XIGMATEK AIO-S80DP All-in-one liquid cooling system

Pros: Xigmatek was all about creating the Super Silent watercooled all in one solution. The dual radiator and dual pump is a great idea. Big problem. Airflow. Xigmatek decided in their infinite wisdom that quiet was more important than cooling power. How about both? I voided the warranty (at $50, this is probably the most inexpensive component on my rig). I removed the factory fan and installed a SilverStone high rpm fan with speed controller. Now, when I push the system, I turn up the fan. When not OCing, fan is down, nice and quiet. When OCing and playing Crysis (sniper) mind you...Turn it up. If you like to overclock, like I do, cooling means stability. This setup now doesn't miss a beat, no matter how hard I push my system. Keep in mind, you must have decent airflow across your MB in your rig. Airflow is everything. Stagnation is death. I recommend G2 golf dimpled. Amazing little fans and super quiet, also on a speed controller.

Cons: Having to change fan for an optimal replacement. Very easy to do.....Not much of a con, as it unleashes a water cooling system that rivals the mega expensive units.

Other Thoughts: Buy it! Modify it! I read the reviews and wanted to check this out for a HT rig. Like others, I was a little dismayed at first. Wondering why it wasn't producing good results, I said what the heck. $50.00. Lets see if I can mod this unit to produce. It is well built. Solid concept. Just not there! Now after mod with SilverStone 80mm fan. BOOM! This works soo amazing, I sold my expensive water cooling unit with all those crazy tubes, potential leaks, etc. and also installed this self contained radiator unit on my gaming rig. This bad boy is on steroids when you get the air flowing.

Pros: Don't have to refill it, keeps it relatively cool while ideling, idles around 30

Cons: doesn't keep my AMD zambezi six-core 3.8 ghz very cool while maxed out got up to 54 before i paused it and let it cool down. I am replacing it with my xigmatek dark knight to keep the temp down and looking for a new liquid cooling kit.

Pros: Liquid cooling, installation pretty straight forward

Cons: This cooler will only give you about 8 to 10c difference in cooling from a air cooler. Don't expect more. My CPU would run at 68 to 70c and idle at around 64c. With this cooler it runs 56-64c and idles at 54c. CPU Core2Quad 2.66Ghz

Other Thoughts: Once the inside of your case temp increases expect an increase of CPU temps. After running all day idle CPU temp 62c

Pros: * Quiet
* Keeps the temperature down

Cons: * Slightly difficult setup procedure. I had to remove the motherboard from the case to install this (This might be normal for heatsinks, but I don't know)
* I forgot to plug in the pump initially, which could have caused... major issues to say the least

Other Thoughts: Its a heatsink. It works better than stock heatsinks. If you want something like this, I won't stop you from getting one.

Pros: - Keeps temperatures steady, a lot less spiking after using this
- Comes pre-filled with coolant, so you don't have to get some if you need it working quick
- Has all parts you might (and might not) need

Cons: I gave it 4 eggs because of the instructions. They SUCK when it comes to AM2 systems.

- Instructions are only for non-AM2 systems
- Instructions are very... spotty in some areas... it tells you to select your brackets, which is easy, but then the rest of the instructions assumes Intel, which doesn't help for AM2
- In my AM2 system, the copper base is about 1/4" off, but its mostly making contact and the area that is not does not seem to have more heat than the rest of the core

Other Thoughts: If you are installing this on an AM2 system, know this: you need the plate with the nuts under your motherboard for the long screws. They say they screw UP from the bottom, but that's only for the Intel brackets, the AM2 one has no nuts to hold the screws. The rest of the assembly process is simple from there.

Be mindful of the placement of your RAM sockets, in my case I come close to my RAM sticks, but there is no heat transfer between the two, or contact.

Pros: I bought this for an old AMD MB+ CPU. Lowered temps on avg about 12 deg F.

Cons: The MB was old enough that there was no 4 pin conn for the "CPU fan". Ran the yellow wire for monitoring, and came directly off power.

Other Thoughts: Even running the fan a full and pump at full this is a pretty quiet and efficient, self contained water cooling solution.

Pros: Over a year and still silent! Temps. with this cooler never push the limit. I keep the CPU overclocked but not at red line. I was wanting to have a water cooled CPU without all the hoses and big black block radiator in my case. Everything looks sleek and sharp in there with this.

Cons: Very large! Had to do some magic to get the ram seated in nicely along with this monster. No cutting or bending, but if my ram had some of those newer crazy heatsinks on them. I would have had to do something far more drastic.

Other Thoughts: You will need a big case to put this in. The cooler looks like a mountain in there when I peer through the case window.
Running an AMD Phenom ll x4 965 under it.

Pros: I have a 6-year old Q6850 Extreme @ factory speeds that wasn't being properly cooled by my Zalman heat sink, so I looked for an LGA775 liquid cooling solution and found this. Before, I would finish playing Crysis 2 and the CPU temps would blaze to 62 C, and even on idle it would be at 42 C. Now when I finish after about an hour of Crysis it barely hits 51 C and idles as low as 34 C, and that's all I could ever ask for. I didn't want to overclock my dinosaur Quad Core, just wanted it's blood to run colder to prolong the life and seriously couldn't be happier.

Cons: None at all. I noticed a lot of people complaining about the size. If you have a case like a Cosmos 1000 or better, then it won't be a problem. If you've owned a coolermaster V8 or V10 or even some of the really big Zalman heatsinks then this is more, or less the same size.

Other Thoughts: Like I was kinda saying between the lines, if you are looking to get your "OLDER" AMD and Intel running more efficiently, then this is the best solution $45 dollars can buy and you will walk away happy. On the other hand if you are considering serious overclocking and cranking up the volts you may want to look somewhere more expensive.
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
GTX-275
8 GB Mushkin DDR2 800 mhz
Antec 850 W
2 1 TB Wester Digital drives in Raid 0
Asus P5N-D
basically all ancient hardware

Pros: Noticeable difference right away. My system is 9 years old with fans not cooling as they should. Got tired of wrestling with it and ordered this product. I am glad I did! Now I am at 30 degrees C when before it was 50 to 55 C. Even though it is huge, the mounts keep it very secure. My board sits vertically and I have had no problems with it at all. I do have a full tower, however.

Cons: Not really a con, since most cooling systems require this, but the mounts required pulling the mbd out, so be prepared for that. I was hoping to bypass that step but couldn't with my rig.

Other Thoughts: As stated, I have a full tower so there is no problem with room. Read the dimensions first to make sure it is not to big for your case!

Pros: Runs World of Warcraft on ultra settings with absolutely 0 issues, even in Arenas or fighting Deathwing not no much as a shutter in performance. Relatively quiet and super easy installation. Also great price.

Cons: None that I could find.