I need advice with regards to cooling my new PC I'm building?

Question

The set up I'm building is:
-Intel C2D E6600
-Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) Motherboard
-GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz DDR2
-BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3
-Antec P180 case


I have no idea where to begin cooling this thing as, despite getting generic fans and heat sinks with the components, I'm wondering if its not going to be sufficient?I do want to avoid water cooling though.

any help will be REALLY appreciated.
even anything derogatory you may have to say about the choice of components...

Answer 1

Your E6600 is very efficient and draws a maximum of only 65W. Stock cooling would be sufficient, especially with the chambered ventilation in your envious "Advanced Super Mid-Tower" (Antec fanboy here).

However, if you will overclock, you could consider cooling solutions from Thermalright, Scythe, Zalman, Noctua, etc. I'm quite partial to the first two. Here's just what the E6600 could do, courtesy of my idols:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=166676
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=137093
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=168130

Also, if you are considering SLI in the near future, get at least a good 650 watt power supply. A 750 watter would be great.

Ooohhh, I really love that P180 and everything you are putting into it.

Answer 2

I would of thought you could stick to stock coolers. For the processor, if your buying a C2D due to the fact it's 65 nm and would run cooler than 90 nm processors. If you really want a better fan you can go on ebay or any online electrics/computer store and search for a socket 775 cooler. You should buy a few case fans aswell to get all the heat out (sometimes you get an extra case fan with your motherboard).

If you have a bit more cash you should consider the GTS 640 MB card. Though the 320 meg card does perform well against the 620 meg in games which rely mostly on graphics processing power and not memory, but when it comes to the games which use alot of memory there is a big difference in performance. It also doesn't cost too much more.

Answer 3

Honestly, theres nothing more to have to worry about, unless you plan to overclock, then i would suggest a after market heatsink for the CPU. Antec makes great cases and the P180 is not exception. In fact you could likely could not have bought a better case for cooling. The fans in that thing are enough to cool a chevy big block (well not really). Anyway, great choice in hardware, you should be very pleased with that build your done.

Answer 4

You don't need to water cool that. Heck, you'd even get away without having a case fan. The Intel C2D runs at about 25 degress with the stock cooler. Well, at least mine does ;-) So yes, the generic stuff you get will work just fine. Unless you plan on doing some serious overclocking!

Answer 5

The last PC that I built I tried something totally different with respect to cooling. I sealed the case as tight as I could. I installed 2 case fans. I then cut a hole in the side and made an assembly that would accept a small automotive air cleaner. I have been using that computer for 2 years now and it intakes virtually no dust. Dust buildup is a large factor in cooling.

Answer 6

get some kind of Thermal paste (http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=85&name=CPU-Thermal-Paste-Grease). This suff is cheap and is known to decrease temperature a lot. Make sure you have all of the cables tied off.

Answer 7

I think maybe you should go with two small fans in front of pc(to suck in air.). One big one in the back(to blow out air). Maybe also small ones near Processing Chip, Ram(Optional), HD(optional), and Video Card(optional).