I have four questions so I bundled them together here...

1) I am building a PC and after choosing all the parts I noticed I was spending £209.15 ($338.82) on OCZ 1Gb PC3200 EL-DDR DUAL Platinum (2x512Mb) RAM (third from bottom) and thought that was rather a lot. Then I found the Thermaltake SubZero4G T.E.C AMD XP 3400+ (A1618) for £105.47 ($170.86). Now I was wondering how good this cooler is because I might get 1GB of stock RAM and get the cooler with the money I save. What would you say is best? Just how much better is branded RAM? My planned PC is a Barton 2800+ on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe and I will want to overclock just to see how far I can go and I will only keep it overclocked if it is very stable. If the cooler is not very good I will get the OCZ RAM and stick with the Tornado I was going to get. Is stock RAM a real limitation when overclocking?

2) I am planning on getting a Thermalright SLK-800 (Socket A) heatsink (second one down) and I was wondering if it would be compatible with a Thermaltake Ducting Mod. As far as I know with this heatsink the CPU fan clips on to the heatsink and there are no screw holes so will this duct work or not? Also is that the correct version of the heatsink for my motherboard? I was a lttle confused about the two versions.

3) The case I am getting has two case fans at the front bottom and I was wondering if it was worth using the same duct as I mentioned above on both of these fans to angle the airflow up to the CPU. Would this be worth it?

4) About the two front case fans again, I want to be able to control both of them from the same dial on my fan controller. Is it possible to solder both fans onto one 3-pin connector? If it is possible how easy is it to do and is it safe?

Ok, one by one
1) Generic ram can do VERY well, but it is a gamble! Many sticks of generic memory will barely overclock at all.
What you pay for is a GUARANTEE that it will meet a certain specification.
The subzero is not worth it. While it looks ok....the hardware is barely up to snuff for use on a stock system: start overclocking and it will be completely overwhelmed. One member here took the chance and got one: he was selling it within days.

2) SLK 800 is excellent I think somewhat less of the Thermaltake ducting "Mod."
If you want to duct air for the cpu there are MUCH more efficient ways to do it yourself.

3) Airflow control is a tricky thing, so there is no definite answer for this one. I have used various in-case ducts and deflectors to get air just where I wnted it many times- but I think there are other ways you could do it better than with those things.

4) It is definitely possible but you need to make sure that your fan controller can handle the load of both fans. If it is not strong enough you can burn the channel out....
That's one of the reasons I bought a Sunbeam Rheobus- highest rated channels. It was also only $18 at SVC (Special may be over now....)

4) roger is right, but in case of case fans you most likely have nothing to worry about - they don't consume power big enough to burn a rheo channel. However, don't stack Deltas or Tornados - that could end up lethally even with Sunbeam

2 roger

As to the sunbeam: didn't you notice a significant voltage drop? I can't reach more than 4600 RPM with my Delta hooked to it, while it can reach 5100 when plugged directly into PSU. Maybe I have a defective rheo?

I can't answer that, sorry

I'm not monitoring fan rpm on anything: noise levels and cooling efficiency are all that concern me
I do use the bi-color leds to know when I am at 7 volts though

Seriously- I have seen many other people say the same thing: loss of rpm with a rheobus (not just the sunbeam units) so I don't think yours is defective, per se....
It may just be that you got one with more resistance than most- not enough to be unusable, but more of a loss in speed than most of the reports I've seen, which tend to be around 100/200 lower.

[/end threadjack]

OK so to recap...

1) Branded RAM is worth the extra money to guarantee it will be good for overclocking. But what exactly is wrong with that cooler? It just does not cool very well? So I should stick with a SLK800 and Tornado.

2) I am too lazy to build a duct myself and it is far easier for me to just buy that one. What I was really asking was if it was possible to connect it to the SLK800 with screws or would I have to use clips and would these still work?

3) I think I will give them a try because it just seems easy to do and they are cheap. Plus I am lazy (as mentioned above ).

4) It will be two stock fans that come with Lian-Li cases. So all I will have to do is take the connectors off of both fans, solder the cables together and then put a connector back on again?

Thanks for the help guys

1) Yup.
SLK-800 will get you similar temps at stock settings and BETTER temps when overclocking- it just has more potential cooling ability. The subzero is maxed out when dealing with stock speeds.
(Note- use a rheostat with the Tornado to adjust speed and you can minimize noise levels while maintaining good temps.)

2) I can understand lazy
But I don't really know- my SLK is not here (in pc I built for my nephew ) but I think I would be concerned about the extra leverage that adds- weight on the mounts would increase, etc...
Those ducts are not very effective anyway, bro- probably better off without it on a good heatsink anyway. But look below

3) Get two and see if you can mount one SECURELY on the SLK- if not you can still use them on the case fans. One suggestion though- aim one towards the back wall of the case: that is usually a dead air spot and I have seen good results by getting air moving up there- it helps drives, moves over the ram and so on. Might want to try it anyway.

4) Yup. And with those fans you should have no problems at all .

IMHO, that duct is NOT gonna connect to SLK-800. And if it did - it would really be a great lever that could simply tear of your socket.

P.S. I do have an SLK

OK so...

1) I will forget that cooler and get the OCZ RAM and use a SLK800 with a Tornado.

2) After looking at some more photos the SLK800 has no screw holes so that duct will not fit on it, and even if it did I am worried about the leverage on it so I will forget that idea.

3) I will get two of the ducts and use them on my front case fans just to get the cool air moving upwards towards the CPU. They do not create that much of an angle but just enough. It is like a 45 degree angle so nothing too extreme.

4) My Dad knows about electrical things because of his job so I can get him to sort this for me.

I am now clear on what I want/need so thankyou everyone who helped. Talking about it helps to figure stuff out instead of spending a week thinking it through in my head