OK, well. unfortunately, the CoolMaster TPC 812 experiment failed, not due to any flaw in the sink, but my Motherboard and case geometry. The MoBo cooler is about 7mm too tall, and 7mm in too close to the CPU to allow it to fit. (Basically, the board and case leave me with a 165mm deep / 127mm wide (113 if I want to use all 4 RAM sockets) / 165mm tall space to fit a sink.

(And yes, I cleaned the thermal compound off before trying anything)
So, the obvious next step, was to go with the self contained hydro cooling unit (since the bulk of the cooler is against the back of the case, not on the CPU, which I also like for simple fatigue/stress reasons. which again due to space considerations (don't really feel like starting over from the case up, not just yet, lol) fell to the Corsair H60 or Antec's Kuhler 620. After extensively comparing both, I decided on the Kuhler, as it outperformed the h60 at max load, and actually seems to keep pace with the H80, if not better. After discovering that both units are made essentially by the same company, it made it simpler.
http://www.maximumpc..._h2o_620_review
Are there better Air Coolers? Yes. Digging through the layers of opinions to find specific proven results on the plethora that exist, and then narrowing it down to one that fit my dimension needs? Not so easy, and most of the ones I know will fit don't seem to outperform the 620. I'm sure they are out there, but I don't feel like spending the next 6 months looking.
Since I don't see my self pushing it to max load for any particular reason, and I mainly wanted the more powerful cooling so I could swap to quieter fans, this should do, though that same dang mobo cooler heat sink also is forcing me to mount the radiator fan outside of the case, unless I can find a very nice lo profile 120mm fan.
Hopefully do the swap over the weekend and run some baseline tests.. after all, if I am not happy, I can drive to MicroCenter and return it.
Edited by Bishop Steiner, 25 August 2012 - 10:25 AM.