Heatsink: Go low profile, or pull out the side fan?

[eflan]

I have a AZZA 910 computer case with a large side fan. The reason I chose this is because of the desk I have... the tower has to sit in a rather cramped little cubby hole with poor airflow. This way, I can have it off to the side a bit, and rely on that extra fan to help circulate air.

The problem is that in order to stick a CM Hyper 212 evo in there I'd have to take the fan out. Would the trade-off be worth it, or should I find myself a low profile heatsink instead? I have a 2500k and fairly low profile ram on an ATX board. Is there a smaller air cooler that does a similar job as the 212? I'm too paranoid for liquid.

Thanks.

 

[randomkid]

I have a AZZA 910 computer case with a large side fan. The reason I chose this is because of the desk I have... the tower has to sit in a rather cramped little cubby hole with poor airflow. This way, I can have it off to the side a bit, and rely on that extra fan to help circulate air.

The problem is that in order to stick a CM Hyper 212 evo in there I'd have to take the fan out. Would the trade-off be worth it, or should I find myself a low profile heatsink instead? I have a 2500k and fairly low profile ram on an ATX board. Is there a smaller air cooler that does a similar job as the 212? I'm too paranoid for liquid.

Thanks.

We are exactly in the same boat. I debated as much with myself but then decided to stick with the side fan to afford better cooling to the graphics card specially if you go for SLI or CF. Also I rather liked the look of the AZZA sidefan. In my case, I use a 92mm fan & this fits nicely. I just added a 2nd fan to be in a push pull configuration improve cooling a bit. I know it doesn't do as good as the hyper 212 but this small cooler hasn't bothered me since then.