HSF for AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition

If your only going to game WOW that CPU is overkill, if you wan't to get it so down the line your still good to go, then it's a great one.

But to max that CPU out your going to need more graphics power, but can also be upgraded down the line.

Whats your budget, if you want the absolute best get a thermalright true or a prolimatech megahalem. If you have a budget the core contact freezer is pretty good from newegg and cheap, also some of the exgimetechs are good and cheap.

Try to get a 120mm HSF though.

^ I was just using mine, and it's really small but it does cool fine if your not OC'ing, it is a little loud.

But i didn't think the 955 comes with one because it is a Black Edition.

Funny thing, I have both those exact coolers and you are correct,

the HDT does blow vertically (which actually in my case doesn't affect much but it is lame)

and the CCF is big and will take up a lot of room, on my mobo (xfx 750a) it covers the first two slots, unless you turn it backwards and set it up as a pull.

^ Yeah if your ram doesn't have heat sinks there is a good chance it will work, and you can usually sqeeze a little wiggle room in.

The cooler is good and many people swear by it, I have it running in my case right now, but do to the fact that it hits my rams heatsinks it is backwards with the fan pulling air (I jury rigged another fan to push air, but it is jury rigged).

My temps on a stock AMD X2 5000+ 2.6ghx (my PII 945 in the shop, wahwah) are idle of 25 with an internal case temp of 22, so thats pretty good. But I would replace the fan since mine produces an extremely loud whine above low speeds.

I'll be getting ym build up and running probably next week, gotta wait a few paydays before i invest in some upgrades like a cooler.... it's interesting to know the mugen will work. what MoBo are you running with that mugen?

I've assembled a PC some 2 months ago, components that matter for the topic:
AMD 955 BE
stock cooler (for now)
Sapphire Vapor-X HD 4890
Gigabyte Setto 1000 case (2x120mm silent fans front and rear)
Gigabyte MA-790-XT UD4P MBO
Corsair TX 650W

The problem is that the CPU heats a lot - it's around 40C on idle, when playing Half Life 2 part one it goes to 50C, and when subjected to Prime95 it quickly goes beyond 60C and stays between 62-64C.

Although it's still stable under this temp, I want to get this temp down quite a bit.

I'd like to take a good cooler which still will not require removing of the MBO, and which will not take too much space in the case.

Can you recommend some coolers?

Do coolers come with pre-applied thermal paste or is it better to buy one as well?

I would look into the Core Contact Freezer then, the Mugen 2 is huge, but taking the stock HSF out and putting the Mugen in only took about 30 minutes for me and it's my first system build, so I'm no expert.

Thank for the quick replies. I've found Scythe Samurai Zz available in Croatia for about 35 US$, however according to this table

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/amx-coolers

It is not recommended for 125W CPUs - which my AMD 955 BE is (I've actually taken a rather power-thirsty combo of the CPU and Radeon HD4890).

Would this cooler be better?

Cooler ARCTIC-COOLING Freezer 64 Pro PWM, socket 754/939/940/AM2
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/p [...] r64pro-pwm

Core contact freezer is not available in Croatia.

I'm not very skilled (this PC was the first one which I've assembled - other than this the high point of my skill was installing PCI and AGP cards) so I'd like to choose a cooler that will last, and which will also enable me to overclock the CPU to 3.8 GHz - when the time comes.

The case will be opened later and I'll measure the free space - will also have to remove the heat pipe on the side of the case. When I open the case the temps remain the same for all components so I don't see a need to change the case fans for the moment.

Well time for an update, I have finally opened the case, removed the heat pipe and measured the space...the Scythe Mugen 2 should fit and thereafter not a fly will be able to enter.

But now that the heat pipe was removed, I ran Prime95 for 8 minutes (the temp quickly rises) but this time it "only" went to 60 C.

However, now that the CPU is downclocked to 800 MHz with "Cool & Quiet", the fan on the stock CPU cooler is spinning at 4600 rpm - significantly higher than before when the heat pipe was in the case.

Additionally, after I install the Scythe Mugen 2 I won't be able to have any fans on the case except for 2 silent 120mm fans which came with the case - meaning that I'm likely going to have to replace them with stronger fans and maybe even install one fan in the 5,25" slot for additional air intake (although I've placed all extra power cables in that position).

I will turn off the "Cool & Quiet" in BIOS and see which temps we will have when idling in Windows 7 RC build 7100...they are in the 45-50 C range, with the CPU fan spinning at 5500 rpm and it's heard in the next room.

After turning the K8 "cool & quiet" back on, and returning the heat pipe, I am back to temp on CPU of 40 C, but the CPU fan is only spinning at 2300 rpm.

I hope that the Mugen 2 will solve CPU heat problems - but I will also have to improve air flow in the case, or at least so it seems for now...

I was getting 50's and 60's before my Scythe Mugen 2 and now that it's colder, I'm getting low 30s, 40s if I OC to 3.8ghz-4.0ghz. I do have 2 120mm front intake, 1 120mm rear exhaust and 1 200mm top exhaust on my case though. I'd expect you to have around high 30s, maybe 40s. All in C temp of course.

It's about the same in size (V8 being taller and the Mugen 2 being fatter) and it weighs the same as the Mugen 2, also you must remove the motherboard to install either HSFs. The V8 costs about 1.5x as much, although the V8 has a fan controller. The Mugen 2 can have a push/pull with 2-4 fans, while the V8 only supports 1 fan. In terms of noise, I think the V8 is louder, although Frosty tech never made a review on the Scythe Mugen 2, so I cannot say for sure. Both perform about the same on the latest procs (AM3, i5, i7) idling at high 20Cs- low30Cs.