Conclusion
Water cooling may still be a great option for anyone who wants to take the time to set up and maintain such an elaborate system, and one can certainly buy a larger water cooling "rig" than the one we tested. Advantages include an increased selection of available radiator sizes, possible relocation of the radiator to a cooler air stream and the possible addition of component coolers to chipsets, graphics cards and RAM. A huge, well-maintained water cooler can eliminate several small noisy fans by substituting its own large, yet quiet fans.
Vigor Gaming has a great alternative for anyone not interested in water cooler maintenance, risks and associated component installation hassles. The Monsoon II was at least able to achieve the same cooling effect as a similarly priced water cooler at maximum CPU stress levels, and requires nothing more than a couple of thin cables and a controller card.
Testing revealed that the Vigor Gaming Monsoon II Lite had a narrower temperature range with higher starting temps, but this was likely because it uses electronic controls in close proximity to other hot system components. Had it used a remote temperature sensor outside the system's heat envelope, a lower target temperature may have resulted in a continuously cooler operation. The system never reached a high enough heat level to force the Monsoon II Lite's TEC to run for more than a few seconds, which means that the cooler has more power than this E6700 processor ever needs, even at a high voltage levels.
I can only conclude that the Vigor Gaming Monsoon II Lite provides more cooling than I can possibly use with the tested E6700 even at insane overclock settings. Perhaps I should have asked the boss for a Quad Core.
