I have purchased an DIGN Htpc (Home Theater Personal Computer) case.
I will use it mainly for:
- DVD and Divx processing
- TV processing (using Dscaler)
- gaming (Quake III etc)
The HTPC is hooked up to a Projector (Nec LT150z) displaying the images on a 6x8 ft Dalite HiPower Screen.
Obviously silence is important for me, although not an obsession.
Trade off is there: I need power to be able to use the Dscaler filters to scale and improve the picture from my capture card (a Falcon).
Steps I have already taken...
- purchased a 80G Seagate IV Barracuda HD
- I have a Pioneer DVD-Rom (104-region free) slot drive, with very quiet playback
- I have ordered a Fortron modified 300PSU (with a Verax fan)
Now I am looking at a heatsink for a 2.4G processor.
I am not prepared to back down on the power of my processor, so really, I am after the best cooling solution, to keep noise levels as low as possible, and the CPU as cool as possible. I am not considering overclocking the CPU.

I am leaning towards the Zalman, but now I am seriously wondering, after the recent tests conducted by the SilentPc team, if I should not be waiting for the new ThermalRight SLK-478, coming out next month...
I am pretty shocked at the bad results... also I cannot find a comparison of P4 cooling options, that mention clearly noise levels. The A slot review was great, but is it applicable to Pentium IV as well?

BTW This is how the case looks like (mine is gold, sorry couldn't help showing off )

Hiya, welcome to SPCR! That is a sweet lookin PC

im using an Alpha 8942T on my P4, its at 2.4G too (tho its an OCed 1.8A). The fan im using is a papst NGML (19dB 26CFM) and its running at around 9V. Keeps the Proc. below 55*C at full load

You might wanna wait to see what the new Thermalright is like tho

At the moment I am running a (very noisy ) 1Ghz Pentium III on an Asus P3BF motherboard.
The Asus mboard utility says it is running at between 23 and 30 C when Idle.
How do you measure your CPU temperature?
Is 55C the temperature that I should expect if I don't overclock a stock 2.4, or is so high just because you have overclocked a 1.8A?

I would think yours should be cooler because my Core voltage is at 1.55V rather than the stock 1.5V, and i think heat increases with the square of voltage? Also it is hot because i have my fan at the lowest possible speed. Overclocked chip with an undervolted low noise (hence low CFM) is bound to be a bit warm!

You can get a prog called Radiate (in the links page i think) which will tell you the heat output of particular Chips at different speeds...

That's the same case I have, mine is silver though. They're nice looking cases.

I'm going to be using my PC for pretty much the same thing minus gaming -- I'm going to have a seperate gaming (and general workhorse) PC for that. My HTPC is going to be a P3 1.13Ghz.

The new Zalman heatsink for the P4 has a different retention mechanism than the one MikeC reviewed. I have a friend with the same Zalman HSF that was reviewed on his P3 and he said his temps are "normal" -- as compared to the stock retail HSF.

I have one myself, but haven't installed it yet. I'm guessing the added height and surface area of the P3's (and P4's) integrated heatspreader may make the difference in the performance of the Zalmans. I'll be sure to take before and after temp measurements.