Quiet, overclocked C2D: What HSF?

[SecretFire]

Well, it's finally come time to upgrade my aging system (Athlon XP @ 2.45Ghz with SI-97A and nexus 92mm fan, 9800XT with an AC silencer running on high and making more noise than it used to) to something modern. Granted the 8600ultra is on it's way, but after probably 10 months of being interested in a new system, it's about bloody time I think .

Anyway, from my last system, I'll be keeping:
Antec P180 (original revision)
Enermax Noisetaker (485W, 32A on 12V)
Chaintech AV-710 Sound Card

According to the graph on the side, the PSU's fan should only start spinning up near 50-60% load, so even with the higher load of the new system it shouldn't be any louder at idle. The new stuff:

E4300 (Hopefully overclocked to 3+ GHz)
Asus P5B (deluxe?)
2x1GB DDR2-800 (Haven't decided on brand/timings yet)
8800GTS 320MB

I'll be using stock cooling on the 8800 to begin with, but depending on what I think of it I may get another cooler after a few months.

My main question (although general comments are welcome) concerns what HSF. I know the Ninja is a favourite, but there are a few things about it which give me pause:
1) I'll be overclocking, so I'll probably be using at least a quiet fan for the CPU
2) Many people seem to have mounting issues with the new version
3) No local retailers seem to have it in stock at the moment

Would an ultra-120 be a better choice? Pairing it with a Nexus fan apprently requires some plastic slicing, but otherwise it seems as though it would work well. Noctua sem to be a newcomer to the market, but from scanning the forums it seems as though their stuff is pretty decent. Would the NH-U12F be better than an ultra-120?

[aegan]

The Scythe Ninja mounting bracket for LGA775 can be problematic sometimes, especially with the Asus P5B series boards.

I recently put together a C2D system, with P5B-E Plus and a Ninja. The bracket ended up pressing against (not just touching) 5 capacitors next to the CPU socket. I had to file down the bracket (took about 30-45 mins with a standard metal file). On the other hand, I've also seen pics where there is maybe 0.1cm between the bracket and the capacitors, so it might also depend on the board/your luck.

I've never used ultra-120 or the noctua, so I can't really help out there. I am planning on using the SI-128 with my DQ6 board for the next build, though.

- bernar

[acaurora]

While this may not quite answer your topic question, I figured I'd let you know how my overclock is coming along.

I have a P5B Deluxe BIOS 1004, a E6600, and 2 x 1 GB G.Skill DDR2 800 HZ's. With these 3 and an XP120 w/Nexus 120mm in a Antec 900 that is placed right next to my window, I OC'ed to 3Ghz without much effort. Using 333 x 9, 1.3500 VCore, 2.100VDIMM, and 3-3-3-9 timings (running @ 667). The CPU tends to run rather warm (~50C), but it is much better than when I set the CPU's VCore to auto, to which (i've heard) it tends to panic and overcompensate by bumping up the VCore too much (It used to go up to 60 when VCore was on auto). SuperPi 1M is done in about 17.188sec.

[SecretFire]

While this may not quite answer your topic question, I figured I'd let you know how my overclock is coming along.

I have a P5B Deluxe BIOS 1004, a E6600, and 2 x 1 GB G.Skill DDR2 800 HZ's. With these 3 and an XP120 w/Nexus 120mm in a Antec 900 that is placed right next to my window, I OC'ed to 3Ghz without much effort. Using 333 x 9, 1.3500 VCore, 2.100VDIMM, and 3-3-3-9 timings (running @ 667). The CPU tends to run rather warm (~50C), but it is much better than when I set the CPU's VCore to auto, to which (i've heard) it tends to panic and overcompensate by bumping up the VCore too much (It used to go up to 60 when VCore was on auto). SuperPi 1M is done in about 17.188sec.

Good results are always encouraging. I've changed my mind and decided to go for a E6400, which now complicates the choice of RAM a little; While 3.2GHz would be a great overclock, I'd hate to be limited to that because the RAM can't go further. On the other hand, not having to buy the very fastest RAM is the whole reason I went for E6400 over the E6300.