I7 870 overclock and water cool

[pasta815tim]

I have an i7 870 @ 2.93ghz. This is a pretty decent CPU, and not so cheap actually. The guy who sold this CPU to me told me that I should not OVERCLOCK until the warranty is almost over. If I do, what is a GOOD CONFIGURATION overclock (include the BCLK speed, ratio, stuff like that) and what cooling system should I use? This is the list of cooling systems that I have in mind:

1. Larkooler BA-2241 (this is a cooling system that's not as famous, however on tom's hardware, they rate it the coolest system on the chart. However, I do not know the price)
2. Corsair H70 (I known this product for quite a long time, it has a great reputation but quite pricey).
3. Thermaltake SpinQ (This product is not water cool, but it does have some pretty good reputation.)

Water cooling is something I have never done, however I do want to try it.
And also, what is a thermal compoound that I should use, i read forums and they say that the Arctic Silver 5 is best, is that true?
Give me all kinds of tips for CPU overclock and water cooling thanks!!

 

[Houndsteeth]

If you want watercooling performance, you will need to stay away from the kits. The only way to guarantee that level of performance is to build a custom loop, and to do that, you will need to do a lot of research and spend a bit more money.

A good custom watercooling loop will run you about $250-350 just to cool the CPU. There is nothing that you could buy in a kit that performs at this level for this price. You can spend more on phase-change, but then you have to use conformal coating on all your boards and cover all exposed metal with neoprene and dielectric grease because you are cooling below ambient temperature. Or you can go to the extreme of LN2, but this kind of cooling is only effective for a few hours at a time, and you still have to use all of the safety precautions that you have to do with phase-change.

 

[pasta815tim]

Best answer selected by pasta815tim.