Oh, yeah.....like he needs another fan....

He already has more fans than Manchester United ....

The Zalman cooler has performed well enough with multi-cores up until now, but I'm not opposed to upgrading it to protect my investment, so what would you recommend? 

I just had a look at the Thermaltake site [bookmarked so it was the easiest] and saw this.....

Its the Frio OCK... can pick it up for $74.00 AUD.  Good enough or should I go for the Frio Extreme for $91.00 AUD?

Then there's this....

The dual fan Thermaltake Jing CPU cooler at 76.00 AUD.  I've never though liquid cooling before, but for a few extra bucks or so I can get this...

It's the Thermaltake BigWater A80 all liquid cooling for $85.00 AUD

Anyhow, tell me what you think... I do like Thermaltake, just in case you didn't notice, and there are others here that I didn't ask about/feature.

You never miss an opportunity, do you... and yeah, I probably do have more fans than Man U.

The shelf the Case sits on is about an inch off the ground and the case is elevated a bit over an inch by the feet, so I'm not concerned about that.  There's about an inch either side and the desk is about 5 inches off the wall, so it has reasonable ventilation.  However, I do plan to lift the desktop lid so I can drill that series of holes in the shelf just above the top fans... of course pulling out the tower first to avoid crap dropping in the vents.

Yeah, I think it will be enough.  With the internal fans and ventilation holes I'm making I think it'll be fine.  Besides, MadDeez has advised a better CPU cooler, and that might answer any overheating issues if I invest in the right one.

I checked out the Hyper 212 Evo for $37.00 AUD, but it only has 4 heat pipes and I may need more/better, given the 40c plus Summer temps... can reach 44c...and that it's an 8 core that's quite over-clockable to 5ghz +.  Don't know that I'd ever consider that, but I do like to leave my options open.

While at the Coolermaster site I did check out the Coolermaster V8, which I can pick up for $72.00 AUD.  Then there's the Coolermaster V6GT for the same price. Both have 6 copper heatpipes so either would seem adequate.

So yeah, so far I'm tossing up between the 2 Coolermasters and the Thermaltake Frio range... possibly the OCK.  I'll wait and see what MadDeez advises, however, and take it from there.

Edit: Oh, and the two fans, according to the Coolermaster site, is to increase air pressure within the fins, thus improving cooling.

Instead of lots of little holes , you could cut a large one (6x9 or better) and cover it with a speaker grill. Wouldn't hurt to put one in the side of the cabinet either, since grills normally come in pairs.

I finally took mine out of it's pidgeon hole, but only because it was such a pain to pull out to clean it. With 3 cats, PC hairballs can be a killer. It had a door on it but I did leave it open most of the time while the rig was running.

Thank Dave... I reckon so as well... obviously.

Actually, that's not a bad idea, Wiz... an excellent one, in fact.  I could put one on the shelf above midway between the fans, and one on the wall between the pigeonhole and where I sit/put my legs.  That would really open up ventilation to the side intake fan and to top fans.  There's an audio section at my local JB Hi-Fi, and I recently spied some speaker grills that'd fit the bill perfectly.  They are for 12" Woofers so they'd be perfect for what I want. 

Thanks for the brilliant idea.

starkers, my suggestion for the cpu cooler would be the bigwater, as I have found that the temps are more stable (and lower) with water cooling(using a small corsair h60) and overclocking compared to even a prolematech's megaheme with two fans and exausting straight out of the case and the same degree of overclocking, and yes I also get over 40 degree c days in my workshop.

and a very neat set of cabling there.

another possible idea regarding the use of the dock and usb ports would be to build a small extension to the base of the bay the computer is in so that the tower can be permently slid forward

jafo, yes I was trying and succeeding in getting raises out of those that do not have enough tolerance, then I went to bed.

harpo

It is a very sharp looking unit though.

Nah, I only have to move the case an inch forward from where I have it positioned now, which is real easy due to the big feet, and then it's just a matter of pushing it back an inch.

Yeah, I am leaning towards the Thermaltake liquid cooling at present, though the Bigwater 80 I first looked at has been discontinued by the dealer However, they do carry other Thermaltake units [see below] and I will make a decision based on further advice and chatting with Alex, my contact at the dealer.

Yes, but that's what it says on the Coolermaster site in the specs.

So I've had a look at the Corsair series and I've taken a look at the Thermaltake series of liquid cooling, and I'm wondering why the preference to Corsair over Thermaltake?  I read reviews on both brands and in some cases the Thermaltake coolers came out ahead of various other brands, and at a bit over half the price of the Coolermaster range I would possibly look at going Thermaltake.

The Thermaltake 2.0 Performer, which is similar in specifications to the H60, generally goes for around $67.00 to $80, whereas the H60 is selling from $98 to $137. At my regular online dealer I can get the Thermaltake 2.0 Performer for $53.85, while the H60 is selling at $104.  So yeah, the math is telling me Thermaltake if I go liquid... unless there is a compelling reason I should spend more and go Corsair????

Oh, and the reason it seems I'm penny pinching at this stage of the proceedings is because I've spent quite a bit on my PC and mrs starkers wants a new webcam and I promised that I'd upgrade her RAM soon as well, so the $60 to $70 price range for the cooler would be better to accommodate her needs.

Besides, that's about all the PC budget will allow after having to replace components in her rig earlier in the year... and I daren't go over because my life wouldn't be worth living if mrs starkers missed out on a trip to Tassie to visit the grandkiddies in November because of my overspending.

the V8 is a great cooler, i must admit. if i remember correctly, i suggested it to Jafo before he got his. i was using one at the time. their V6 cooler is pretty stout, also. i've installed it on a few builds.

other brands worth looking at for air cooling are Thermalright and Prolimatech (their Megahalems Black model looks and works great!). i've used them in several builds and they are SUPERB. i've used numerous Thermalright products in the past on my rigs. currently, i'm using a Corsair H100.

as to why i suggested corsair models instead of thermaltake, let's just say i'd never buy anything by thermaltake. i won't go into the reasons why. sorry.

The Lian Li is a 'big case' [I won't quote sizes as it'll only confuse you... ].....it was the sliding process from the rear that was the problem.  width-wise, once installed the case cover was about an inch out from the top of the V8.

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=222&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62 

Ibet a lot of that is the quirky panel mouldings, etc....