from [H]ard|ocp:
<i>"HSF Trauma:
So there you are just minding your own business and you wake up and smell smoke and the casa is burning down around you. What was the trouble? That pesky two-cleat clip on your HSF was the problem. Seriously, Matt "CIWS" Waters, a buddy of mine had a HSF snap off in middle of the night. The cleat on the socket actually broke off under the pressure of the clipping system on his HSF. Keep in mind that this unit is not moved around as a gaming box. Six-cleat clips are looking better all the time.
I really find it hard to place blame on the HSF maker as AMD has some pretty high PSI requirements for their heatsink specs. Seems that the guys that make crappy sockets should come into question.</i>
who to blame? hsf maker, mobo maker or AMD? read the sig.
"<b>AMD/VIA!</b>...you are <i>still</i> the weakest link, good bye!"
AMD's specs say that the HSF should not weigh greater than 350g I believe. Those heatsinks are solid copper and so probably were too heavy. Considering it is not AMD who produces the sockets I would not blame AMD, I would however say that maybe the clips on the sockets should be metal.
AMD set the 350g limit as heavier heatsinks could crucsh the core. This is the first case I have ever seen of a heatsink falling off. Probably just a weak socket. Otherwise maybe the other one would have fallen off.
Sorry the bias against AMD means people don't look at the facts and blame AMD directly, when AMD don't make the sockets, however maybe they should contact the suppliers and tell them.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Hoolio on 07/04/02 06:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
i heard arctic silver can sometimes become slippery, causing the hs to slip on the core creating more pressure on the clips. breaking it off in this case.
i got the fastest woodburning stove this side of, oh wait, it's just my dual amds
Although I consider AmdMELTDOWN's posts silly and just flame bait material, I do find installing the P4 heatsinks stupidly easy and foolproof.
The idea of clamping down a copper HSF with one clip, not to mention the pain it is to clip into place, is a bad one. I think all AMD HSF manufacturers should follow Thermaltake's lead and use a large clip which utilizes all 3 cleats.
To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.
Well the worst damage I have had done to a motherboard is due to me clipping a HSF on and I scrathed the tracks on the motherboard, suddently the fan stopped working.
I scratched the tracks that provided power or controled the fan speed on the board.
See user error, not the HSF manufacturers fault. However the clips had no grips to help you hold it so I used a screw driver.
i use a MCX-462. its got an excellent mounting method.
i think AMD should have used the motherboard mounts as standard for all coolers, and the screws as a part of the mobo package.
95% of the fault however lies with the designers of the Heatsink, who have clearly gone beyond AMD specifications for a dual cleat design.
fortunately AMD is finally cracking down on poor HSF design, allthough it should have happened MUCH sooner. they knew crap heatsinks were being designed *caugh*orb*caugh* dissapointing really.
So I fixed my BIG PC problem by pressing the reset button. I'm not a moron am i? <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lhgpoobaa on 07/04/02 08:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
That is correct. Basically, upgrading your CPU alone is mild pain in the buttocks. Also, the performance of the Swiftech was negligible compared with the oem hs/fan.
To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.
I couldn't stand the noise of the fan that came with Swiftech so I replaced it with a much slower and quieter fan. If memory serves, under heavy load the stock hs/fan and the Swiftech/slow fan combo ran equally at 42C. The Swiftech/noisy fan ran at about 36C.
I wasn't overclocking my system so the 6 degrees, to me, is negligible. I could have saved $70 or whatever I paid for it at the time and just went with the stock hs/fan.
BTW I use the Antec silver thermal compound.
To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.
course! if you arnt looking for a super quiet system or overclocking the MCX-462 is an expensive waste.
i suppose you believed the FUD thats spread about AMD heatsinks eh? (or did back then)
stupid FUD.
OC wise however the MCX-462 is a wonderful investment. specially when the weather warmed up.
with my athlon 1200C @ 1350 & a fop32-1 ontop the cpu would just give up in warm weather... the swiffie wouldnot!
So I fixed my BIG PC problem by pressing the reset button. I'm not a moron am i?
I'm not really sure what "FUD" is an acronym for, but to put a mercifull end to this thread I will say the following: I bought the MCX-462 because it got sparkling reviews. I like to try out all the latest stuff. In a sense, I'm my own hardware reviewer. As the owner of Black Cat Computers & Peripherals, I wouldn't put something in my customer's rig that I wouldn't put in my own. Sometimes I find out the hard way that a product isn't what it is cracked up to be. Little did I realize how damn loud the MCX-462 really is! To make a long story short, the Swiftech MCX-462 is a good investment if you are going to overclock. Just be aware that this thing is loud.
To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.
hmm. one thing i'm wondering too about is, did they say if the guy was running winXP or not? i mean, you do know that OSes other than winxp running on an xp chip could cause the system to physically shake. so that might have jared the hsf and breaking the clip.
i got the fastest woodburning stove this side of, oh wait, it's just my dual amds
it's a farce. we can see easily on both pictures both poor quality HSFs with a weak fan & a weak one point clip. to avoid this kind of issue you MUST used a 3 points clip HSF. it is obvious that sort of problem is not unusual. but AMD has nothing to do with. personally i think that an a$$ has mounted those HSFs & all components around as well. LoL
btw i have to buy a best HSF than my current one. (Aqua690/Taisol)
i hesitate between the Swiftec MCX-462U (latest heatsink version) & the Alpha PAL8045U (latest heatsink version) but a weight of 700 grams seems me a bit excess. the alpha weights "only" round 500 grams. have you a point on that?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lhgpoobaa on 07/04/02 08:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
I like Interactive THG!</i>