Q6600

gazaway

Your first question is easily answered. Whether your proc comes with a HSF or not is depended entirely upon yourself. If you buy a retail package or an OEM proc. Retail will come with the stock HSF while the OEM will come with the proc only. If you plan on running you proc at stock speeds with no overclocking then I would recommend that you buy a retail package. The Quads have been comming with some decent HSFs (I believe I read somewhere that they had 4 or 6 heatpipes and were a lil large, but that could be the core2duo's maybe..)

If you do decide to go with an OEM package then you need to decide what HSF you want. Zalman is a brand I trust pretty well and would recommend. But when it comes to aftermarket HSFs you have a choice. Do you wants a HSF that will keep your proc as cool as possible (making as much noise as needed) or one that will cool your proc as much as you would normally need but as quietly as possible? If something that is quiet is needed I have a buddy that swears by Zerotherm (I think that's the name.)

There is a really good sticky on this forum about cooling and if you have any questions it would assuridly answer them.

BTW, I'm new here so I thought I would just introduce myself. I'm Gaz and I really enjoy the amount of information that is stored inside these forums, quite a resource.

Edit: Did a little research, looks like the stock HSF I was thinking of is for the c2d's. Apparently with how warm these run (B3 more than g0) the stock HSF is junk for anythign more than stock speeds.