Recommend new LGA775 air cooler

ok so every one has heard this question before, i am currently using a Zalman CNPS9700 cooler, works great but i just want that extra kick, plus its getting boring when i walk past it and look at it.

i been looking at this, Ultra ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler ULT33186, as the name suggests it is a TEC aka Peltier cooling affect. im well aware of how they work and what they require as i have played with these quite a few years ago. but i just cant move away from the cooling power they can have.

air cooling is a never ending question, but instead of reading reviews that the company has given them a product or even paid them to review the product, i wanna know what YOU have experienced in air cooling.

the other problem i will have is my motherboard compatibility. those of you that have had or currently own a 790i ultra (xfx) know what im talking about, the heat syncs around the cpu and NB make it very difficult in selecting a cooler. the zalman 9700 is actually recommended for the 790i ultra, so when i bought it i knew it would fit.

also eye candy is always a big bonus.

these are catchy especially the Axe

Triton 88, Triton 81, Arctic Square and Axe Square AMAzing
i think im in love with the Cooler Master V10
Prolimatech Megahalems seems good, as well as the Thermalright IFX-14.
thnx for any insight.

Rick.

I have an eVGA 780i and I am using a Tuniq Tower 120, the best CPU cooler with great cooling performance in my rig - see pics @ Picasa Web Albums - johnlgalt - The Beast - and I love it. It is arguably one of the top air coolers for the LGA775 series, and it fits well in the tight spaces of the nForce 7 series mobos. A lot of other folks are going to say go with a TRUE, but reading different places, most notably Tuniq Tower 120 vs Thermalright "TRUE" - Overclockers Australia Forums and TRUE or Tuniq Tower 120 for Q6600? - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net you'll see that it depends on a couple of things, price, lapping ability (or lack thereof) etc.

i have heard alot about the T120, but the other thing is, would you use their supplied paste or go with somethin like AS5? ive always used AS5 and never been dissapointed.

its strange how all the coolers (just about all anyway) work best as a desktop not a tower, so say you had the T120, it would have the best cooling affect if you lay your pc down like back in the old days as a desktop rather than a tower, so the heat would rise through the fins rather than start to rise out of the sides if you know what i mean? i thought there would be some really space age designs to overcome that now so the tower part of the cooler would be upright or close to it so you could still get efficiency out of a tower, mind you those setups would require a btx power supply rather than atx.

I bought AS5 myself, and would recommend nothing less, although a recent review I was reading on the Nehalem CPUs and OCing them led me to ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions ::: and I might go with this on my next build.

Pretty reasonably priced, Newegg.com - ZALMAN ZM - STG1 Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease

im thinking the Thermalright Ultra 120 Exteme, others have reported slight lower temps than the tuniq 120. though its only marginal, if im gonna go all out i might as well get the better of the 2. plus i can set up a push pull design with the fans on the ultra 120 xtreme and maybe even mod my case to fit the Thermalright IFX-10 cpu backside cooler? hmmm

black dog said:

If you are going to go 'all out' you need CoolZilla, the CoolerMaster V10.

It is a monster!

Cooler Master - Ultimate provider of Computer Chassis | Cooler | Power Supply

the problem with the v10 is that it has been proven it isnt actually the best cooler, secondly its expensive, third the heat pipes are in the wrong direction and because it is soo big you cant rotate it in a case you get better results with the pipes going in a downward direction to the cpu (this can result in more than 3'c lower) and lastly some people have claimed that on the x58's it blocks the ram slots with the extended fins on the side (not sure about the earlier dual channels but more than likely have the same problem)

i do like the idea of the peltier on the v10 though and yes it is really sick looking. but the tuniq 120 has better results.