It's not the prettiest mod, is it?

I actually was considering to buy a scythe big shuriken cooler - it's perfect that the link you included also linked to someone mounting a skythe slipstream fan to the stock heatsink!

I'm going to go with the PWM on the motherboard. In any case, if it is too loud, do you know if I can just replace the fan without removing the heatsink?

How loud is the Sandy Bridge cpu cooler, specifically the I5-2500K? I'm not looking to overclock - I just want a quiet fan. I've read some posts saying they're loud but it all seems subjective. Anyone find actual db comparisons? Some of Intel's old cpu coolers were actually fairly quiet (http://www....

Thanks for your suggestion! I was going to downgrade to the 400W power supply but looking at what you found i might just reconsider.

Thanks!

Just wanted to ask if any of you see any improvements/compatibility issues on this build. Looking to put together an energy-efficient PC that doesn't sacrifice too much speed. Its mostly a mainstream pc that I occasionally program on. I don't do any gaming although I might connect this pc to my hdtv...