A big issue that people leave out of the equation is the ambient temperature of the room the computer is sited in. That aside, with some excellent cases with large slow moving fans and a wide selection of custom CPU and GPU air cooling units, all at very reasonable prices, I feel air cooling is the way to go unless one wants to squeeze the last bit of overclock out of a CPU processor and in respect of games most games are GPU limited rather than CPU limited, so ramping up the CPU processor performance is unlikely to be much of a help in the relatively small difference between, an over-clocked processor with a custom air cooling unit and an over-clocked water cooled processor. As for looks, some of the custom CPU air-cooling units look really cool, okay not as fancy as a water-cooling set up but if they fail, you just pull out the air-cooling unit and fit another one, if a water cooling unit leaks the water can wreck anything in the computer it gets near.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/T...ake/BigTyphoon
The above is the air-cooling unit I have fitted to my Athlon 64 4800 dualcore 939 socket, it was really easy to fit in that allthough it does require one to get at the back of the motherboard to fit it in the case of the Athlon 64 939 instilation, that was no bother to me as it was a new build instilation. I haven't got that rig over-clocked but I do appreciate it's quietness with the custom cooler on the CPU and a Gainward 7600GT GPU with passive cooling fitted in a Coolermaster Stacker case.
I really only got the Thermaltake cooler [ though it is an excellent product and I am very happy with it ] because the folks I get my kit off don't do Arctic products, but otherwise I would have gone for a cooler from Arctic
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu.php
Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer