CPU Cooler

[BeerStore]

I am upgrading to 2500+ and I do not wish to keep the stock HSF.
As far as I know, Vantec does the best job for the cooling/noise equation.
Is there anything else better than Vantec for the same price range?(remeber the noise...)
The stock fan seems to be louder and it does not perform any better.
I plan to overclock a bit, not to much, a few FSB or so, just for the fan of it.
Any experiences with Vantec or other cooling solutions?
thx

<font color=green>it is never fast enough</font color=green>

 

[redface]

i like heat pipes.
or silver coating

A fine day!

 

[fariss]

Zalman.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-109&catalog=62&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-108&catalog=62&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

Best cooling/noise ratio going.
My HSF of choice.
Google for reviews.

 

[endyen]

Why do you not like the stock hsf? Mine is quieter than the fan on my BBA 9600 pro video card and keeps my temps below 50c even with a 400mhz oc. Perhaps you have experience with the older hsf that was on the palomino core. The barton fans are much improved. Give it a try before you change it.

 

[SoDNighthawk]

The Stock AMD Heat Sink and Cooling fan is superior to most after market coolers. The AMD Heat sink has a build copper slug that's makes direct contact with the DIE on the CPU through a thin layer of Thermal Paste or the stock thermal pad supplied with the AMD heat sink.

That solid copper slug dissipates CPU temperature spike at start-up and allows the transference of heat from the die directly into the aluminium heat sink so it can be dissipated by the cooling fan.

The Stock AMD cooling fans are reasonably good aside from the smaller footprint. They do have a Fan Speed of around 4000 rpm and in most cases when you go shopping for after market coolers you will find that they do not have RPM levels as high for the fan, more in the range of 2000 to 2500 RPM.

Depending on the motherboard you purchase the BIOS could support Q-FAN. ASUS has this on a few higher end boards like the A7NX8 Deluxe or better. Q-Fan enables you to choose CPU fan speeds and response time for cooling.

In most cases the after market coolers are designed to make LESS noise then stock coolers so the fan's RPM's are lower but they can use much larger fan cages supporting larger fan blades so they trade off fan RPM for much larger heat dissipation by how much air the fan can move at lower RPM's.

You can go to some much higher end coolers that have higher fan speeds then 4000 rpm but they scream like a jet-aircraft landing and in most cases have poorly made plastic housing and basic aluminium heat sinks without the solid brass slug counter sinked into the bottom of the aluminium to contact the die through the thin layer of thermal compound.

There are a few manufacturers out there that say they offer better heat dissipation then other products but I have used as I own one at home a Thermal Couple Meter, that uses either type J or type K thermal couplings.

I have tried about 6 different manufacturers coolers and I use the type K thermal couple as they maintain a more stable reading then J does but take longer to display a readout on the meter. J type spike quickly but can flutter the readings at max read.

None of the 6 ran any better then the stock AMD cooler in fact most of them showed that they were cooling much less effectively then the stock AMD cooler.

One Cooler that seems to work slightly better then the AMD cooler is made by Thermaltake called the Silent Boost P/N: A1889-01 Application for AMD and Athlon XP up to 3400+ CPU's.
It has a 21 dBA fan much larger@ 80x80x25 mm and efficient then the stock AMD fan.
The fan speed is reduced slightly because of this to lower the noise levels but the fan blade performance is tuned to maximize heat dissipation by better air-flow.

The heat sink is 82x70x49 with 41 copper fins over a solid BLOCK of finely finished copper.

The whole thing only draws 0.13 A of current with an input of only 1.56 W

The fan speed is lower at 2450+/-10% RPM as apposed to the stock AMD fans at 4000 RPM.

However the better fin design of the heat sink and the Ball Bearing design of the fan motor will give you in excess of 60,000 hours of life that is 30,000 hours longer then the stock AMD fan.

