EDIT: It took nearly three hours to lap the base of the IFX-14, that has to be the most convex surface I've ever had to lap, the copper base had "warped" over the heatpipes giving a huge ridge down the middle of the heatsink running parallel to the heatpipes. I pity any poor sod who installs one of these without checking the base.
I had a few beers whilst lapping so m/board removal is deferred until tomorrow.
Progress report, progress minimal, IFX-14 won't fit in my case, lmao.
Next step was to have been trying the TU102e but seeing as how that is taller than the IFX-14 I'm going to give that a miss as well until I get a new case.
Thoughts on the IFX-14;
Cons:
That thing is huge, if you're tempted to try one you'll need a decent sized case. The rear plate cooler requires space which I don't have.
It obscures the middle top m/board mounting screw on my board and makes the top left screw difficult to access.
The base was insanely convex.
Pro's:
The engineering (apart from the base) is good quality.
CPU temps dropped 10°C at 3.6GHz (case side was off due to size of cooler so not really a true indication)
Now I just have to sneak a new case in without the Mrs noticing
Back to the Zalman for now, off to rebuild my baby, bbs.
Some pics from this morning, another con I just remembered, the front fan makes access to the memory modules impossible, you'd need to remove the fan to get those modules out and with limited room the fan clips are almost impossible to reseat. (see the third pic)
Not exactly sure as I couldn't box up the case due to the ends of the heat pipes fouling my side fan, but at 3.6GHz (full load with prime95) it was 10°C cooler so I would have to say yes it would help but the degree of extra cooling is an unknown factor, if I had to guess i'd say 5-7°C drop would be reasonable.
EDIT:
Gave the IHS on my Q6600 a bit more of a lap while I had the pc in pieces, going to reassemble now.