How do you keep PC cooled?

People will do anythings to cool down their gear:
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b2…t=abbc79e3.flv

Sometimes i'm annoyed with the overheating issue of current comp hardwares.

On my old Pc (not overclocked) i used flat box-shaped fan inserted into pci slot and suck all the hot out of my system. And if the system still overheated i opened the side of the comp to let more air circulation. It always work and stop the system lock-up.

Actually, things have improved a quite a lot in this respect over the past two processor generations. GPU's too; the 8800 GT you've ordered being a prime example. They run a quite a bit cooler now. If you don't overclock and aren't attempting to build a perfectly silent or extremely compact box, you really don't need to worry about it.

If you do intend to overclock or do want to make a quiet computer, your best cooling solution is (1) a case built for silence and good heat dissipation and (2) custom heatsinks: for the CPU and for the northbridge. The fan on your 8800GT will be very quiet, IMO well past the line of diminishing returns.

For cases, I've been using Antecs for several years, and really like them. They're a bit fussy to (dis)assemble, so if you swap stuff in and out all the time you may not be thrilled, but once built, they run cool and quiet and they don't cost a huge amount of money either.

For heatsinks and fans, I've been using Zalman, but that's more out of habit than staying up to date with what's the best thing out there at any given time. I've been quite happy with their stuff.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
Actually, things have improved a quite a lot in this respect over the past two processor generations. GPU's too; the 8800 GT you've ordered being a prime example. They run a quite a bit cooler now.

This is actually not true. The opposite is the case. The 8800GT cards are running extremely hot and there are reports that the RMA ratio is very high. The older 8800GTS had a double slot cooling solution and -despite the "monster" cooler- ran very hot as well. It's not unusual for a 8800GTS to reach almost ~80C under load (nVidia says that anything below ~120C is non-critical… yes, GPUs can and may run a lot hotter than CPUs in case anyone here is wondering about these high temp values).
Anyway, the 8800GT has a silent single slot fan despite the clocks being higher than what the GTS used to have. The smaller structure (the 8800GT G92 GPU is based on a 65nm manufacturing process rather than the 90nm process of the 8800GTS) can apparently not make up for the other changes.
The 8800GT is consuming less power but it's still getting extremely hot and hotter even than a 8800GTS which were already considered as heaters. What makes matters even worse is that the 8800GT -due to the above mentioned single slot heatsink- can not blow the hot air directly out of the case like the 8800GTS with its dual slot cooler so not only do you have an extremely hot graphics card but your system temp goes north as well.
The thermal issues are currently definitely the biggest flaw of the otherwise excellent 8800GT. nVidia (or the card makers) really need(s) to get those insane temps under control. They should go back to a dual slot cooling solution IMHO for more efficient cooling and to get that hot air out of the case directly.

Personally, I have a pretty nicely designed, practical and very light Thermaltake Matrix VX aluminum case with 2x 120mm fans. Classic setup. One is sucking air in at the front (it's directly in front of the hard disk cage so the HDs are staying cool, too) and one is blowing the hot air out at the rear. For the CPU (I don't overclock), I have an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro which is a great value cooler that is very silent and still very efficient. The fan on my Gainward 8800GTS 640MB gets the job done, too, without being overly noisy and my BeQuiet 430W Dark Power power supply is indeed about as quiet as the name suggests and it is helping to keep the system cool with its rear exhaust fan. I can definitely recommend all of these components. You get a silent (maybe not ultra silent but absolutely tolerable) and cool system with all of this stuff inside .

@Moriendor, thanks for setting me straight. I checked and was mis-remembering a THG article about it.

That reminds me of a friend of mine Remus. She didn't go quite that far but she did take the case off rather then pull her rig out of a cabinet unit or add a fan to the box.

my nb temp has been over 60c for a while. any idea what might be causing that?everything else is around 40c or below.

The biggest problem for 8800GT is that it doesnt blow the air OUT of the case like 8800GTS. Instead of cooling the card and removing hot air from the case, it heats the air and that leads to higher temps on all components. Not good.

Theres a new GTS model coming with proper cooling so that might be a better choice if youre worried about case temperature.