I'm curious as to which CPU hsf would be better for a core 2 duo that is going to be overclocked. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118019
^^ a copper Zalman (one of the sideways varieties) with an unknown cfm, or a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106069

Thermaltake copper/aluminum fan with 77 cfm.

I'll put my money on the Zalman offering. No questions about that. The 9700 pictured is one of the best aircoolers your money can buy at the moment, as far as reviews go.

Thanks. Anyone have an idea as to how many cfm the zalman moves?

Really, the cfm of the fan is of not much consequence. The heatsink design on the Zalman is far superior, so even if the Zalman's fan runs at much lower CFM, it will still outperform the Thermaltake.

And this is proven over and over again in reviews of the 9700.

I have the zalmans and I'm getting 30c on core2duo e6300 overclocked, which is better than some others im reading about, and i have the fan running at 50%

I can guarantee that the Zalman will outperform that Blue orb anyday. Forget about checking the CFM, its only part of the story.

Besides, I hate aluminum heatsinks, copper, especially with heatpipes, is the way of the future


If you're after lowest temps, you'd do yourself a favor by forgetting thermaltake makes the blue orb.

In addition, the Zalman 9500 and 9700 units use that design where the fan is in a position perpendicular to the plane of the motherboard, which helps the case airflow. Those Zalman HSF units have been engineered to fit on almost all motherboards. That Blue Orb might not even fit because of its shape.