I think you already know about a 45nm CPU that doesn’t suit well for HDT.

Can you be more specific on that? Why HDT is not good for a 45nm CPU?
Thanks.

What's up with no "Accustic Performance" on the "Cooling Efficiency and Acoustic Performance" page? A 12cm fan at 1830rpm can't be quiet...

Also, one of the pictures on the "Testbed and Methods" shows a heatsink that's not featured in the article ("ice hammer" it seems).

may I ask, what method of thermal paste application did you guys use on the Xigmatek? You do know that the xigmatek is meant to have the thermal paste applied onto each pipe?

I've seen some other guys do reviews with the blob in the middle method of thermal paste application - it just doesnt work, temps are just awful if you do that.

"we managed to overclock our quad-core 45nm processor to 3.8MHz inside the system case."

I'm certainly impressed! But technically that's called "underclocking".

...managed to overclock our quad-core 45nm processor to 3.8MHz inside the system case...

Very nice, 3.8MEGAHERTZ. Keep up the great work.

Well, you are blowing the hot air rising from the video card through the Xigmatek, so this review is flawed. Remount the Xigmatek the same way as the others and then check the temperatures again. They will be lower, because by mounting the cooler the way you did originaly, you might be gaining 2 degrees C, but you lose much much more by blowing hot air through the heatsink.