Best Cooling.. Zalman or thermalright

[fiberoptik]

I have an MSI K8N Neo 4 Sli Plat and I need something better than stock cooling. I can use the Xp-120 but I will lose access to my first dimm slot with that installed.. Not a huge sacrafice because I can always put the sticks in banks 3 and 4. Or I can get the Zalman or XP-90 and lose no dimm slots. How much of a difference is thier between all these sinks? is the 120 so damn [H]ard that its worth giving up a Dimm slot?

Ill also need to pick up some thermal paste. Whos top dog now? Artic Silver 5 still? Will that be safe on my gpu as well (I have the N5 Silencer on its way)

 

[O'Clocker]

The XP90 loses about 2-3C in temps to the XP120 so I would go for that. My XP90 with Panaflo L series 92mm fan blows up (sucks air from the sink) and it works very well. The XP120 would not fit so I went withe the 90 version and am glad I did. It cools very well and runs quietly so no complaints here.

 

[kirbyrj]

I'd go XP-90 and Arctic Silver 5. Never know. They might fix future the memory controller in future CPU revisions and you can use all 4 dimms then. Let me know how it works because I was considering the XP-90 myself for the same setup .