cooling newbie question, hehe

[teimu]

hi, i know youve seen this all before, but im a noob to cooling and i need help:). the problem is with my video card, a 9800xt by Asus, which is about 50C at idle and maybe 65 or so during gameplay WITH the case cover off. when my card gets up to those temps, i start seeing "artifacts"(as my friend called it) or just these strange objects in the games.

right now, i even have a real fan blowing into it. :lol: So now im looking to some real cooling. the thing on my card that gets really hot is this like metal rectangle on the bottom of the card, that doesnt seem to do anything except conduct the heat. this is where i target the fan.

I was looking at Koolance's site, and saw they had some parts for the video card. for example.http://www.koolance.com/products/pro...&category_id=3 is this the kind of product im looking for? i have the change to afford liquid cooling. but since im a noob and all, is it ez to setup? basically, im looking for a video card coolance system, thats relativley ez to learn(or has good documentation, id rather not sacrifce performance for user friendliness), and can be expensive if needed, and im looking to drop the temp to...as low as one of you guys would have it :D . And can you also tell me the basic concepts of installation, i.e. will i need much room, power, etc. Thanks so much for your time.

Some possibly useful info about my box.
Im using a gateway ATX case (500XL)
2.8Ghz p4
1 gig of ram
1 HD
2 CD drives
1 Floppy
400W PSU
some generic motherboard (says "RU"?)
Asus 9800XT w/ 256MB
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card
one avaliable agp slot
I have pictures http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/teimu/index.html

[bigjackusa]

[wayout44]

Yeah there's no reason to go liquid cooling, just get rid of that mATX case and get a proper ATX case with some good airflow.

[teimu]

yeah, i was starting to see that the airflow was a problem here in this crap case. as i said, i have an actual fan blowing air in 24/7 and i am the joke of my friends :cry: i really need a new case.

Thanks for your advice bigjackusa, but im really too new into case modding to go start drilling holes in my case.

Im gonna go for a new case. Which do you recommend? I went to newegg and all they had for ATX was Thermaltake, and i would rather have a broader selection.

Thanks!

[bigjackusa]

Newegg has a lot more than that to choose from. One of the best sites for a large selection though is Diretron. http://www.directron.com/

[teimu]

Wow. i went to directron and was able to virtually build my my dream pc! i was like a kid in a candy store. that place is great. thanks for the link; its now one of my bookmarks.

Im going for the Antec SOHO PLUSVIEW1000AMG File Server Case. the case looks great to me, and has a see thru window, which is more cosmetic than anything but really sweet. im gonna rig some lights in there and regain my place among my friends. :) the thing's gonna be off the chain! 8)

along with it im getting some 80mm Enermax Ultra-Cool 8cm Ball-bearing Cooling Fans to keep it quiet and cool.

Im so excited. this is going to be a fun project.

BTW, are there any conflicts with MATX motherboards and ATX cases. I was looking at the input place in the back of the case, and it looked a little different. Also there are only 4 PCI(i think thats wat theyre called?) slots on my motherboard and the case will have 7 avaliable. Is that going to be a problem?
I also found out the motherboard is a Intel D865GLC. check my post above for pictures.
Thanks

[wayout44]

The mATX mainboard that you have will fit in that case without a problem and those cases are good (though a little big for some) but I've a handfull of Antec 1080AMG's and Enermax 710B cases (they are all made buy the same Tiawanese Company in China) as I find they have very good airflow.