Air Cooling: Are Duct Cooling Mods Worth It?

Hey, I just got my new Soltek Nforce2 board and have been having fun overclocking it. I am currently running at 166FSBx11.5 (waiting on an order of 1 256 stick of DDR400 [am currently running 1 256 stick of DDR333] before I clock the FSB higher). To do this stabely, my voltage is set @1.75v.

All is great, however, I am begining to run into some cooling issues. I am using a glacialtech Igloo 2500 Pro heatsink. My idle temp's are around 36-37C, and my full load temp's are around 44-45C. Soltek boards do NOT have mounting holes for Alpha and Swiftech units (much to my Dismay).

My Question then is this. What is the best solution to cool my CPU for max. overclocking ability? I have been looking at CPU duct systems, but I have no idea if they work as well as thier claims. Also, do you think I need a different heatsink? If so, what is the best overclockers heatsink that uses standard clips and isn't outrageously loud? I don't want a vacuume cleaner in my case to be honest.

Let me know what you think!

I put a 120mm fan in the side of my case blowing right at the CPU. I ducted it by putting dryer piping from the fan right over the CPU heat sink and did not notice any drop in temps over just having the fan blowing with the duct.

So in my experience skip the duct, however I have a 120mm fan on a speed controller. When I'm gaming or running at full load I crank it all the way up and it pushes some major air.

The rest of the time I turn it down and it is very quiet and still moves a good amount of air. 120mm fans are the way to go for more air and less noise.

I suppose it depends on your airflow, if you've got good caseflow then having a side door duct probably won't get you more than 1-2°c in temp difference but if the air in your case is stagnant then having a duct with a fairly good semi-seal (or even an all out 100% seal if you can figure how to do it) can get you a decrease of up to 6-7°c. Of course results will vary. I suggest you get some cardboard and make a temporary case door with a passive duct going from the side to the CPU fan and then tape it around the case so i sits in place like it was the original door. Then see if the temp difference is worth cutting up your real door or not.

It depends on your setup. When I had stock HSF, my ghetto duct mod made 3-4¡ÆC difference. But I just got Thermalright SLK-800A and ducting seems to make only 1-2¡ÆC difference. Test it out with your setup. Open the side panel and put a pipe or tube (make it w/ cardboard or whatever) and hold it over the HSF. Just make sure the temporary duct is long enough that HSF is drawing in fresh cool air, not recylcing worm case air. It might make enough difference that you might want one...


EDIT:

doh...eobard, you posted while I was typing.....