I picked up a Q9450 a while back when Micro Center had them for $300 and I finally added the Maximus Formula for the motherboard this week from NewEgg along with 2GB of Crucial Balistic 1066 RAM and a Zalman 9700 cooler.  I’m going to replace the Tuniq Tower 120 that’s currently on my E6600 with the Zalman.  While reviews put it center of the pack, I like it for a combination of cool and quiet.  I had picked up a Therm cooler that I will send back after seeing the abismal reviews of how loud it is.  It was placed at the top for overclocking but I also don’t want a buzz saw running constantly.  The Tuniq is loud enough and I’m hoping the 45nm chip can do well with the $62 Zalman and I can add a side fan to my Antec 900 case to help but I think the case is incredibly cool even with the 2 3870′s.

The build shall begin this weekend… Stay tuned…