Hmm...maybe if you have to about the minute differences between the two, perhaps its not worth upgrading?

Probably depends on ambient air temp and air flow in and around the chassis. Like you I keep my systems up on the desk-mainly for airflow and to avoid vacuuming the carpet and temps in New Zealand are fairly temperate. So it's very much a case of your mileage may vary.

Having said that, those temps are probably ballpark average with most good cooling chassis, and maybe a few degrees lower than a bog-standard mid-tower chassis or open air testbench (some tech site reviews) that has limited directional airflow passing over the card/s.
Virtually all AMD/ATI gaming cards will max out 70-80C, while some of the large monolithic die nvidia cards (GTX2xx/465/70/80) will add 10-15C to that figure...to a degree that's fairly routine. I'm pretty sure all IC's are rated at 105C+ these days, and nvidia cards' thermal limit is 115C in most cases, so while the temps couldn't be considered "normal" by any rational person, they are well within manufacturers tolerances-if not that of a large number of potential customers.

@hk
That kind of depends on a number of other factors I would think rather than fps.
Does the early upgrade allow for a better resale price on the old card?
Will using a DX11 path with it's attendant performance gain over DX10/10.1 make a previously unplayable game (or upcoming games) viable at your preferred screen resolution?...
Even if it doesn't, what increased level of eye-candy can you add to settings with a lower impact on framerate ( dynamic lighting, ambient occlusion etc...)
Does the upgrade allow for a quieter enviroment ?
Does the upgrade allow for Eyefinity/3D surround that wasn't an option with the earlier card?
Is lossless bitstreaming audio desirable for HD content?

So maybe a few other considerations to take into account

Well thanks for catching that out DBZ, i just fixed it

Since I stay in Calcutta, the temperatures will be soaring in summer (40C +/- 4). Humidity is pretty high as well during summer and monsoon. Winters are pretty fine. It can get cold but not too much. So am I better off with air cooling? I must add that the air conditioner in my room usually runs whenever I'm working on the PC (I keep it at about 23C).

I noted that you were in the sub-continent so I tailored the answer to be specific to you.
If your ambient temp is fairly consistant (ac @ 23C) then an air cooler is probably going to suffice unless you plan on either a 4+GHz OC - which won't help gaming performance to any great extent (if at all), or you like the idea of putting together a liquid cooled system just for it's own sake.
A couple of things to take into account with liquid cooling are that the system should have its coolant changed once a year (good brand coolant) with the loop flushed to keep it free of deposit buildup and that the CPU block should be dissassembled (ideally) and the micro pin (or fin) array cleared of any buildup and the possibility of needing a fresh O-ring installed. So a little more intensive than air cooler maintenance of 1.clean fan and 2.blow compressed air through the cooler fins.
Liquid cooling is fun and aesthetically pleasing but I wouldn't say it's cost effective.

o_O, we're going into liquid cooling

I was seriously considering liquid cooling about 3-4 years ago, and after some serious thought, I decided that its not worth it.

No, its not the risks, but the high maintenance that they require. Like dividebyzero mentioned, you need to change the coolant every once in awhile, flush the loop, and maybe even disassemble the block, all of which is much tougher than the cleaning anyone needs to do with an aircooling setup.

Not to mention that the radiators DO need the same cleaning as well.

Temperature wise, its not much better, unless you splurge on the better setups.

And every time you disconnect/reconnect something in the loop, you'd need to go through a test run and check for leaks. Recommended you do this for 24 hours unconnected to your comp.



However, I'm willing to put good money and say that most people who have watercooling setups do not ever do any of the maintenance involved, until some major blockage bring their temps up (or creates a mysterious, misty environment in the case due to steam)....

Thanks for all the insight guys. Sorry for the late reply but I've been a little busy with some work.

Presently I'm using the OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU cooler. I keep it as clean as possible but I can't find any place where compressed air cans are available. Any alternative ways to clean the fins?

Problem with pumped air is the possibility of static being generated by the pump. This isn't a problem with canned air.

Personally, I believe static issues are overblown. Some precautions are necessary of course, but in a home, static is rarely an issue. Unless you love the feel of your carpet rubbing against your leg while you work on your comp.....

When I first read the question, I thought you posted this 2 years ago.

@CMH
rarely an issue might be little comfort to the one person in a thousand (or hundred thousand for that matter) who zaps their system.
I know of a couple of instances where an unlikely static discharge has totalled a CPU and graphics card. The first probably came from the kid's cat that was brushing up against his leg, and the second likely arose from carpet + socks scenario.
Personally I'd rather play it safe and point out the possibility than have to explain to someone after the fact that they were on the crappy end of the probability curve.

@Rit
If you can't find an electronics store that sells contact cleaner or canned air, you can probably try toy/hobby shops (some airbrush owners use canned air if they cant afford a small compressor) or a general hardware/plumbers supply outfit. If you are planning on cleaning the CPU cooler only then a local garage/workshop/gas station that has a compressed air line is fine-just take the usual precautions when refitting the cooler to the board. What you can't use that cleaning method for is dust buildup in graphics card/chipset cooling fins and removing dust and dirt buildup from PCB's.

Well, I always include advice on static everywhere I go. But truth be told, I don't follow my own advice here. The only thing I do is to make sure my big toe is constantly touching my case, which takes care of most static issues.

I don't go the whole shebang, including the voodoo ritual and animal sacrifice which I recommend to everyone, just because Murphy's law states that it'll be an ambulance chaser who gets his HDD (of all things) fried, and his company lost all their priceless data, and will chase me to the ends of the earth for my firstborn.

I apologise once again for taking this thread so far off topic. However, as DBZ had pointed out, the OP vanished a long time back.

Thank you for all the help guys. I won't be posting any of my other queries here.