Randome restarting

[Sckitty]

Well the combination of that and Artic Silver 5 makes it one of the best that you can buy for under $50 USD.

This is for all of you P4 users out there too:

Here's a free lesson: copper has extremely high thermal conductivity, and RATE of heat transfer is governed by temperature difference, surface area and overall heat transfer coefficient (Take a heat transfer class in Chemical Engineering and you will understand). This heatsink has large values for each parameter, check the detailed specs and trust me. I've OCed my 2.0 GHz P4 to 2.8 GHz and it runs at load at 39C, at a low fan spd setting (quiet sounding fan spd). For the layman: buy it now for your P4.

A quote that i thought that you all might find intersting. Maybe not.

[Mark]

I think its worth adding (for users who are looking to over clock for the first time) that you can not just look at the thermal capabilites of the heat sink and belive you have sufficient cooling for major overclocking.  The entire system needs to be evaluated as one unit.

Hence the rate of heat transfer from the CPU is also related to the dynamics of the air flows in / out of the case, and the flows through the heat sink.  The temperature and volume of the air are the most important factors in reality (I cant see pressure being an issue unless you live right at the top of a mountain).

A heatsink with fantastic thermal transfer capabilites will be useless if there is insfficient air flow though the heat sink then the heat will not be transfered away from the heat sink.

Like wise if you do not have suffieint air flow in / out of your case you will be in a similar situation.

Ideally you need to test the airflow in your case by injecting test smoke (like they use in wind tunnels) into the air intakes of the case.  This will then allow you to visully see the air flow paths within the case.  This is an interetsing test as it will show you where the dead air spots are in the case.  With a little trial and error all the dead spots can be eliminated by adding aero foils inside the case which will deflect air from the main flow paths into the dead spots.

I know this may sound pretty extreem, but if the ultimates performace it the aim then you need to ensure you cooling is as efficient as possible.

[Sckitty]

My case has a hole in witch the air flows directly onto the fan and the heatsink. All the fresh air that it needs to survive.

[Cache-man]

It is quite important that the airflow both entering and leaving the case is as balanced as possible, and remember that your PSU acts as one of your exhausts.
If the intake and exhaust is balanced then your fans will be under less stress, and hence give much better airflow.
It is also important that the path of the airflow is carefully considered.