A few small nicks on heatsink... will it really affect performance?

[Tachion]

I'm switching back to my stock P4 heatsink since the one I have now is extremely loud and almost unbearable.

It's the standard P4 one with a copper core right over the die and aluminum fins surrounding is. The few small nicks and scratches are on the copper part, unfortunately.

If I put some arctic silver on, is it still gonna lose a ton of cooling efficiency?

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/4785/dsc00121wp8.jpg

Thanks.

 

[f4phantom2500]

imo that doesn't look too bad, the only way to find out tho is to use it; i doubt it's bad enough to let your processor overheat, so if i were you i'd just try it and keep an eye on the temp, see if it gets too hot.

 

[trOver]

you can shine it back up by sanding it with some very high-grit sand paper (1000 or so)

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Tachion
I'm switching back to my stock P4 heatsink since the one I have now is extremely loud...

Don't worry about it!

It won't affect noise levels at all!

 

[aigomorla]

i would suggest a XP-90 with a quiet 90mm fan.

The stock is also LOUD if i remember correctly.

What is your current HSF?

 

[Tachion]

My current HSF is some cheap CompUSA (yeah, I know) thing. It's copper but the fan vibrates a lot and is loud. It keeps it cool (about 36 idle w/ crap silicone grease) but is just too loud.

I had a Zalman HSF before that in my old case. I couldn't use it in my new case though since the fan mounted on the PCI/AGP card slots (, and my new case is screwless, which is why I went with a cheap CompUSA one. This is what I had in my old case.

I was looking at another Zalman (this one), but I don't think it will fit since I moved to a mid-ATX from a full ATX.

Basically, if my stock HSF will just not vibrate, that's all I care about. I can stand the drone of a fan, but not the "pulse" of a vibration.

Maybe I should just dig deep in my screw jar and try and force the Zalman fan on, though. That thing was really quiet.

 

[Tachion]

I managed to fit my old Zalman into this case. The screwless clips popped off easily and I had some screws that fit. Much quieter and it's already running around 36-37 idle w/ Arctic Silver, which is what the other HSF did after 3 weeks of burn-in.

Anyways, thanks for the help.

 

[NuAlphaMan]

Doesn't look too bad. You should be fine using it.

 

[aigomorla]

Best HSF for price and performance

Here op, i suggest you get this and replace your old one with it.

They perform pretty darn well, and there quiet. Not to mention 16.50 cents is a hard to beat deal.

 

[tylerdustin2008]

I just got a 7700Cu into my X-qpack. My cpu is happy at 23c idle.