ah i just found you guys little too late.

I got my cnps6000-cu yesterday. While it is okay for the money, I want the cooling to be better. It's been raining and it has been cold. Here are my results:
Idle : 34*C
Load (with Prime95 overnight) : 49-51*C
This was in silent mode.

is this good? idle passive cooling (no fan at all) was reaching in the upwards of 60*C's so i stopped prematurely.

will it be worth the money and effort to switch to SLK-800?

Those temps are perfectly fine, I wouldn't worry at all. If you max temps were in the low 60's you may be able to get by with passive cooling if you could increase the air flow over heatsink alittle more.

Try a duct to draw air over it. Do a search through the forums here, there have been several threads on ducting recently. For an example of a duct on a Zalman 6000Cu check out my article Rusty's Quiet In-Desk PC (insert shameless plug here )

Max CPU temps in the 60's really aren't that bad. Sure, higher temperatures do theoretically reduce the lifespan of your processor, but do you really plan on using the same CPU three years from now anyway? As long as its stable, and within spec, you're fine.

that's a good looking duct!

yea i've been reading ALLLL day yesterday and today in this forum.

actually i ended up ordering slk-800!! haha well... i can't spare any less than the best for my little baby.

now the question becomes... which fan? i'm thinking of buying about 2-3 fans. 1-2 for intake, and third one to mount onto the slk-800 heatsink.

this is what i got.

lian-li pc-61 ($129)
zm300a-apf (i got a GREAT deal - $49.99 @ http://www.nexfan.com/39/444.htm?844 )
slk-800 ($45 at silicon acoustics)
arctic silver 3 ($7)
zm80 (backordered -- they say they'll have it in stock next weeK).

then i'm going to get barracuda ata v 8mb version as soon as they hit pricewatch.com.

good combo? i was thinking of going ss-300 with modified fan but i can always go modified fan with zalman and couldn't beat the price (49.99) so i chose that route instead. what do you think of my config?

Sounds nice.

What's the rest of the hardware? CPU, Mobo, etc.

ah my bad.

my config. although not too impressive but it's rock stable.

pentium iii 1ghz socket 370 cpu with 133mhz fsb
asus cusl-2 mobo
512mb crucial pc-133 2-2-2 sdram
ati radeon 8500 128mb retail (non-LE) - this will work with zm80 right?
creative mp3+ audigy
3com the infamous 3c905b-tx w/ remote
pioneer 16x slot loading dvd
plextor 24/10/40a cd-rw
no floppy
western digital 120gb 8mb cache wd1200jb special edition drive
cnps6000-cu (for the moment until I get slk-800).

oh yea, what fan should i use with slk-800? i was thinking 120mm (if it fits) with very minimal rpm. that'll be quiet than 80mm running minimal right? i seek the counsel's guidance.