Quote Originally Posted by howard View Post
Wow. I don't get that temperature drop with the side off and a biga** fan blowing in

If you were going to mount that Noctua on the NB heatsink how would you secure it? Drill holes in the topmost NB plate and bolt the NC-U6 down onto it? I'd like to get the NB idling a little cooler than 45C.
I would mount the Noctua HS by drilling through it and the top of the NB, and then tapping the NB for 10/32 machine screws. That way, you could eliminate the 10/32 nuts.

I would also take the time to lap the top of the NB so that the decorative ridges on the sides and the painted log were gone. When final mounting, I would ensure that there was a thin film of AS-5 on both mating surfaces.

As for my big temperature drop, keep in mind that I have 3 x 120 mm Scythe SFF21E fans blowing cool air into the top of my case/upper MB area + another Scythe SFF21F blowing cool air across the video card area + a Scythe 92mm fan blowing cool air across the Thermalright R600 VGA HS + a 140mm fan on my PSU drawing the warm air down and then out the back.

The end results are that my temperatures are generally pretty good, but that I can hardly call my setup quiet...