Barton 3200+ seeks HSF, good times, games, just chilliing

[mikeford]

N2U400A motherboard with an Athlon XP 3200+ cpu (barton), currently running the retail box fan that came with my Sempron 2600+, and idling at 52C during bios setup and post, but not making it to windows at full speed yet.

This is "supposed" to be an old budget system I tweak up a bit to tide me over before I go with a new PCIe based system, but like all hot rod projects its a rat gnawing at my wallet. Lots of Socket A HSF are in the $15 to $20 shipped range, and for the last couple days I have been sorting through them, researching and discarding. Many that were very good and popular 3+ years ago have totally vanished, and unfortunately in most cases its the looks good cools bleh that are still around. Here is my list in progress that I am looking for comments or additions to, prices are shipped, but without Cal tax.

WhisperRock V $18 Quiet, but bare min of cooling.
AeroFlow2 Cu $18 not quiet, med cool, opinions very.
Dr Thermal TI-V77L $20 not quiet, some rate high cooling, opinions vary. some issue with Cu location.
Volcano 11+ $28 sounds like volcano, cooling rank again not real clear, but well liked.
Silent Boost RX K7 $30 quiet, better than retail box cooler a bit.

FTW
CoolerMaster Jet 7+ $14 louder than anything, pretty darn cool, wow hope this isn't a price mistake ultra cheap from Dealsonics.com

 

[Zap]

How about keeping an eye out for units that you may be able to take with you to a newer platform? You may pay a bit more, but it may save you when upgrade time comes. BTW, most cross platform HSFs are for socket A/370/478/LGA775/754/939/940, but many don't work with AM2.

 

[Steve]

You're overthinking it, soldier. Go see my latest post in your other thread

 

[Steve]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1930697&enterthread=y
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=193402
http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174788
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1101096

 

[mikeford]

I did look at all the HSF from the first thread you link to. The SLK 900A is one of the HIGHEST rated for cooling, but its way out of my budget.

Second link, again mostly beyond my budget, or not well rated for use a with a 3200+ (most get 5 starts from people running half that speed).

Third/forth link, deja vu all over again.

Bottom line, 3200+ is NOT a good choice for a HTPC, its HOT and needs a LOT of noisy cooling under load. Expensive heatpipe cooler with a big fan will have the lowest noise/cooling, otherwise you need a big well constructed all copper with a big noisy fan. I bought the Jet 7+ last night for $14 shipped, take off before the weekend I hope. My "HTPC" is only going to be on for games or xfer video off the CableCo DVR to archive on my drive, so hopefully the noise won't be too annoying.

 

[Steve]

I can't even find the Jet 7+ on Coolermaster's website I also have what may be an 800A or a 900A with a different fan I bought on here for like $15, but initially it didn't seem to do so well. I think the King of the Bartons is a viable HTPC option given the right cooling, and that may even need to be water cooling. When I get back to the HTPC project I may try the Thermaltake Beetle or Big Typhoon if the Silent Boost isn't cutting it.

 

[mikeford]

HTPC can run very effectively on a very low power system, but it then requires hardware encoding, which Ati only has on the new Theater cards like the 550 and 650.

This is just going to be a tide me over system until all the HDCP, CableCard etc. issues get sorted out, and no I am not going to be buying Vista for a HTPC.

 

[sjwaste]

I have an HTPC built on a Barton 2500+ and it's just not fast enough to keep up with 1080i content, even using hardware deinterlacing (Geforce 6200). I'd say screw the barton and get an A64 and an ASRock mobo w/ an AGP slot. You can reuse your ram and vidcard then, and have something that will keep up with high def content.

 

[mikeford]

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-213-1.htm has a nice picture and description, but seems like most of the expensive K7 coolers are gone now.

 

[mikeford]

Until the HDCP and cablecard stuff is sorted out, no point in sinking money into HTPC. The main advantage of a HTPC is scaling directly to the native resolution of your HD display, and until you can handle all the HD content through HTPC, why bother? Fairly clearly HDCP is NOT something that will be possible to add to an old system.