52C on a Socket A Athlon XP 3200+, Hot or OK?

[BlingBlingArsch]

not hot at all! dont know why some ppl have shutdown temp at 50°, just ridiculous..

 

[fluffmonster]

That Spire Whisperrock IV is very quiet, but the finish on the base is atrocious. My wife's 3200+ idles anywhere from 45 to 52 depending on ambient in a crappy case with crappy airflow and up to low 60s under load, but that doesn't seem so unsual for sktA.

 

[mikeford]

From what I have read the WhisperRock V is a step up from the IV, but all are still in the middle of cheapo HSF that works but not for OC. I would like to poke my nose in the OC HSF tent, but keep my feet on the cheapo ground. 😉

If I had any brains I would have turned right around after buying the 3200+ on my way out of a swapmeet and found a good HSF right then. If I don't wise up soon I may end up in a Vonnage commercial.

 

[myocardia]

You aren't going to be overclocking an XP 3200, at least with your motherboard and RAM. They are all locked, so the only way to overclock is by raising the fsb above 200 Mhz. You'd have to buy the only available overclocking Skt. A motherboard that's left, the Epox 8RDA3+, which is still $70 at newegg, plus some RAM that will overclock. It wouldn't make any sense to spend much money on Skt. A at this point, when you can buy a 2.4 Ghz Skt. 754 or 939 processor, plus motherboard (newegg combo deals), for ~$100 these days.

 

[Steve]

I'm told this one I'm running is unlockable:

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/sm8000/amd2.gif

 

[mikeford]

Was at Fry's tonight looking for a HSF, they only had ONE socket A, and not as good as the retail box fan that came with my 2600+ Sempron. The $59 ad combo was a ECS nforce3 socket 754 Sempron 3100+. would have bought one, but nothing but returned motherboards left.

I don't want to OC my 3200+, I want a HSF that will keep it cool even running Prime95 at the rated 3200+ speed, and most of the claimed Athlon Xp 3200+ HSF have review comments that love it at lower speeds, but say it really doesn't handle a 3200+ under high load. Its really hard to pick one, well a cheap one, since it may say 3400+ in the spec, have a 5 star review, but all the people that love it are running 2600 or less, and those with 3200+ say it gets too hot under stress.

Every HSF I looked at somebody didn't like for some reason, but its hard to tell which reviews to trust.

Add to that the new FireFox 2.0 gets flakey on a few web sites, like GOOGLE, sheesh.

I will get something tonight for sure.

 

[Steve]

Don't skimp on the cooling for a Barton 3200+. I got two Thermaltake Silent Boost RX K7s at my local Micro Center, I only needed one but what the hell, last two in the stock room. Worth every penny. A premium chip needs premium cooling. If you're hard up finding a good one in your area I'll sell you this one.

 

[Jibboom]

It doesn't seem too hot, a little hotter than mine but your room could be warmer. My 3200 idles at 46ºC in a cold room, up to about 52ºC in a hot room in the summer. It only ever goes up ~5ºC under load. I'm using a Gigabyte 3D Cooler Ultra GT cpu cooler.
(other system information is in my signature)

 

[mikeford]

I have an old Celeron 667 system running 24/7 in my livingroom that no modern system can be heard above its fan noise, so I am less concerned with silent and more with cooling. The WhisperRock and Silent Boost both do a bit better than the stock fan at cooling and make much less noise, but other HSF run 10C or more cooler. Time for a new more specific thread again (trying anyway. 😉

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: mikeford
I have an old Celeron 667 system running 24/7 in my livingroom that no modern system can be heard above its fan noise, so I am less concerned with silent and more with cooling. The WhisperRock and Silent Boost both do a bit better than the stock fan at cooling and make much less noise, but other HSF run 10C or more cooler. Time for a new more specific thread again (trying anyway. 😉

Let's be honest, the Silent Boost is more than just a "bit" better than the Masscool. I also have this Masscool unit and it couldn't keep the temp from climbing as I described earlier. The Silent Boost could, and once I moved the combo into a different case it keeps temps substantially lower.

 

[mikeford]

Originally posted by: sm8000

Originally posted by: mikeford
I have an old Celeron 667 system running 24/7 in my livingroom that no modern system can be heard above its fan noise, so I am less concerned with silent and more with cooling. The WhisperRock and Silent Boost both do a bit better than the stock fan at cooling and make much less noise, but other HSF run 10C or more cooler. Time for a new more specific thread again (trying anyway. 😉

Let's be honest, the Silent Boost is more than just a "bit" better than the Masscool. I also have this Masscool unit and it couldn't keep the temp from climbing as I described earlier. The Silent Boost could, and once I moved the combo into a different case it keeps temps substantially lower.

Many people seem to have different results with the same coolers in different systems, and I have to assume that is due to details of their specific heatsink, processor heat output, and installation or temperature measurement variations. Frostytech.com used a standard heating source for all its tests, so I gave them a bit more weight.

Putting many different review opinions together, Silent Boost seemed to do between 1 and 3 degrees better than the stock fan, which REALLY wasn't sufficient for many users with a 3200+ at rated speed and heavy loads.

Silent Boost is a $30 shipped fan, and the WhisperRock V is half that.

MassCool made a LOT of Socket A coolers, many that look very similar, and perform very differently, details of the fins, and fan used, that sort of thing. And again, different people got different results, so there is no way to be 100% sure how any of them will work in a given system.

 

[Steve]

You're still overthinking it 😉 I used to think like you, but I learned that you can't do much wrong going with a solid, well-reputed solution. If that means a few more bucks then so be it. You're wanting to outfit your Ferrari with entry-level Dunlop tires instead of the Pirellis.

 

[mikeford]

Just prudent caution after reading more than the first 3 positive reviews on newegg. Most of the well rated 3200+ claiming HSF get the 5 eggs from users with MUCH slower cpus. Read down a bit and you get comments like, a good quiet cooler, but not intended for higher loads with a 3200+. NONE of the non heatpipe quiet HSF seem to do well with a 3200+ under load.

Have you seen the $14 shipped CoolerMaster Jet 7+? http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-213-1.htm Its a freaking all copper monster that used to be $45.