Looking for thoughts about CPU cooling...

Ok, so i've recently built a machine using EVGA's 780i mobo and a Intel Q6600.
I decided not to buy cooling when i built the computer due to spending the extra money on the motherboard(350 ). So now i have a hot cpu, and i want to overclock it to 3.0, which i have done, but it just runs hot like that.

I've broken my choices down to two.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118019

^ The Zalman CPS9700 LED ^

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835154002

^ Tuniq Tower 120 ^ <--- i heard the stock fan in this is not that good so i would be replacing it with this
http://www.petrastechshop.com/12yalod1blle.html

Any thoughts as to which will give better cooling? and do you think that yate loon fan would be a good replacement in that cooler?

Thank you for any recommendations

edit: I am using the stock cooler

^ That's useless. Not very good in quality. For good quality CPU cooler review look at:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heat [...] ELHEATSINK

I did read that, and it looked like the 9700 came out close to the top, but i don't see anything there about the Tuniq tower, or about this fan, so it doesn't help me. thnx though

I just took a look at that heatsink, looks similiar to the tuniq tower, but i think i would still replace the fan on that as well, any idea as to how well the fan would work?

i would go the tuniq and if noise is not a concern i would up the cfm on a new fan like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835185054
in the end both of those coolers will do pretty good and get you to 3ghz.

The articles I referenced are geared towards Quad CPU's....and I have never been let down by articles on referenced sites. If the people are competent, it's hard to argue with real, measured numbers and when

It does say that the Thermalright IFX-14 wiped the floor with everybody else. The Zalman 8700 failed and wasn't ranked......especially when all the better sites say the same thing. One of the things ya might find out for example from reading the articles is that Zalman doesn't list the 9700 as being supported for Quads. I'd wanna find out if this was an oversight by the webmaster or whether they have a reason for not listing as an approved application.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/produc [...] sp?idx=164

Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Sempron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Dual-Core Opteron

The 8700 is

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/produc [...] sp?idx=168

Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Sempron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Dual-Core Opteron

You can compare the IFX-14 with the Ultra 20 here:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?a [...] pert&pid=5

As indicated in the article above,the IFX-14 has the "largest surface area of any cooler on the market ".

Comming from personal experience... the zlamans stock fan sucks.

The best air cooler atm, is, i believe, the Noctua NH-U12P.
While there is not much between the two, and u wont get any more OC, the Noctua DOES come with its own fan and will get ~2c lowwer than ANYTHING in a push-pull config.

The thermalrights are all awesome, but while ur upgrading, u may as well get the best (price permitting of course)

Well, 250W GPUs don't help either

Whats is your budget? What case are you using?

I have the same CPU and motherboard. I am using the Ultra Chill TEC. I havent gotten around to OCing my chip yet but it runs consistently around 85*F (checked in BIOS). The display for the TEC cooler says 77-79*F and I expected it to be off anyway. I gave 111.99 for my cooler at Frys Electronics.


http://www.ultraproducts.com/produ [...] ductID=571

This is my setup using the Coolermaster CM830 case:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] 25e5b9.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] 1bcef5.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] 9a48c5.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] de5dc6.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] 0b270a.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] d20bdd.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] 22a673.jpg



I had to remove 1 of the 120mm fans to allow room for the cpu cooler. The ambient temp inside the case seems very low so I didnt mind.

I have a second EVGA 8800GTX ANS3 card sitting on my shelf waiting to be SLI'd but my power supply is inadequate. This is something you need to think about using that motherboard and depending on the video cards you use you will need a 1000 watt or greater PSU. I'm waiting for the release of Corsairs 1000 watt SLI certified PSU. It actually has 6 pci-e power plugs for 3 gtx cards so you dont have to make a rats nest out of your wiring.

Food for thought!

I have a budget of around 80$ and i have a Thermaltake Armor case with the 25cm side window. My PSU is tier 5 : / which i found out after buying it, i have no probs with it, but its a Rosewill 950w. Is TEC worth it? I was looking into that.