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heatsink /fan recommendations

I

ITPaladin

Golden Member
I am looking at buying the 2500+ XP-M and OCing it.
What fan / heatsink would you recommend to add on to the purchase?

I have Arctic Silver 5 at home already.


 
The new Thermalright SI-97 is the best socket A heatsink and is already available at several retailers (e.g. svc.com) for $35. Add fan that meets your noise/cfm criteria and get working! 😉
 
No idea what cfm stands for...

I was looking at the Volcano 12...?

I am not a long time enthusiast.

I have no ideas about noise.

I run a standard Antec full tower bought at CompUSA years ago that I never really needed.

I have a new NF7-S v2 board with older Athlon Tbird 1 GHZ.

I recently upgraded to two 512 RAM PC3200.

The power supply is the standard 3xx watt that came with the case. I don't really know exactly what it is.
It's probably no more than 350 watts.

I can't find your heatsink anywhere on my normal reputable websites (epinions, pricegrabber - ie Newegg, Zipzoomfly, etc).

Spending the same amount on JUST the heatsink ($35) seems a bit wrong to me.

 
Thermaltake is going to be louder than it says (Volcano, ugh). Thermalright heatsinks, the XP/SI ones espeically, appear to do very well with medium/slow fans, even overclocking (haven't seen actual SI-97 vs. XP-90 benches, but the SI-97 vs. HT101 w/ Panaflo M is very telling).

Thermaltake stuff isn't really bad, but not as good as they advertise. Thermalright and Zalman are absolutely excellent. Thermalright will be a bit more, but offer better perfomance (~$50 w/ fan), where Zalman might get you a little quieter ($~35). Thermaltake is middle-of-the-road and gaudy.

If you want significantly better than retail, you'll need to spend $30. It really is that simple. The good news is $30 now does get you better than $60 did a year ago.

BTW, for stores, try SVC and case-mod.com (IMO). Now, if TR would make something like the SI-97 with provisions for all four current sockets, I'd be in heaven, as then $40 or so wouldn't be too bad--it would carry over.
 
So you are saying I need to spend ~$30+ just for a heatsink + what ever the fan will cost?

Oh and let me add that I have never been an overclocking enthusiast.
I am a buyer looking to run a bit faster for cheaper so keep it in 2nd gear so to speak.

I looked up XP 90 and it isnt even for my CPU.

Keep on topic.


 
Check the SI-97.
Anyway, no, you can keep with the retail cooler. What could have been cheaper coolers they just stopped making (AX-7, SK-7, FI). I'd guess they weren't that much cheaper to make than the high performance ones.
 
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a heatsink/fan, get the Zalman 7000A AlCu for ~$30 (includes fan and fan controller). Anything that's less expensive isn't worth it for overclocking. If you want better cooling than the retail heatsink/fan you will need to spend more than what the retail hsf costs.
CFM is a unit for airflow, basically it tells you how much air a certain fan moves in a certain amount of time.
 
About the SI-97:

Technical Spec.:

- Dimension: L116 x W96 x H75 (mm) heatsink only, without fan
- Weight: 280g (heat sink only)
- Application: AMD: Athlon XP Palamino, Thoroughbred, and Barton 2800+ and up


This seems to say to me that I can't use the 2500+ XP-M with it.



 
Your n00bness is showing ever more.
2500+ XP-M < 2800+ (desktop). "2800+ and up," meaning, "people who are overclocking the hell out of their chips, wink wink, nudge nudge."
 
Originally posted by: Cerb
Your n00bness is showing ever more.
2500+ XP-M < 2800+ (desktop). "2800+ and up," meaning, "people who are overclocking the hell out of their chips, wink wink, nudge nudge."
Click to expand...

I don't need to be insulted.

My command of the english language tells me that Barton 2800+ and up = 2800+, 3000+, 3200+, etc.

2500+ < 2800+
 
i have a thermalright SL-900A which is just like the SP-97, put a 80mm vantec tornado on it and my 2400+m is runnin at 2.5GHz 41C running seti 24/7
 
Originally posted by: bdomin
Originally posted by: Cerb
Your n00bness is showing ever more.
2500+ XP-M < 2800+ (desktop). "2800+ and up," meaning, "people who are overclocking the hell out of their chips, wink wink, nudge nudge."
Click to expand...

I don't need to be insulted.

My command of the english language tells me that Barton 2800+ and up = 2800+, 3000+, 3200+, etc.

2500+ < 2800+
Click to expand...

