Need performant but cheap heatsink

[eldoreo]

Hi guys,

I'm on search for a performant but cheap heatsink to teplace the stock on my sempron 2800+. My poor student-money ain't enough to pay 50 bugs for a cooler. I've oftentimes read about Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro being a good hint as price/performance-ratio-cooler. What do you guys say about this cooler?

Greets eldoreo

 

[Anoobis]

Is that Socket A? The Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro will not work with Socket A, at least not that I know of.

For Socket A:

On the cheap and if you're not overclocking, this Kingwin would be more than enough.

On the higher-end, the Scythe Katana will provide adequate performance. There's a more expensive all copper version that performs much better too.

It would appear that you may not be in the U.S. so prices will vary. If you can find one, the Thermalright SLK-800 was king in the Socket A realm for a long time. They are hard to find but you might get lucky and find a used one.

For Socket 754 Semprons the AC Freezer 64 Pro would be my choice on a budget.

 

[Anoobis]

Thermalright SLK-900U(or 'A' for clips)

Whoops, my bad. That was actually the one I was thinking of.

I was going to mention the SI-97 but I didn't think it was in the OP's price range of about $30.00 which is where the AC Freezer 64 sits at after shipping (give or take a few). The SI-97 is an excellent choice and has served me well. If you consider it, make sure to get an SI-97A as it is compatible with Socket A(462), S754, S939 & AM2 (add'l bracket req'd for AM2, add'l cost). Cost will be around $45.00 U.S. (more for an AM2 bracket) with a fan, landed.

 

[eldoreo]

Oh thanks for the postings so far.

I'm using it on an Asus M2N AM2-Board - it will be replaced by a X2 as soon as I've got enough money. I can't bear the stoc-fan anymore.

Though livin' in Germany the Freezer 64 Pro just costs less than 20 bugs incl. - I think this price should be hard to be beaten huh?

greets
eldoreo

 

[rwaritsdario]

Oh thanks for the postings so far.

I'm using it on an Asus M2N AM2-Board - it will be replaced by a X2 as soon as I've got enough money. I can't bear the stoc-fan anymore.

Though livin' in Germany the Freezer 64 Pro just costs less than 20 bugs incl. - I think this price should be hard to be beaten huh?

greets
eldoreo

Go for the Freezer 64 Pro, it stacks up to alot of heatsinks that are double as much $.

 

[Clob]

Might take a look at the Thermaltake Polo. It is also a good performer for a non heatpipe design.

I used to have heat problems with my socket A and this totally cured them... I used to get High temps in the mid 50's stock speed and with this I would be lucky to break 45C overclocked 250mhz!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106042

72CFM is a lot for an 80mm fan

Dont listen to newegg reviews. I got some very good results with it. Keep the fan above minimum speed and you will be fine. Keep in mind that it is a loud fan... I got a 120 - 80mm adapter and stuck a 120mm silverstone fan on there. That jumped the perfomance a bit, but I did that to kill the noise!

Those other 92mm designs are probably better, but thats my 2 cents!

 

[Anoobis]

Ahh, I forgot about the AM2 Semprons too. AC Freezer Pro all the way if you want performace on the cheap. It a quality product that performs on par if not better than say....the Zalman CNPS9500 which costs twice as much (as others already noted). You will not need to buy any additional thermal paste either. The MX-1 Thermal Compound that comes pre-applied to the heatsink works just as good as Arctic Silver 5. Just make sure to clean off ALL the thermal paste from the CPU with something like 90% rubbing alcohol or.....(looks around for wusy)....mineral turpintine (he calls it "paint-stripper").

 

[eldoreo]

Thanks for the advices guys, I just ordered one. It hopefully should be here 'till friday, let's see how silent it will be.

Thanks so far
greets eldoreo

 

[Anoobis]

WHOA!!!! You didn't mention anything about sound!!! These things are small jet engines!!!!

Just kidding. Not only is it a good cooler, but it's also fairly quiet due to the way the fan is mouted to the heatsink.

 

[neocristi]

A sempron does not need much of a cooling monster. Any Arctic Cooling suitable for your socket will do more than just fine.

 

[Clob]

Thanks for the advices guys, I just ordered one. It hopefully should be here 'till friday, let's see how silent it will be.

Thanks so far
greets eldoreo

Cool man, What did you get?

 

[eldoreo]

yo guys,

didn't have much time 'till now but the freezer arrived on frieday coz we had a lan-party yesterday. I directly mounted the cooler, which was verry easy to do.
Switching the pc on it was really an unbelievable silence. On load while BF2 it was hardly noticeable louder than in idle. The temps improved from 52 to 41 under load while still being more silent.

Great cooler, great price -> my favorit.

greets eldoreo

 

[Anoobis]

Glad we could help

 

[rwaritsdario]

Glad we could help

ditto