Should I get aftermarket cooling?

[allies]

Alright, these people with the Opteron 165s reaching 2.6+ Ghz on air is making me kinda envious and wanting to OC my 4400+ more (right now its at 2.4 Ghz with 1.28 volts). I haven't really tried to push it further, because I'm using stock cooling and while it's more than sufficient, temps aren't as low as I'd like (41 Idle, 51 with 2 instances of prime95). Do you think that it would be wise to spend $40-50 on a Scythe Ninja, give my processor some more volts, and try to shoot for 2.6 ghz? I need some kind of advice, if you guys think it'd be a waste of money and time, you'll be able to convince me relatively easily. Thanks.

 

[INM8]

...guess it depends if you need the extra speed. Is you cpu actually bottlenecking anything at the moment? Iv got a zalman 9500 for my x2 4400 and it idles at around 27-30. I oc'ed it to 2.4 and i slowed it back down becuase i didnt see any noticable difference (except in benchmarks offcourse). If you need the extra power, id go ahead, but if not, why dont you wait till you do?

The aftermarket cooler may be nice to quieten things down anyway.

 

[phaxmohdem]

I'd say stick with what you've got honestly. INM8 had a good post... if you actually NEED that extra power (meaning not just to bump up your Bench #'s a tad) then I'd go for it. One thing I've learned, overclocking just for the sake of higher numbers RARELY ends up with a satisfactory result in the long run.... especially if this is your main everyday rig.

 

[allies]

Alright... you guys convinced me not to upgrade (just yet). I think I'm gonna rewire my case around christmas time, and might get a Ninja then to make the insides look prettier We'll see when the time comes.