Trying to find a CPU cooler for an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ (s. 939)

[bifutake]

Link on its page at www.cpu-world.com


As you can see, its TDP is 110 W. The best I can find in the nearby stores is an Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus, with its max. cooling capacity rated at 100 W, recommended for TDP's up to 90 W.


I'm also planning to install a front case fan and connect it directly to my PSU, AC's F8.

The rear case fan is already installed, another AC's F8 (Pro PWM edition though).


Will it be enough? This PC is used by my parents, which should tell you that it's only being utilized for light tasks: internet browsing, Skype, Win7's default chess application... I even had the idea to downclock its CPU's Vcore a bit, but the BIOS isn't letting me do that. It can only go up.


So, will this setup work? I mean, it can't be worse that it is now with a stock AMD cooler which came with a 67 W CPU (I upgraded it a few months ago from the single core Athlon 64 3200+ but forgot to double-check the cooling solution until just now).



Bonus question: I'm also planning to use it on my AMD Athlon II x4 630 (TDP 95 W). "Recommended for TDP up to 90 W." Can I ignore the 5 W difference? It'll be supported by two very strong case fans (Enermax Twister Storm 120, which I plan to use on medium RPM setting).

 

[clutchc]

Since it is unlikely they will be using the CPU at max load for long periods, I would have no issue with using that little cooler. The only drawback might be that it will run its fan faster and make more noise if it has to work harder to cool. But it is unlikely it will be any noisier than the stock AMD cooler.

 

[bifutake]

Thanks for the reassurance. I've installed it in both PC's and it looks good so far. I've also migrated all their components into a better case which I salvaged from a broken rig a while back and was just sitting in the corner of my room, covered with a plastic bag. This one supports two frontal case fans so I installed two new Arctic Cooling F8's there for intake (hooked directly to the PSU). From what I've seen so far, average temperatures dropped by some 10°C.

For me, with just a new CPU cooler (getting those Enermax fans tomorrow), it's more like 5°C.

These are all idle values. I haven't stress-tested anything yet.