Most people don't think about how to properly cool their computers, but gamers often learn that the proper cooling system can be the difference between a fried computer and one that will function for a decade. Of course, most gamers don't actually need to build their own cooling system - the stock cooling fans bundled with most products will be enough; however, there are two major reasons to build a cooling system into a computer: overclocking and low noise.

Overclocking is taking the stock speed of a product - usually the CPU and graphics cards - and making them perform at a faster speed. While actually overclocking a system is out of the scope of this article, having the proper cooling system is essential, because a higher clock speed means more heat will be generated - often more heat than the stock cooling fans can handle.

Lowering the noise of a computer may not appear to be a very important task, but taking a computer that sounds like a jet turbine and turning it into an inaudible device can greatly affect how you use your computer. Plus, with less noise there will be less competition for your attention.

Building a cooling system into your computer takes some time and planning: you need to know what you want to do with your system and how much you're willing to spend on cooling.

Air, Water, or Ice?

It may seem crazy to build a water-cooling system inside a computer full of sensitive electrical equipment, but when you consider how much heat a processor and all of its components put out, it makes sense to try to cool a computer to something more efficient at transferring heat than air.

Air cooling is the staple of all computer devices: almost every computer built today comes with some form of air cooling, and it does its job reasonably well. For people on a tight budget, or if you just don't plan on overclocking your computer, there's little reason to upgrade your cooling system.

If you're looking to reduce the noise of your stock fans, then you have two options: water cooling or quiet fans. Water cooling is expensive, but there are special quiet CPU fans that are designed to reduce the temperate and noise of your CPU cooling.

If you're an overclocker, or just looking for a really cool way to keep your system running smoothly, you may want to consider water cooling (technically it's liquid-cooling, as water is seldom the recommended coolant of choice). While it performs better than traditional cooling, and generates far less noise, it does have the distinct disadvantage of posing a serious electrical hazard if something goes wrong.

If you're considering water cooling you need to consider three major thing:

• Budget - water block, hoses, radiators, and reservoirs can all cost a lot of money by themselves, but put them together and you may end up blowing your budget on cooling.
• Space - liquid cooling of any sort takes up significantly more space than conventional air cooling does: you need room for your reservoir, radiator, pump, and hoses. If you're tight on space you may want to consider the high-performance heatsinks and fans.
• Experience - installing a water-cooling system is pretty straightforward, but if you don't have the proper installation experience, your computer could end up being nothing more than a very expensive brick. Of course, you could always get a cooling kit, which could reduce the complexity of a water-cooling installation.

There are other options out there, such as thermo-electric components (TEC), but these come with an inherent problem: ice (actually, condensation). Cooling components today simply transfer heat away from the processor and into the surrounding environment, but TECs and other devices can actually cool a processor below the ambient room temperature, leading to water condensation building up on the motherboard (thus leading to a short).

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Recommended Cooling Products

Stingray Water Cooling Kit - $199.99 - This water cooling kit comes with everything you need to start water-cooling your gaming system out of the box. Everything is included, including the CPU, VGA, northbirdge, and southbridge water-blocks, radiator, reservoir, and water pump.

SLI Water Cooling - $59.99 - If you already have a water cooling system, but want to be able to cool your SLI or Crossfire setup with little effort, this kit will allow you to do just that. By providing a radiator and two VGA water blocks you can effectively water-cool an SLI or Crossfire computer.

Ultra Chilltec TEC Cooler - $129.99 - If you're looking to seriously overclock your computer, then you'll want to invest in some serious cooling. With the ability to actually lower the ambient temperature of the processor, the Ultra ChillTec is a great solution for overclockers.

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