Best and Quietest Socket A coolers

[metroplex]

I have an Abit KG7-RAID and KX7-333, both Socket A for Athlon XPs up to 2100+ / 2500+ respectively.

I would like to know who sells the quiestest but best coolers for these type of CPUs (Palomino, power mongers)

Thanks in advance

 

[natethegreat]

This works for me

 

[metroplex]

cool! any other suggestions or recommendations?

 

[Zepper]

I use Masscool FalconRock. Cheap and with a little surface job can keep up with the best of them. Stock fan is pretty quiet and easily replaced with better if it doesn't suit. Take fan off while mounting to CPU, then remount fan. Makes it much easier to get proper size screwdriver into clip. Saves on die crunches...

.bh.

 

[Operandi]

Thermalright SI-97 or Zalman 7000ALCu.

 

[metroplex]

Does the SI-97A use a cooling fan? It appears to simply clip over the CPU core.

 

[Jhhnn]

I'm with zepper- the masscool falconrock is a bargain, as is the identical spire whisperrock. That's not to say that they're an overclocker's wet dream, but they're way better than stock performance wise and a lot quieter... they come with pre-applied thermal grease and triple tab clip. Remove the fan before mounting the sink- it's a lot easier that way... I also like the fairly wide clog resistant fin spacing- very important in home environments with pets, dust, and non-maintenance...

The manufacturer will occasionally change one fan for another, but it doesn't matter much as they seem to be able to do so w/o any significant change in noise or performance...

 

[metroplex]

I guess I'll order a few of the Falcon Rocks and lap the bottom.

 

[Zepper]

Jhhnn,
. I think Speeze/Spire/etc. have all rolled back into the Masscool name.


The thermalrights do need a fan but they don't come with one - they have a special clip that holds them on the top. The model number indicates the size of the fan. 97 uses 92mm fan, etc.

.bh.

 

[Jhhnn]

The Speeze name is definitely gone, zepper, but they're still marketing under both the masscool and spire labels, near as I can tell.

An honest bargain, whatever label is on 'em.

There's some slight variation in manufacturing, metroplex, but the coolers in question generally have good surface finish, requiring nothing but installation. Fuss with 'em all you want, but any improvements are pretty negligible...

 

[metroplex]

I just read up on a few reviews where the guys were getting 58C no-load, and after lapping the heatsinks, they were getting 38C no-load.

 

[metroplex]

Update: the Masscool FalconRock II's are a sham. The thermal resistance is about 0.56 *C/W, which means at 100F ambient temperature, an AMD Duron (37W max thermal rating) would be running at 60C with this HSF unit. I even lapped the surface and used only a tiny drop of Arctic Silver.

I read through some of the heatsink reviews on Overclockers and found it odd that a few 120mm HSF units with a higher thermal resistance were getting top reviews while the HSF units with thermal resistances of around 0.1 *C/W were briefly mentioned (a temp delta of less than 10C was observed with these units).

I'm going to just get a Thermaltake Smart Fan II and use it on my Thermalright AX-7 (thermal resistance of about 0.3 *C/W). The SI-97A is a great setup but rather pricey for not much better performance than the AX-7.

 

[Jhhnn]

I'd suggest that you review your technique, Metroplex, as what you're saying runs entirely contrary to my own experience, and that of many others. It's extremely important, for example, that the clip fulcrum point be directly over the cpu die, rather than in the center of the sink... and that the installation not be reversed, either.

i'm completely surprised that they didn't work as well for you as they have for me, which is not to offer you any slight, at all. Doublecheck, please, and report back...

 

[imported_Kiwi]

(IMO.) The most thorough Heat Sink tests and comparisons are at Frosty Tech. I've used the Falcon Rock that has the copper core and plastic 80 mm fan on an unlocked XP 2200 Thoroughbred A that was running at XP 2800 speed, and it didn't exactly stay cool, despite being in a well ventilated case. It wasn't excessively hot, but it also wasn't ever really at full load while that HSF was on it.

There was an eBay seller with a number of the Falcon Rocks and Whisper Rocks to sell and with a Buy it Now price of $4.95, plus $6-something shipping, I bought one of each. The Whisper Rock IV was the one with the aluminum fan that moves almost no air at all. I did not bother trying that one with its original fan.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1512

:Q

 

[metroplex]

With a thermal resistance of .558-.56 *C/W, the Falcon Rock II's performance in my applications seems to be the norm. My Xp2100+ has a thermal rating of about 65W. The Duron 900 is only 37W, but the idle no load temp is 45*C w/ an ambient of 25*C. And that is with a 40+ cfm 80mm fan.

 

[Leper Messiah]

SLK-948?

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: metroplex
Update: the Masscool FalconRock II's are a sham. The thermal resistance is about 0.56 *C/W, which means at 100F ambient temperature, an AMD Duron (37W max thermal rating) would be running at 60C with this HSF unit. I even lapped the surface and used only a tiny drop of Arctic Silver.

I read through some of the heatsink reviews on Overclockers and found it odd that a few 120mm HSF units with a higher thermal resistance were getting top reviews while the HSF units with thermal resistances of around 0.1 *C/W were briefly mentioned (a temp delta of less than 10C was observed with these units).

I'm going to just get a Thermaltake Smart Fan II and use it on my Thermalright AX-7 (thermal resistance of about 0.3 *C/W). The SI-97A is a great setup but rather pricey for not much better performance than the AX-7.

If you already had a AX-7 what was the point of getting a different heatsink?

 

[jonspd]

I like thermalright I have used an SLK800a, SK7, SLK900a, and now I'am using a slk948u on my a64.

 

[metroplex]

Originally posted by: Operandi

Originally posted by: metroplex
Update: the Masscool FalconRock II's are a sham. The thermal resistance is about 0.56 *C/W, which means at 100F ambient temperature, an AMD Duron (37W max thermal rating) would be running at 60C with this HSF unit. I even lapped the surface and used only a tiny drop of Arctic Silver.

I read through some of the heatsink reviews on Overclockers and found it odd that a few 120mm HSF units with a higher thermal resistance were getting top reviews while the HSF units with thermal resistances of around 0.1 *C/W were briefly mentioned (a temp delta of less than 10C was observed with these units).

I'm going to just get a Thermaltake Smart Fan II and use it on my Thermalright AX-7 (thermal resistance of about 0.3 *C/W). The SI-97A is a great setup but rather pricey for not much better performance than the AX-7.

If you already had a AX-7 what was the point of getting a different heatsink?

It wasn't doing too great of a job on the XP2100+. It was rated only up to XP2000+ Palomino cores, but it's thermal resistance was about 0.32 *C/W. The FalconRock II was listed to work with up to XP3400+, until I found its thermal resistance spec.

 

[Spike]

I am currently using a Alpha PAL8045 with a low speed CM 80mm fan. Works very well though is still slightly too loud for my tastes. Since I am building a new rig I took the opportunity to add a SI-97a to my shopping list so I am going to try that out on my Barton 2500+ @ 2.2ghz to see how well it does. If it can keep the same temps (46-50 load) with less noise I will be very pleased.

-spike

 

[metroplex]

It looks like the Barton 2500+ core has a max thermal power rating of 68.3W, so at 100F ambient with a HSF unit w/ thermal resistance of 0.32, that's about 60*C peak.

 

[metroplex]

The Delta Temp for my AX-7 / Duron 1800 combo is about 5*C at idle.
That puts the thermal resistance of the AX-7 / FalconRock 2 fan and Duron 1800 combo at around 0.13 *C/W!!