CPU fan recommendation
 

I've frequently heard that retail cpu fans are not good, so I wanted to buy a fairly good fan.

What would you suggest, since I might want to Overclock it?

CPU to cool is P4 socket 478/Pentium 3.20E

I was thinking about the following two, but I really want to hear others suggestions:
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product...x=141&code=009
http://www.coolermaster.com/index.ph...-V81+Hyper%206

And one last question, will a 350 power supply be sufficient, or should I get a 500 or 550 power supply?

There shouldn't be any need to upgrade your powersupply. As for heatsinks I would go for the first choice but you have to make sure that it will have clearance in your case with the power supply. So your second choice is probably the safest choice.

Zalman makes really good heatsinks (And they're quiet too), I doubt you'll be disappointed if you get one of those.

Agreed on the coolers.

A good 350W supply will be fine unless you get into hungry combinations.

A hot P4 + motherboard combination may need 200-250W. AMD64 50-75 less.
Video card, up to 45W from AGP.
Monster video card, something like a 6800Ultra, can consume 80-100W on the aux connector in addition to the AGP draw.
Add 15W/HD, 20-30W/optical, 5-10W total for 2 or 3 fans.

My rule of thumb has come to this: For an average system without a bunch of drives, if your video card doesn't have an auxiliary power connector then 350 is plenty. if it does then evaluate 12V & 5V independently or jump to a 400+ supply. Problems can arise from ratings vs. actual, and how your parts' 12V vs. 5V requirements match the supply.

Wonderful HSF's but a lot of cases don't allow for clearance. So if there is little room between the cpu socket and PS don't get it.

True, they can be a little big, but if you just check the sizes before you buy one you wont get any nasty surprises.

Have you seen this thing?
http://www.asus.com/products/pccompo...e/overview.htm
It's pretty obnoxious-looking, but apparently it does a really good job, according to some reviews.

I looked over the Asus fan, but from what I read at tom's hardware, they recommended, the Coolermaster and Zalman over it.

So I decided to go with the Zalman fan.

I put everything together on Thursday, and on Friday, I re-installed XP. The reinstall took roughly six minutes, amazing!

The only problem now is that, my wiring looks like pure chaos. The fact that my computer case has a window doesn't help either. I'll probably use bread ties, unless someone suggests something better.

hmm, bread ties /shudder

you need Kabelbinder! :D

http://bueco-profichemie.de/bilder/kabelbinder.jpg

(I build computers for a living and that's what we use. v. handy just to have, for other messy household cables).

Good choice on the Zalman, btw. that's what my bf has in his machine.

The Zalman is good. You might think about getting the Al-Cu version, though; it is almost half the weight, and does almost as good a job at cooling (+2 degrees C maximum). But whatever you do, you *have* to measure the area around the CPU first, and compare the results with Zalman's requirements. There are a lot of motherboard/case combinations that simply don't have enough room for those coolers.

As for the Hyper6... it's good, it's heavy, and it's huge. Oh, and it's HEAVY, almost 1 Kg of metal, where the official maximum is 450 grams... If you do put it in, make sure you always carry your computer on it's side when moving it around; if not, the results can be catastrophic. The same goes for that Zalman-7000 cooler, by the way; even if they weigh less.

Thanks for the info Sin.

Thanks, Dragonlich, for reminding me about how to carry the case.

what kind of case do you have? that might help us decide better. i personally like Thermalright; their SP-94 (that's the p4 version i believe) performs very well, but you need to supply your own fan. you could also check out the XP-90 or (if your case allows for it) the XP-120.