I am about to get an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, and had planned to get a fancy Zalman cooler to use instead of the fan provided by Intel. Indeed, I was looking for the OEM version so I wouldn't even have to buy the stock fan. A sales person told me that the Core 2 Duo chips do not run hot and that an after market cooling solution wasn't needed. I was wondering if others who are using the E6700 chip could tell me what their experience has been and what they've done about this. I don't intend to overclock the chip and will only use it in a machine dedicated to FSX.Thanks, Robert

>I am about to get an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, and had planned>to get a fancy Zalman cooler to use instead of the fan>provided by Intel. Indeed, I was looking for the OEM version>so I wouldn't even have to buy the stock fan. A sales person>told me that the Core 2 Duo chips do not run hot and that an>after market cooling solution wasn't needed. I was wondering>if others who are using the E6700 chip could tell me what>their experience has been and what they've done about this. I>don't intend to overclock the chip and will only use it in a>machine dedicated to FSX.>>Thanks, RobertUnless you're thinking of overclocking it, I think the sales person in this case is correct. The Core 2 Duo's based on a 65ns die and as such uses less voltage which translates to less heat. This is why they can be overclocked at a higher level than most other chips. One review claimed, they overclocked a E6600 to a system stable 4Ghz with only a standard heat sink. I've heard higher with extra cooling. A stock E6700 shouldn't require extra cooling though. My E6600 has the opposite problem and has been returned for warranty service. It's underclocked to the tune of 1.2Ghz with a FSB of only 533Mhz. (133.3 bus speed X 4).

If you do not plan on overclocking, then the stock fan is more than adequate for the job.Gary

Go with the stock cooler if you are not overclocking.I overclocked my E6700 to 3.2Ghz. I am using the Thermaltake Blue Orb II cooler. Temps are 35C at idle, and remain at or below 45C under full FSX load.

Guys, thanks for the input. You saved me a few bucks. Now, Gary, if I can hijack my own thread, I've got a question for you about your RAM and motherboard. I've got calls into Corsair and Intel about this, but no response yet. I'm also looking at a motherboard with the P965 chipset and Corsair XMS2 RAM of the same general type as yours. At NewEgg all motherboards of this type are flagged with a notice from Intel that you need RAM with 1.8v for these boards and certain timings. Corsair doesn't seem to have any XMS2 sticks with this voltage level and their forum is very unclear as to the status of this situation. Can you shed any light on this issue? At this point I wonder if I should never have read the fine print and just gone ahead and given it a try, as this seems to be a not uncommon setup.Thanks, Robert

I just got an answer from Corsair on the RAM compatibility issue. I thought I'd post it just in case someone else locates this thread and has the same question.Corsair says the only DDR2 800 RAM they have that's compatible with the Intel P965 series of boards is TWIN2X2048-6400.

Robert,The XMS2 memory I bought is rated at 1.9V, which is close enough to get you into the BIOS to boost it up if you need to. Most of the problems I read on Newegg come from the higher voltage memory (ie. 2.1/2.2V) and in particular OCZ memory for some reason. Here is link to what I bought that works perfectly at stock motherboard voltage, even at 874MHz overclocked: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145590Gary

Gary, that's exactly what I ordered. Thanks for the confirmation.Robert

Get the TT Big Typhoon. With this baby, you can OCed to close to 4GHz, and you really need that with FSX.

>Guys, thanks for the input. You saved me a few bucks. >>Now, Gary, if I can hijack my own thread, I've got a question>for you about your RAM and motherboard. I've got calls into>Corsair and Intel about this, but no response yet. >>I'm also looking at a motherboard with the P965 chipset and>Corsair XMS2 RAM of the same general type as yours. At NewEgg>all motherboards of this type are flagged with a notice from>Intel that you need RAM with 1.8v for these boards and certain>timings. Corsair doesn't seem to have any XMS2 sticks with>this voltage level and their forum is very unclear as to the>status of this situation. Can you shed any light on this>issue? At this point I wonder if I should never have read the>fine print and just gone ahead and given it a try, as this>seems to be a not uncommon setup.I think it is true that Intel quoted a 1.8v mem voltage spec, but I think the latest installed BIOS' on the P965 boards are defaulting to higher voltages. You would have to check the MB manufacturer and find if there is someway to know that the latest BIOS is on the board when shipped.scott s..