Since I don't overclock any longer, I will always settle on the retail cpu with the stock fan, if for no reason, it usually means a 5 year warranty v a 1 year warranty for the OEM part.
Right now if I did purchase a special cooler it would be the Zalman copper with the 120 mm fan, though I doubt it would fit on either m/b. The advantage to me with that cooler would be to run it at about 900 rpm and probably not hear a thing out of it. Besides at the size it would cool half of everything else on the m/b. But that is a $38 expense I don't plan on eating. Bob -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jin-Wei Tioh Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 6:23 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: RE: [H] Media PC on the Cheap --> two options --> your opinion At 01:55 PM 1/24/2007, you wrote: >Hi Jim, >Based upon your comments, of the two systems, I would suspect you would >favor the first. While I have overclocked plenty in the past, buying >expensive fans/coolers/etc., I have not done so in a couple of years. Having >a di-electric device build up condensation and frying a rig was not the best >of experiences. Lol > >Anyway, I am skeptical of overclocking a rig that will run 24/7. That's why >I would opt for the e6600 to handle h.264 or other compression algorithm. >Besides, I might want to occasionally convert various video files and >depending upon the fate of the current 'family' computer might have to do >double duty as a workstation in the future. > >Thanks for your input!! >Bob Hello Bob, No problem, that is/has always been the purpose of this list. God knows I was a complete n00b when I first joined in 1997 :P A64 overclocking is surprisingly easy on air, though I guess I should add that this is only true for the 90nm parts. As far as coolers, don't waste your money. I tried a Thermalright XP90 (aluminum) and the retail A64 X2 4-heatpipe HSF. Negligible difference in performance and the retail HSF was a lot cheaper. If you're going to use the PC to encode and/or transcode content (eg. using Orb to stream to mobile devices, Wii, PS3, etc.) then it's definitely a good idea to have a Core 2 CPU. The IPC on those danged things are unbelievable. Hope this helps. Best regards. -- JW
