Better Fan then this?

It's cheaper then the Zalman model run here on an AMD64 3500+. And ThermalTake is a good brand. But Zalman often sees better reviews. Besides a cpu cooler one thing that will help a great deal on a new build is getting the air moving inside the case with larger then 80mm case fans. If you are planning to game or OC that is one item to be given serious thought there. Whichever one you go with make sure to have some Artic Silver 5 onhand. I tried two different Zalman coolers with that one being the better of the two.

Upon first getting the hardwares in to throw a case together fast I "forgot" to include AS5 along with the rest. :rolleyes: So I went out to the retail store and picked up some Antec thermal compound with a higher long term max temp rating. That was a waste of $20 for the 3.5gram tube there. It failed to firm up after two weeks when the Zalman model you are looking at became available when a friend didn't want to void a vendor warranty. They just had that one marked down to $52 something from the $74.95 seen during the spring. The airflow around the copper fins can make the difference there.
 
The first Zalman I tried forgetting to add the link in earlier can be seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118119 I keep that for a backup since the model you have been looking is doing an excellent job here. When I finally get around to build the 2007 Opteron driven case that I was planning before the old board crapped I would have dropped the one at the link onto the old board using that as a backup case. Now I will probably have it sit around and buy a second http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835118223
 
The Zalman is better than the Thermaltake because it has better heat dissappation with the copper fins while the Thermaltake looks like it just circulates air more than anything. Also, depending on your rig, the first one is best if you have a good side fan to blow fresh air into it while the second one will blow blow the hot air into the rear exhaust fan but probably requires more of a roomy case.

(Consider fans from a science point of view. Look for a good thermal conductive metal with heating piping that effectively channel into a large surface area.)
 
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Despite the heat tubes on the ThermalTake there's a little too much plastic surrounding the fan there especially for an Intel dual core. Hopefully they run cooler then the P4 line. It's a shame you didn't catch the sale they had on the Zalman a few weeks ago at $52+change. Whichever you decide to go with make sure you have Artic Silver 5 for use there.
 
That Zalman will perform much better than the beetle as everyone's been saying. Now against a Big Typhoon thats a different story...
 
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