XP 2600 cooling

[imported_Jack]

Current setup:

XP 2600, Cooler Master DP5-6I31C (antec's silver therm compound), MSI K7N, 512 ddr 2700 kingston, matrox mil 450 dual head, enermax 350, 2 80mm exhaust fans, 1 80mm side fan, 1 120mm intake (antec)

I strictly use this pc for realtime business app's that keep the proc @ 40-70% on ave, and a couple times/day it will stay at 100% for 20-25 min when I'm crunching some #'s in excel. When I first built it I had a volcano 9 that I wasn't too impressed with. Found I got better cpu cooling from the cooler master and it was much quieter.

On ave the cpu is 5-10C abv ambient. Idle is ~ 37C, max load as high as 48/49C depending on the weather. My concern is with summer coming I feel I need to be more aggressive with cpu cooling. I'm also considering putting a 120mm exhaust fan in the top of the case.

CPU coolers I'm looking at:

SLK 900A w/tornado w/fan controller. I feel I won't always need it blowing at 4800rpm.
or
Volcano 12, but adding TT's A1442 ducting.

I haven't done any overclocking on this proc, not even sure what I can get out of it.
Do you think the additional exhaust fan will be enough or should I go with a new HS as well?

Any replies much appreciated

 

[jpeyton]

Unless you anticipate your CPU temps going higher than 65C during the summer, I'd save your money. You aren't overclocking, so stability at higher temps is a nonissue unless you see them higher than 70C.

Although it's nice to keep your CPU running cool, there is no difference performance and stability wise between a stock XP2600 at 50C and one at 65C. You also mentioned that you only stress your CPU a few times a day for relatively short amounts of time; yet another reason not to be concerned about your CPU temps.