is an old pic (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/sostrooper/stuff/IMG_0283.jpg) of how the CPU fan look like in the case.

[Klank]

I've got an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79&disc=) on mine. Works like a charm and looks like a beast.
http://stanton.landofwindandghosts.com/big.jpg

[plasticbathmonki]

There is this kickass photo slideshow of the guys at Tom's Hardware achieving a world record for overclocking a Intel Q6600 using liquid nitrogen and compressed refrigerated air. While it's obvious not practical, it's still pretty neat. The last photo gives a snapshot of how far they were able to stably overclock it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/462-overclocking-world-record.html

[Vinny]

I've got an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79&disc=) on mine. Works like a charm and looks like a beast.

One of my buddy's uses this CPU fan, he said he likes it and it works well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

I use the same one. I use it on my AMD X2 3800+ (Windsor core, 89 watts)- 40C idle and 55C at load, (ambient temps at 21C). I used to get temps about 10C cooler but something happened with my processor and it just jumped in temps though it works perfectly fine.

[DrFoo]

I really like the Scythe 1100p (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185038). It is pretty much the most silent of all the coolers available. You can even use it without the fan if you have good case airflow. The only downside is it is absolutely gigantic. I also found the open box version (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185038R) which is only $25.