advice on cpu fan please.

[Molt]

I agree with people's comments on the Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme, a very nice sink all told. My latest PC was built with one of these and to start wit I was actually running it passive (no fans) as it's actually based on an older design intended to be run that way, it kept the CPU cooler than a stock cooler would have done.

When I decided it was time to push the boat out, take the bull by the horns, and mix metaphors with some heavy-duty overclocking I strapped a couple of Flex 120mm fans to it (meant to only have one but I kind of cheated..) and it happily kept things fairly cool as I was pushing the Q6600 to it's limits.

Can't remember what speed I eventually ended up with but think it was in the order of 3.3GHz which isn't too shabby for a 2.4GHz part.

[-silencer-]

There are a lot of great options out there..

If I were to go for the best overall cooling, and it would fit my mobo/chipset without interference issues, I'd get the IFX-14.

If I needed something a bit simpler with fantastic cooling, I'd go with the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or HR-01 Plus.

However, I'm currently using the best cooling for the noise heatsink that won't break the bank, is widely available, and due to fins spaced further apart, excellent cooling on lower-rpm fans: The Scythe Ninja. It's good enough to cool a Q6600 oc'd at 3.2GHz or an E6600 at 3.4GHz without issues and keep the noise down, so that's what I have.