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid 12 Celsius
2x512 Crucial DDR 400 PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Two Maxtor 40Gig 8MB cach 7200rpm
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x

 

[patvdragon]

Along with the previous recomendation for the zalman heat sink, if you can couple that heat sink (the copper flower for your athlon xp I belive) with a vantec stealth fan, you're in the money for quiet cooling. It's not all that cheap, but best heatsink fan combo I know of right now

 

[fariss]

I believe the design of the Zalman 7000A doesn't allow for a change of fans. The fan doesn't have the same housing & fits inside the heat sink itself.
See:
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=35-118-109-01.JPG/35-118-109-04.JPG/35-118-109-03.JPG/35-118-109-02.JPG

 

[BeerStore]

SoDNighthawk, thx for the info. I am trying to get some benchmarks for the Vantec VA4-C7040 vs Thermaltake Volcano Silent Boost K7 (A1889-1). It seems that this Thermaltake (<A HREF="http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/volcano/rs/a1889b.htm" target="_new">http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/volcano/rs/a1889b.htm</A>) is not a bad choice.: Fan Speed 2450±10% RPM ,Noise 21 dBA, Life Expectation 60,000 hours(more than enough...).
The Vantec seems to be a bit louder (Noise 38 dBA, Fan Speed 5600 RPM) but Life Time:80,000 hrs is not bad at all.
I am still looking for a comparison head to head to see the temp diff between them. So far the Thermaltake is the choice...
Why i dont like stock?Cause on my Athlon(Thunderbird)1ghz died after 6 months. It was like i had a bus in my case.Then my 1800+ went bad after 6 months, and the temperature was at 63-65, even 67 after 2 hours of UT-UT2k3.
On my 2200+ and on my 2400+ i used a stock 2500+ Barton cooler and it did not impress me at all. After 1 hour in Ut2k3, the cpu would go as high 58-62. I have a normal, nothing fancy, OEM case. I have an additional case fan in the back along with an enermax dual fan power supply, so the cpu gets it share of cool air. Since i got a 9800Pro inside, i am forced to keep the case open.
Why i am talking about Vantec: a friend of mine has one for quite some time and his cpu stays at 45, no more than 50-52 in UT2k3, sometimes goes even lower. That is on a 2500+.
With the 400fsb at 3000+, the cpu goes up to 57 in games, which is not bad. And it is amazingly quiet.
thx for all the input.

<font color=green>it is never fast enough</font color=green>

 

[SoDNighthawk]

In reply to;

Why i am talking about Vantec: a friend of mine has one for quite some time and his cpu stays at 45, no more than 50-52 in UT2k3, sometimes goes even lower. That is on a 2500+.
With the 400fsb at 3000+, the cpu goes up to 57 in games, which is not bad. And it is amazingly quiet.
thx for all the input.

^^^^^BeerStore^^^^^


Hawk;
I have observed systems shut down the computer and auto restart it at around 57 C. Amazing his 2500+ will stay in a game and stable at those temps. But good for him.

You are right about the stock coolers for the older AMD CPU's they can in fact be not as good as the current new ones see if you can get a heat/sink Fan combo from a 2800+ CPU or higher you will see that they have changed both the heat sink and the fan blade design slightly. I would imagine that they sell the new set-up with new 2500+ Bartons as well but sadly they are supposed to be all locked now.

I have an older 2500+ I posted specs for last month it is unlocked I simply have not figured out what to do with it yet as I can obtain higher overclock speeds in my wifes 2800+ that are stable that the 2500+ can not reach.

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid 12 Celsius
2x512 Crucial DDR 400 PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Two Maxtor 40Gig 8MB cach 7200rpm
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x

 

[SoDNighthawk]

Interesting note on the ThermalTake cooler at

http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/volcano/rs/a1889b.htm

It was If I can remember right 47 + Dollars Canadian before our Sales Tax and GST Tax so over $50.00 Canadian not cheap in any event.


Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid 12 Celsius
2x512 Crucial DDR 400 PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Two Maxtor 40Gig 8MB cach 7200rpm
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x

 

[BeerStore]

i got the same price for both:
Thermaltake Volcano Silent Boost K7 (A1889-1) more info $36
Vantec VT-VA4-C7040 AeroFlow w/ TMD Fan AMD more info $35
I cant see a real benchmark that is going to tell me, well, this one cools down the cpu better than the other one.(my guess is that the Vantec is better).
Noisewise, yes, the Thermaltake, but also I dont want my system to go too hot while playing a game or smth.
Haven't tried out yet the new stock HSF.
I am kinda running in circles here....it is just fan, i'll get one and that's it...
thx for all the input
(and it still bugs me which one to get...)


<font color=green>it is never fast enough</font color=green>

 

[SoDNighthawk]

Your right a little extra noise is not a concern when pushing your P.C. You don't want to be scoring top score and really shagging them bad then have the game freeze because you overheated.

Go with your decision on the better cooler.

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid 12 Celsius
2x512 Crucial DDR 400 PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Two Maxtor 40Gig 8MB cach 7200rpm
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x