heatsinks

[Casualty]

hey guys im looking to upgrade and i ahve looked around alot at certain models and designs. so im asking which heatsink do you use and which would you use if you could afford it?

i have a socket 939 amd athlon 64

stock HSF

 

[Casualty]

this is what im looking into

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835109118

 

[blze]

yummy, i want one. let me know how it works because i think i just read you have the exact same processor i just bought.

 

[slick]

what motherboard do you have?

 

[blze]

ASUS A8V

 

[slick]

the XP-120 has some compatibilty issues with certain motherboards.....
You guys should go with the XP-90 , the temp difference being only 1-2 degrees and it's much cheaper.

I'll look it up.

 

[Casualty]

i ahve the asus a8v deluxe

i check and its compat with my board. i want the 120 MM fan slick, and the extra airflow is always nice

 

[Casualty]

i got bored, and i spent money.


i got the xp-90 and a 119cfm(wow) fan for 60 including shipping

can you say overclocking? i can

 

[blze]

ya, i just got a box with 2 x 120mm fans in it, and 2 x 80mms. also have the same mobo you have in there (A8V, dunno about the "deluxe" part tho). what is the xp-90? and 119cfm? is that the heatsink thinger? im too tired to go back and look at it but i think thats what you mean. let me know how effective it is. i can vouch(e?) for how badass it looks, lol. mew.

 

[Casualty]

the 90 is jsut a slightly smaller version or the 120

and cfm stands for cubic feet per minute. its how much air the fan pushes

 

[imported_SuXoR]

This one has a good compromise between good price/performance/cooling ability

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125

 

[blze]

my question is: how effective are these aftermarket sinks? noticable difference in performance? is it just to allow for overclocking?

i guess it couldnt hurt, but if it is only a matter of a degree or 2, then hmmmm....?

 

[imported_SuXoR]

The reasons are two fold:

cooler cpu
quieter operation

Yus, cooler cpu means more voltage can be applied, and higher clock speeds can be attained (in theory)

The one I posted is at newegg. You can read the product review to see what others have to say. I can't remember, but they said something like 10 deg celcius cooler than stock, and quieter to boot. You can also google it for reviews.

here is a neat article http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2548&p=6

 

[blze]

cool, thx. next question: how easy of a task is it to switch heat sinks? i think there is a compound applied to the top of the processor...

 

[imported_SuXoR]

Switching heatsinks is fairly easy. The only way it gets tricky is if the heatsink needs to be screwed through the motherboard to a backplate. In that case you have to remove the motherboard and attach the heatsink with it out of the case. Most heatsinks, however use the clips that are already on the motherboard socket so you would not have to remove it from the case.

As far as thermal compound is concerned, most OEM heatsinks that come in a retail CPU package have a pink or black bubble gum material on them. I personally scrape this off with a credit card and apply a little arctic silver instead. If you choose this method, be sure to use a credit card or something plastic so that you do not scratch the heatsink. I am anal, so I like to use arctic silver. Noticable differences between silicon, silver, copper, and ceramic based thermal compounds are subjective.

If you decide to go with aftermarket thermal compound and heatsink post here and we can guide you.