Looking for new P4 HSF

[apache_lives]

In a few months or so ill be buying two new sticks or DDR466 so i can overclock my P4 2.6c to ~3000 (with memory running in sync), currently i have a stock P4 2.6c cooler (alliminium, no copper base), im thinking of getting a new cooler.

The question is, will it be worth it buying a new cooler for it (is the current one sufficent)? If so what cooler should i choose? I have a choice between a Coolermaster Aero4 (both copper and alliminium), TT Spark7+ and Polo 735 Extreme, Vantech Aeroflow 1 and 2, and CoolerMaster UltraVortex.

Which one out of those is best?

 

[apache_lives]

My 2.6c wont reach 1ghz FSB the way it is now - it wont pass prime95 (thats with ram at 400mhz, 1.7v and everything double checked to be low, and fsb/pci/agp locked), would it be my HSF (lack of cooling?)that causes it to be unstable?

 

[Crashman]

You nut, most 2.6C's won't even do 3.2GHz reliably on most boards. 2.6C didn't have the enhanced core that second generation 2.4C's and most 2.8C's had.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[apache_lives]

Iv tried the ram at 3:4 (333mhz at 800mhz fsb or 400mhz at 1000mhz) aswell as the timings at 3-4-4-8 and at 2.8v on two boards (fsbci:agp locked ofcourse) - my old ASUS P4P800-S (i848pe) and my new Albatron PX865PE Pro and both couldnt get the P4 2.6c to run stable at 3.25ghz/1ghz in prime95 (even with 1.7v)- i tried everything in the bios, even 1.6v on the AGP. The CPU reaches a max of 3.12ghz and thats why i was planning to get two sticks of DDR466 so it would run the cpu at ~3000 (below the limit).

What i need to know is would better cooling allow me to reach 3.25ghz? and will better cooling be worth it in terms of lowering heat levels? or is the stock intel cooler as good as it gets?

Also - how far would a P4 Prescott (for s478) go in terms of overclocking if i switched my cpu with one? Do they even overclock far?

ALSO - how much of a performance drop / boost would i get if i overclocked my cpu now to 3ghz and ran the ram at 370mhz rather then 400mhz - would it be worth it? or would it lower performance?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by apache_lives on 12/20/04 03:59 AM.</EM></FONT></P>