Current HSF top dogs

[fps justin]

i agree. thermaltake and swap it out with a silent fan.

[drew and not u]

Thanks guys. So do you think it would be worthwhile to upgrade to one of those panaflow fans?

[Capper]

yes, i swear by Panaflos.....far and away the best fans on the market

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by drew and not u

So probably not worth upgrading at this point as my temps are still reasonable (42 idle / 56 full load)? And the vapochill micro was one solution that I had been seriously considering since it's debut.
thanks guys!

I would check if the cooler is making a proper contact with the CPU. a pentium 2.8 shouldn't be hotter at idle than about 30C (my previous rig was a 2.8 and was idling at 30C with a stock cooler :) )

Originally Posted by Capper

The problem with the Zalmans is their performance does not make them a high end cooling solution.... and their price really negates any benefit as a "quiet" cooler. If quiet is your goal, you can spend about $20 less on a Thermaltake than the Zalman, or simply use the stock cooling.
Considering the price you pay for a Zalman, why not just get a good "high end" cooler like a Thermalright or Vapochill and outfit it with a high flow/low noise fan?

I totally agree with capper. the zalmann is at best just mediocre and nothing justifies the high end price on it.

EDIT: I just noticed that you are running the 2.8 @ 3.5. well this is different then. still northwood should be doing better than that.

[Tyreal]

I might as well talk a little about the fans...
I highly recommend using panaflo fans on heatsinks. They push a great amount of air at a reasonable noise level. When your choosing a fan for your heatsinks, make sure you choose a fan with a good amount of pressure to push through the fins of the heatsink.

Delta makes great fans that push amazing amounts of air but at a high price, they are very noisy. I wouldn't recommend using the EFB series on heatsinks. The EFB series use three blades. These fans don't have a good amount of pressure but do push alot of air. The FFB series is where its at. They are amazingly powerful with high amounts of pressure. TFB is basically twice as strong as the FFB series. They are just too loud.

http://sidewindercomputers.com/detfbsedifa.html

Panaflos can be bought here: http://sidewindercomputers.com/paaxfa1.html

[gvblake22]

I've also had great luck with the medium and low speed 92mm Panaflo's as well as the low-speed triple blade Delta's

[Tyreal]

The medium and low speed 92mm Panaflo's are good heatsink fans and so are the triple blade deltas (EFB) but they aren't the greatest for heatsinks since they don't have good pressure. The medium and low speed 92mm panaflo's have higher pressure than the low speed triple blade delta.

[drew and not u]

maybe i will swap out all of my case fans as well with these. Do they have LED versions? Because although cooling is the most important thing to me, if I can have it looko good while it's cooling well, then I'm a happy camper.

[Tyreal]

Sorry. Neither the Panaflos or the Deltas have LED versions.

[Capper]

you can always buy a simple cold cathode light for your case