Don't worry. It will work fine with your CPU. Application is a not the word they should have used. What they mean when they say Barton 2800+ and up is more of a thermal rating. I.E It's great for cooling higher-end CPUs or overclocking which is what you're doing.

If you're looking for something that won't break the bank, but offer solid cooling:

Thermalright ALX-800 w/H1B Panaflo

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-108&amp;depa=0">
ZALMAN CNPS7000A-AlCu</a>
 
Unfortunately Zalman website says that 7000, among others, are not compatible with my board.

http://www.zalmanusa.com/produ...(AB)_462MBlist_eng.htm

I looked at a few others and they all said the same thing. Odd how so many upper Zalman coolers are incompatible witih NF7-S.

In my reading I do see mentions of mounting holes around the socket. Looking at my board I do see 4 holes around the socket.

I assume these are what is being talked about.


CNPS7000A/B can be compatible with motherboards that have cooler mounting holes around the CPU socket. Please, make sure to check the existence of mounting holes whether your motherboard is listed or not.
Click to expand...

I was looking at the recommended fan for that SI-97. It sure is hard to find it for sale anywhere, much less for sale at the same place that does sell the SI-97.
The only place I found from the list of links on the Thermalright page was Sidewinder. Their page says "Note our current stock of this model does not have a tachometer output".

I assume this means I can't monitor the RPM from the Abit EQ software and BIOS, meaning they can't warn about fan malfunction?

If so is this much of a problem? Can you recommend a fan with this feature?



 
bah I was in the middle of editing but since you posted I will not confuse people....

I found Sidewinder to have a 92mm tach output fan by Panaflo.

The only problem I have about Sidewinder is they only offer USPS priority and Express mail options.


(update: decided to try the SI-97 with the fan from Sidewinder. Since I don't have money presently til next paycheck or two for CPU this will sit around til then.)


 
Originally posted by: bdomin
No idea what cfm stands for...

I was looking at the Volcano 12...?

I am not a long time enthusiast.

I have no ideas about noise.

I run a standard Antec full tower bought at CompUSA years ago that I never really needed.

I have a new NF7-S v2 board with older Athlon Tbird 1 GHZ.

I recently upgraded to two 512 RAM PC3200.

The power supply is the standard 3xx watt that came with the case. I don't really know exactly what it is.
It's probably no more than 350 watts.

I can't find your heatsink anywhere on my normal reputable websites (epinions, pricegrabber - ie Newegg, Zipzoomfly, etc).

Spending the same amount on JUST the heatsink ($35) seems a bit wrong to me.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to change the subject on you, but not only would you have to purchase a new CPU cooler, I would also recommend purchasing a new power supply. Antec is a great PSU, but I would check the amps on the +12V rail. If you plan to overclock, you should have atleast 17A on the 12V.

Here's a an inexpensive quality PSU the has +12V ~ 22A.



Super-Flower
 
In another thread I asked about Sonata that has a 380 watt supply.

It will have to wait as I can only afford to spend $100 /month preferably. This month I screwed up my banking so I have less money to spend.

One piece at a time.


 
Originally posted by: bdomin
In another thread I asked about Sonata that has a 380 watt supply.

It will have to wait as I can only afford to spend $100 /month preferably. This month I screwed up my banking so I have less money to spend.

One piece at a time.
Click to expand...

I know where you are coming from. Here's a CPU Cooler that I heard good reviews on. It's also very quiet.

Thermaltake
 
Just wanted to offer that the Volcano 12 works perfectly fine w/ a mobile 2500xp. I live in the middle of nowhere (near fairbanks AK) and I needed to find a good heatsink locally and the Volcano 12 was all I could find.

IT IS LOUD at full speed (6000+ rpm), but it includes rheostats (adjuster knob thing) that will let you manually control the speed of your fan. I've found that at about 3000 rpm it's not very loud at all and pushes enough air to keep things working.

Just a workd of advice if you do decide to get it, don't use the thermal diode for automatic adjustments. If you're OC'ing it will immediately send the vocano up past 4500rpm which is annoyingly loud at times. WHen your're not gaming, just crank the thing down to 2000rpm and you won't hear a thing.
 
I received the SI-97 + Panaflo high speed 92mm fan from Sidewinder today.

Unfortunately there are no instructions on mounting this beast. I had no idea it was that big too 🙂

Now I have to wait for more money to buy the CPU.

Tough decisions since I may be playing EverQuest II with its huge disc requirements compared to my 40 GB drive.

What to buy first ....
 
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