The Candidates In Detail

AMD Boxed Cooler

It is an old Friend: The AMD boxed cooler.

The AMD boxed cooler sits on a stout solid copper base that is about 4 mm thick, and features soldered-on aluminum cooling fins. A fan is bolted on top of these fins, and blows warm air away from the cooler. This original cooler design is now over two years old, and must therefore prove itself capable of handling dual core CPUs.

Installation

Installing the AMD boxed cooler is quick and requires no tools. After spreading a thin layer of thermal paste on top of the CPU package, the cooler must be seated in the plastic collar around the chip socket, and retaining tabs on each side dropped into position. Next, a lever is flipped over to lock the cooler firmly into position. This whole operation takes less than a minute to complete.

A simple locking lever enables lightning fast installation, but is delicate and breaks easily.

CPU cooler fastening: a flathead screwdriver comes in handy when releasing the clamps.

You will only need a screwdriver when removing this device; it is handy for lifting clamp arms away from the cooler supports.