athlon xp cooling

[That_guy]

I'm finally upgrading my system, and I'm a cheap bastard, so I'm looking for the best bang for my buck as well as good upgradeability (if that's a word). Can someone recommend a good heatsink/fan? I'm planning on starting with an XP 2100+, but I'm likely going to upgrade later, so I'm wondering if it's no biggie to keep the same heatsink/fan with the new proc down the road, are they a pain to stick on a new cpu, and do I need to keep in mind what I might upgrade to in the future when I get the hs/f in the first place? I'm guessing you need more robust ones for the higher speed cpus, yes?

 

[4Ryan6]

Probably the Volcano series will do what you want for a descent price.



Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

More efficient ones for the high speed processors yes... not necessarily larger or louder.

A good one thats appeared recently is the Spire Falconrock II. Cheap, effective, easy to mount and quiet. Cant really go wrong with it.

<i>"Revenues were less than robust"</i> - QWEST
<i>"The company applied its accounting policies incorrectly"</i> - WORLDCOM
<i>"Certian financial adjustments may be required"</i> - AOL+TW.

 

[Teq]

Hey That_Guy...

Try this one, it's a bit of overkill on a 2100 but it will stay with you up to the 3000 and beyond...

http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=1

Or this one if you want to spend a bit less...

http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=3


I've got a super rock (the second one) on my current system and it's keeping an xp1800 at around 48c in an ambient temperature of 24c. The first one, which is copper bottomed could probably keep the temp down to 42c in this room.

(and, come to think of it, why does my landlord have the heat turned up so high???)

 

[phill21]

or failing that have a second fan mounted on the side of the case by the graphics card area (ie have a hole cut and a 80 or 120mm fan put there.. say 3000rpm one should be more than fine..) and have a nice psu that has two fans (one and the bottom and one at the back, sucks all the hot air out that way...) and it makes a nice cool case then..
but never skimp on a fan, a bad choice and a bit of a boom with the cpu.. not good..
although, whats overkill? the colder it goes, the longer the cpu lasts! and that means you could overclock it more!! i need a new fan as mines crap, but i cant be arsed until i change boards etc.. although its probably a much needed part...

if all else fails... kick it and if it goes wrong, say it wasnt you...

 

[phsstpok]

It's not cheap but if you get a Thermalright SLK-800 you'll probably never need another heatsink for a Socket A processor. It's that good. [Of course, I'm cheap too and haven't sprung for one yet, myself. I'm using a $4 heatsink and a $5 fan on XP1700+ @ 2.1 Ghz (XP 2600+)].

One warning, the SLK-800 is very heavy. It's probably not the best choice for a PC that's going to be moved more than rarely.

<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b>

 

[That_guy]

Wow, thanks for all the advice! I'll start looking into the suggestions you guys made.

 

[paulj]

If you won't to go cheap get the retail CPU w/ heatsink/fan included. That will save you money in the short term.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>