I am going to buy a new Heatsink for my AMD 965 Black Edition and i was going to get the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 then i found this 1:
Akasa Thermal Solution
And was wundering what 1 would cool better and would make less noise as the stock 1 now sounds so loud.
Tell you what... I can't (and wouldn't) recommend any one make or model of heatsink but I will give you some general guidelines...
1) Look for mass at the bottom of the heatsink.
The more metal at the bottom where it contacts the CPU the better.
2) Look for fairly substantial fins.
Heatsinks with feather like fins may seem impressive but the low mass of the fins themselves won't conduct heat as well as a fairly substantial bit of metal does.
3) Cooling is about Surface Area
Aluminum of sufficient mass carrying heat up through the fins has only one way to dispell heat; on the sufrace of the fins. If the fins are stubby or not very smooth you will get less effective heat dissipation than from long, smooth surfaced fins sitting right in the fan's main pressure.
4) The type of metal does matter.
Aluminum fins are better than coper. Copper bases are better than aluminum.
Copper conducts heat far better than aluminum but because of it's higher mass it also tends to hold heat better than aluminum. Aluminum has the unique quality of being thermally conductive and with a valence of 3 it's able to release heat very easily... That is it heats up fast but it does not STAY hot, the way copper does. Ideally you want a heatsink with a large copper insert in the base and aluminum fins. This hybrid design is proven to give you the best of heat transfer and dissipation qualities of both metals.
So... what you should be looking for is a nicely made, substantial heatsink, with nice chunky fins and good smooth surface finish. Of course... bigger is better but not if the size is at the sacrifice of other qualities. It should feel heavy and substantial in your hand... not cheap and certainly not flimsy.
Hope this is of some help....