OCZ Vendetta 2

[vanilla_guerilla]

bought a vendetta 2 because i wanted to see if a could get a few more mhz out of my e8500 e0, since i was using a 92mm hs/f, the xig sd964.
used the bolt-thru kit i had been using with the xig, worked perfectly. well after trying the ocz fan, a high speed scythe slipstream and a coolermaster 110cfm fans in push and pull, it performs about 7c less than the xig at load, about 5c at idle. this is using ceramique in a ll v1000 case with the sides off, ambient around 22c. tried remount, tried stock mounting. so i have seen this ocz very highly rated in a few places. dont bother. these temps seem to be almost as good as the ancient xp90 i have in a terciary system, so back in the box it goes. this is my second attempt to better the xig, first with a tr ultra 120a, which wasnt as good either, but better than the ocz.

 

[Archmage]

I'm assuming you mean "7c WORSE than the xig at load..." ---> That's just too much!

I use a Vendetta 2 and it seems to be performing well (as well as it should according to reviews). It can keep my c0 e8400 OCCT stable to ~4.1Ghz+

My friend has a Vendetta 2 on his c0 e8500, which seems OCCT stable past 4.2Ghz using a weaker fan

The thermal paste application does need to be done properly in order to see good temp. I filled in the gaps, applied a very thin/transparent layer to both the heatsink and the CPU, then used the 2 vertical line method, then applied an extra dab or two where I saw that this method failed me earlier

If you did everything correctly then I'd think that maybe your heatsink was defective somehow.