Must I use AMD's cooling fan with my opty 180?

[rschilling]

I am replacing my x2 3800 with an Opteron 180 - the warranty says that I MUST use their cooling fan with the 180 or the warranty is invalidated. I have a very nice Zalman cooler fan that I assume is both quieter (why I did it in the first place) and probably equal to or better than the factory cooler.

Should I use my Zalman?

Also, do I have to update my bios?
If yes, how? I have MSI k8 Platinum -- I know to go to the web site -- but what are the steps?
Do I install cpu first, then go to MSI and download proper bios update?
Or do I get the update, install, then put cpu in?

Thanks!

 

[rschilling]

My thoughts exactly -- will they look for dust in their fan?

I just wanted to be sure that my Zalman has at least the cooling of the factory one, which does seem to be pretty beefy for a oem fan.

I will proceed with the Zalman and plug in my new cpu.

Thanks for your input.

 

[HYST3R]

use your zalman.

 

[nitrous9200]

I think all of the CPU's warranties say you are supposed to use their cooling fan only, even if they are inferior in performance and noise. As the other posters said use your cooler.