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AMD AM3+ Stock Cooler

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Pedroc1999

Senior member
Well today I was looking at the stock cooler for this generation (Vishera) and is it just me or does the cooler look quite capable, or is it actually crap?
 
Pedroc1999 said:
Well today I was looking at the stock cooler for this generation (Vishera) and is it just me or does the cooler look quite capable, or is it actually crap?
Click to expand...

The stock cooler is good enough to go to about 4.4GHz (10% OC for 8350) assuming ok ambients. Not too shabby for stock cooling.
 
I think the stock cooler AMD includes is very decent... large copper base, four heat pipes. Some people claim it can get loud, though. I never had a problem with my Phenom's from what I remember, but I think Vishera is a bit more power hungry and warm, so that may change things a bit.
 
I have always read people say to never OC on stock cooling, but this is quite decent, i guess it only applies to Intel
 
FX6300 has a smaller non copper based non heat-pipe cooler, but it has less cores and it can be OC to 4+GHz easily with the default heat-sink.

FX6300 Heat-Sink
fx6300heatsink1.jpg


FX8350 Heat-Sink
fx8350heatsink1.jpg


fx8350heatsink2.jpg
 
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Pedroc1999 said:
I have always read people say to never OC on stock cooling, but this is quite decent, i guess it only applies to Intel
Click to expand...
The reason to not overclock on Intel stock cooling is that the headroom is less than aftermarket solutions.

AMD ships these better heatsinks with their FX CPUs because this series of processors generate more heat and hence need the superior ability to draw away heat at stock.

Also, aftermarket thermal compund helps reduce temps.
 
I have one of those heat sinks in my closet. Looks like the design hasn't changed in years... I think I got mine either with my x2 3800+ or my Opteron 165.
 
As far as I know, from personal experience and reviews, AMD ships two kinds of coolers.

HSF Type 1: Non-heat pipe cooler by AVC - for CPU's 95W and lower.
HSF Type 2: Copper base with heat pipes, also by AVC - for CPU's over 100W

Traditionally, #1 are dual-core chips, and practically anything labelled Athlon since the Athlon X2. I believe even Athlon II X4 chips use the non-heat pipe cooler, due to being 95W only.

As for performance:

HSF Type 1: The AVC non-heat piped cooler is not really very good, but it is very silent. In my experience (I've had two chips that came with it), I never hear it. It's as if it doesn't exist.

HSF Type 2: Evidently, AVC makes good coolers. FrostyTech has a review of it (look under AVC), and their results mirror my experience - cooling is ok, but the noise is terrible. It's a very audible high-frequency noise, not a loud vacuum-cleaner-like sound (i.e., very annoying).

Pedroc1999 said:
I have always read people say to never OC on stock cooling, but this is quite decent, i guess it only applies to Intel
Click to expand...
Not really. If you remember the Sandy Bridge review, Anand wrote "effortless 4.4Ghz" using the stock cooler (both 2500K and 2600K). The real thing to remember here is to not take what people in forums say very literally - instead, understand the rationale behind it. When you understand the how's and the why's, you do not need to just blindly follow "general rules of thumb for convenience". When they say "don't OC with stock coolers", they don't literally mean "you can never OC on stock coolers". It simply means that while YMMV, you most certainly will have far more headroom and lower temps (i.e., more success and satisfaction) using a far more potent HSF. However, as long as you follow certain constraints (not going beyond max operating temps and reasonable voltage) and be satisfied with whatever OC you can get (be it 100Mhz or 500Mhz), there is nothing wrong with overclocking using the stock HSF.
 
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Has anyone tried replacing the fan on the 125W AMD cooler? I got one with my PhII and it is loud. I'm considering getting a 60mm to 80mm adaptor and dropping on a quieter fan but I'm not sure what kind of results I should expect. The heatpipe cooler certainly looks capable except for that tiny fan.
 
Try replacing it with a higher quality but same size fan. I bet the amd ones are cheapish and therefore loud. Also certain bearing types are louder than others
 
Pedroc1999 said:
Try replacing it with a higher quality but same size fan. I bet the amd ones are cheapish and therefore loud. Also certain bearing types are louder than others
Click to expand...

Its not so much that they are cheap as it is that they are small (physically). I'm speaking of the fan.

Replace that 90mm stock HSF with a traditional 120mm and the noise/CFM goes down.

But the FX8350 is quite capable for mild OC'ing. The Intel HSF is anemic in that regard.
 
I stuck the stock cooler from my 8120 on my sons +3200 and was louder then fuc......shut you mouth. Sounded like a jet taking off.
 
funboy6942 said:
I stuck the stock cooler from my 8120 on my sons +3200 and was louder then fuc......shut you mouth. Sounded like a jet taking off.
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Why? Did the fan ramp up to 100% or something? The fan on the heatsink for my 8350 can get loud, but only when the CPU temps get into the 70's. But I could see where if you have a mobo that just sets the fan to 100% at all times, even idle, then it probably would be "louder than fuc" to me too.
 
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