Quiet CPU cooler upgrade?

[speedlolita]

I got one of those for my 17th Birthday with my old Antec 900. Nice cooler for the money.

[GluedOnBeard]

For the future I'd always go with any product made by these guys:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-029-SY

Always used Sycthe and always had a super cool and quiet machine whenever I built one.

[charlesr]

Very pretty too

[speedlolita]

Not as great as the original model though apparently. Passively at least, due to the closer fin spacing.

I wouldn't recommend that above other things personally considering competition, still good though.

[charlesr]

I chickened out and just used the pre-applied Artic MX-2, although I did tint the metal cap with some Silver 5 after cleaning it with the Articlean.

So now it idles at 42?C (down 8?) with fan at 678RPM which I can barely hear even with ear on it.
It's pretty much silent now appart from the HDDs.

Running handbrake to do some video processing, it now sits at 65?C (down 14?!) with the fan at 1962RPM, which I can hear but is FAR less obtrusive than the jet noise the stock fan made.

It was a little tricky to install, with the nearest RAM stick fouling the fan protector whilst trying to get the fan back on the heat sink after installation, but the fan protector is a bit bendy and on rubber mounts so went on ok with a bit of persuasion.