CPU Cooler

[Tabs 2,790]

Whoa, whoa... Dan, I did not in any way mean what I said as a knock at you. I was just trying to provide extra information. This is the problem with communicating purely via text like this, there's no tone of voice inflection, no mood and so on and meanings that aren't there get read into things.That guide I linked actually confirms your method of spreading the compound across the heatsink, provided it's a flat base heatsink. I should have clarified this, but what I was trying to point out was the different method for the "heat pipe direct touch" coolers that are out there now. Your cooler isn't an HPDT, so your method is absolutely correct. The filling in the gaps method made a huge difference for me with the HPDT, I did it the other way at first and saw much higher temps than I was expecting.Google "OCZ Freeze vs. AS5" - what I said is definitely true per the reviews. Is it a huge difference? No, but I think the ease of handling part makes it worth getting over AS5. Again, just trying to provide more information here for someone who doesn't already have a tube of compound lying around.Sorry you took it the way you did, was not my intent at all.

[martin-w 3,235]

The best standard air coolers are the Prolimatech Megahalems and the Thermalright True 120 or the new Venomous X. The Noctua NH-D14 is actually better than the aforementioned ones but its huge size blocks the RAM slots if your DIMMs are above a certain height. (ie, Corsair Dominator with the tall heatsinks)

I have the Noctua NHD-14, and I can confirm that the cooling is absolutely superb, beats every other air cooler.As for blocking RAM slots, yes it does in regard to the tall dominator's, however the top part of the RAM heatsink can be removed, without compromising RAM cooling to a significant degree. It's also possible to lift the Noctua fans up slightly to improve clearence.As for thermal compound, I use Innovative Coolings diamond paste. It beats virtually everything in tests.Innovative Cooling carried out extensive testing, in regard to spreading thermal compound. They determined that spreading over the whole heat sink, in a line, or the two blobs method, encourages the formation of air pockets, these voids compromise cooling. Their tests confirmed that the best method of application, is to apply one pea sized blob in the centre of the heat spreader, and to allow the compression from the CPU cooler heat sink to spread it evenly without voids.I'm overclocking an i7 to 4GHz with the Noctua and diamond paste with very cool temperatures indeed, in a Lian Li P50 case.http://www.innovationcooling.com/applicationinstructions.htmMartin Wilby