Best CPU cooler to fit my system?

Hey I am new to the whole overclocking thing but I know I need a better cooler for my CPU. Am just unsure about what will fit my case and whatnot.
I am running...
Intel i5 2500k, Gigabyte p67-ds3, in a thermaltake v3 black case.
I have all 4 memory slots full and all the ram have spreaders.

So yeh Just looking for the best air cooling I can get that will fit.
Any advice would be fantastic, thanks in advance!

Baden

Can you turn off the power, open up the case, and measure the distance from the bottom of the current heat sink, (iow, the top of the cpu), out to the side of the case?

If you have a fan on the side of the case, then measure to the lowest thing on the side of the case, near the spot where a heat sink would have to sit, above the cpu.

I like the Thermalright MUX-120 myself, along with the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+, but there are bigger heatsinks out there, and they do a slightly better job at keeping the heat down. What I like about these two is relatively low cost, and relatively smaller size and weight.

I'm pretty sure that the Thermalright MUX-120 will handle your memory, no problem. I have it on an 1155 socket board like yours with low profile memory, but it has a 1/8th to 3/16ths inch gap between the fan closest to the RAM sticks, and the fan, at the closest. So a taller RAM stick should be no problem, but this is an Asus P8p67 board, not a Gigabyte motherboard.

Avoid any heatsinks with their fans in the middle of them. That design will be wider, and much more likely to cause a fit problem.

And to the forum, Baden!

Baden, I looked up your case on the Thermaltake website and they say it's 190 mm wide, which should let you mount most any of the tower style heatsinks in it.

Depending on your heatsink budget I would recommend the following:

±$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

±$50 - Thermalright MUX-120

±$60 - Thermalright MUX-120 Black

±$65-70 - Thermalright TRUE Rev. C with 1 or 2 Yate Loon low speed fans.

±$80 - Noctua NH-D14. Be aware that with this heatsink you might have ram clearance problems if your ram has tall heatspreaders, but it's a damn good heatsink.

Hope this helps you out.

Hey thanks for the advice, I would quite like to get the D-14, I have heard good things about it and money isn't much of a problem here. It seems like it will be cutting it close with size though.
I just checked out the web page for it you linked me to and also looked at the thermaltake site. SO it lookes like it will fit the case.
I looked at this site.

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=34&lng=en#Gigabyte

it says it is compatible with my mainboard (which is actually a GA-p67A-UD3R-B3, I was at work earlier and wasn't able to make sure.)
also looked at ram compatibility, I am using kingston hyperx sticks. so there aren't tall heat sinks on them.

From what I have read it looks like the D-14 will fit. having someone else agree with me or let me know of something I am not thinking of would be great before I go and fork out for it!

thanks both of you already for helping me out with this! I am quite new to all this. This is actually my first computer I have had built still getting to know my pc.

I take it that you have the normal Hyper X and not the T1 versions then, right? Because I have a set of T1's and they are too tall to run with an NH-D14; I would have interference problems with the first ram slot on my X58 board. It does just fine with normal height spreaders on the ram though. And if you decide that it might give mounting problems, the TRUE I linked performs with 1C or so of the Noctua and has better ram clearance. And if money isn't a problem, if you go with the TRUE, also go with a couple of Gentle Typhoon AP-15 fans. Very high quality fans and surprisingly quiet for the air they move. I actually have that setup installed on my heatsink test system right now and am planning to re-run some tests with it since I changed from a 980x to a 930 in my test rig since the last tests I ran on it.

EDIT: Just realized, the TRUE I linked doesn't have a 1156 mount with it, so you would have to buy that also. Sorry about that.

Thanks for the help guys! I bought the D14 and she fit in nice and snuggly.
ridiculously huge thing!
temperatures seem to be well down as well

Oh yeah, the NH-D14 is a great heatsink and if you dpn't have clearance problems, a top choice for cooling. I'm sure you will be very happy with it's performance.

And if you want to improve performance even more (not that you will need to with a SB proc), you can change out the stock fans for something like 3 Gentle Typhoon AP-15 fans. You can get a set of Megahalems wire fan clips for 25 mm fans for mounting the third fan on the Noctua and use them to mount the intake fan. I have tried this and it works fine.