which is better at transfering heat the solid copper base or the direct contact heat pipes?

The current new thing is the direct contact heat pipes, I think it showed they were better when compared against regular HSF's at the same prive point.

Thats what I have been reading aswell thanks for the info.

I've been doing a lot of research lately for my build. I was always looking for "the best bang for the buck". When researching heatsinks I found that the direct contact ones had the best cost to benefit rating, and did well at controlling temps.

I asked Mysterybyte to order in the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus based on a few reviews. Here is just one example:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... eview.html

at only $38 that was the best bang for the buck I could find!! I even read people OC'ing the i7-920's to 4ghz with no problem with this inexpensive heat sink. I was sold!

Ya its the heat sink i just bought from them and works great 12c drop in temp from 42 to 30 idle and 58 to 48 on load @ 3.6 on a 940BE.

I had to exchange my first one - the pin placement was off on top of the base of the heatsink. I could not get the pin to fit in one of the notches of the bracket. I exchanged it at MB and no problem, bracket and pin lined right up the first time. Boy was I frustrated last night

just out of curiosity; did you use the stock thermal paste that came with it or another type? And what method did you use for applying the paste? The instructions that come with the hyper seem to show putting the paste on the base of the heatsink and not on the cpu. I assume they want people to do this to make sure there is paste in some of the grooves left by the copper heat pipes.

well i applied it to the base and scraped off the access so that the groves were filled then applied to the cpu as you would any other. Keep in mind my cpu has been lapped so i didnt need much on it.

Good idea dean! Now in applying to the cpu, did you spread it yourself or use a blob/rice grain method and let the heatsink do the rest? It's nice to get insight from someone with a similar build.

I always spread it myself just make sure it not to thin or to thick use a bank card or credit card to spread it out.

hmm super noob question, and honestly..completely embarassing....i couldnt install my 775 cooler...i honestly had to paid the local shop $45 (min 1 hr labour rade with taxes) to install...they did tell me one pin was broken, and i did it with the stock HSF, but couldnt get the Xigmatech S1283 on....what the "proper" method to putting these on? and another question is how often does everyone replace the TIM?

im going on over a year with the same app. temps are fine and all, but i def need a complete cleaning of the system and want to do this...

oh the anwser for your question is I used AS5 also replaced the tim on my old 4850 with the stuff...its wicked...1 tube lasts forever...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcO0DrLK804 only vid i found for installing them and as for changing the TIM prob once a year 2 yrs max but thats only if your over clocking regular use prob last for years

ocing on 1.224...i know it could use a change, although recently i hit a curent low (high
?) of 17C on cpu and 34C core (both).....lol i am feeling the " if it aint broke dont fix it" saying..but my oh my is a i5 ...more an i7 920 ever looking pretty and taunting my name...