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Athlon 64 Venice Stock Cooling

N

nwrigley

Senior member
I was curious what your opinions were on the stock heatsink and fan on the Athlon 64 Venice core CPU. I'm also wondering what type of thermal compound they have in the retail package. I couldn't find any information about the thermal compound (or if there even is any). Assuming that they do ship it with some sort of thermal tape, should I use that or is it worth it to get some Artic 5. The CPU will never be overclocked, so I didn't know if it was worth the $11 to pick up some Artic 5. Thanks for any help.
 
If you wont overclock then there isnt much point to upgrading any of the cooling unless you want to reduce noise. Even then, stock cooling is not that loud anyway.
 
Even if you do overclock there isn't much point in upgrading unless you're shooting for 3 GHz. I have mine at 2.6, overvolted too, and it runs 34C idle and mid 50's under load running Prime 95.

*EDIT* It's my understanding that the thermal pad that's on the heatsink from AMD is made by Shin Etsu. I removed it and used Arctic Silver 5. I seriously doubt it makes any difference. It's not the old crappy wax pads they used to use, it actually looks like regular thermal compound from a tube applied with by machine so it looks like a pad. It comes off like a really thick thermal compound.
 
I've got a completely stock cooling system and a 3200+ running @ 2.4. It idles 35 and under Prime95 stress/stability test goes to no more than 42. Might get another degree or so with the video card running hot, but at those temps I really don't care.

And yeah, it's just thermal tape.
 
Heatsink is crappy, but venice cpus are surprisingly cool. Fan is noticable, but not what I'd call loud. Personally I'd upgrade the cooling just so I could use a silent fan and still get better temps. But if you dont have the money, you don't need to upgrade it.
 
I use zalman's "fan mate 2" or "1" rpm adjusters. With low temps, you can run your fan as low as 2500 and still get adequate cooling.
 
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