okay so.. they've all owned their own heatsinks.. but i've built computers for other people, and i've owned 4 computers in the last 5 years.
i've tried out the zalman, i've tried out the thermalright, and the thermalright is better.
but, what's better than both of those for ease of installation and coolest temperatures, especially at a lower fan speed.. is the thermaltake big typhoon. it's also the best performance per dollar.
big typhoon at newegg
get the cheaper one if you're going to use your own fan, i did. the more expensive one has a better fan though. the heatsink is the same. generally the fan will make about 1 degree difference, just because the surface area on the fins is so massive, there's just so many of them.
the thing about the zalman, is there's not nearly as much surface area, while this heatsink performs mediocre its fan is a bit loud. not only that but copper is too heavy for fins, not allowing them to provide as much surface area. with the thermalright its better than the zalman, BUT it doesn't perform as well as the big typhoon because it has no copper.
while copper is heavier, it conducts heat MUCH better and quicker, to evacuate heat from the cpu as quickly as possible. once its spread out quite a bit the airflow is enough to take the heat from aluminum fins. the thermalright heatsink has 12 heatpipes, but more isn't always better when:
-the heatsinks base is STILL made out of aluminum, and
- the fins STILL have less surface area.
you see, heatpipes conduct heat quicker than normal metal, but without the extra surface area or a copper base to conduct the electricity quicker the heatpipes just hold onto the heat for longer.
you see, thermalright makes good heatsinks.. but their sale point is making them as big as possible and making them look like they perform well. zalman is more about making them look good. thermaltake on the other hand, provides good looking heatsinks as well as the highest performing heatsinks.
another awesome option is the tuniq tower 120 which i haven't tried, but i'd like to. then, theres the arctic cooling freezer XTREME.
i haven't tried the freezer XTREME, but from what i can tell it
looks like the best one on the market, with more surface area and more heatpipes than any other... and i've also heard good things from other high-end overclockers in other forums (forums that i'm not allowed to link due to this forums rules).
Freezer XTREME specs page
all these coolers will be quite heavy, so be prepared to have a heavy computer. you'll be able to overclock quite a bit more though.
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