Recommended HSF for 939 A64 (winnie or venice)

[Streckfus]

I'm waiting until Monday (hopefully not any later) to see what happens with the A64 prices when the Venice core is released, and right now I'm thinking about going with an OEM CPU and buying a HSF separately. I'm going to pick up the 3500+, although I'm not yet sure which core I'm going to get (again, waiting to see what happens when Venice comes out).

Any thoughts on the best setup in regards to HSF/CPU? I don't plan on overclocking, so I know that if I pick up the retail box I'll be fine with the provided thermal paste/pad and HSF, but there tend to be some decent deals on OEM CPUs and I'm thinking I might be able to save some cash going that route. If I went that way, I'd also have to drop $15 on some AS5 in addition to a HSF.

Tough for me to tell which is more cost effective when I'm not sure which HSF's I should be considering! I've got an Antec PlusView1000AMG case so there should be plenty of room....and I'm going to be using the A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo.

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Just buy the retail box and get a warranty. It will come with thermal paste. Arctic silver is overrated.

 

[Streckfus]

But if I can get an OEM CPU and decent HSF for less money than the retail box would cost, then I'd rather go that route. I'll definitely get the retail box if the price is right, but I don't want to count out the possibility of saving money by going OEM & separate HSF.

 

[Doctorweir]

No overclock? What a pity...
I recommend my cooler, of course (Zalman CNPS7700Cu)...but it may be to expensive / overdoing for a non-oc...maybe you can pickup the AlCu-Version which is cheaper and lighter...any way the noise level is great (meaning silent )

 

[ironique]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir

I recommend my cooler, of course (Zalman CNPS7700Cu)

Quiet and efficient.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: ArnoldLayne
Just buy the retail box and get a warranty. It will come with thermal paste. Arctic silver is overrated.

If I'm not mistaken, the thermal compound that comes on retail heatsinks now is Shin Etsu... cause it's DEFINATELY not those little waxy pads they used on Athlon XP heatsinks.

 

[Streckfus]

I might give it a go later on - overclocking that is - but I gotta make sure I'm able to build the thing first!

I've checked out the Zalman before, a little spendy from what I've seen, but not too bad. It looks like a huge mofo, though. And if I'm not mistaken, it requires a bracing bracket that needs to be installed on the bottom of the mobo, right?

 

[Doctorweir]

Right...but no prob to install on the A8N...

 

[Regulator07]

i would reccomend spending the extra couple bucks and getting the retail box with warrenty, then you can put anything you want on or just keep the stock HSF (or somtimes if you look around the retail is the same price as the oem, i got my 3500+ from monarch retail box for $.50 more than oem) the warrenty is nice to have even if you never use it. i got an xp120 on mine and it keeps the cpu cool, no higher that 42 full load and that is with q-fan enabled. works great with an a8n-sli deluxe, cools mosfets and memory. as5 is relatively inexpensive but with the the fan, HS and paste it can add up, but i paid 65 for all three from Sidewindercomputer.

 

[akugami]

Uh...the retail versions of the AMD64 are usually $10 or less more than the OEM version. The retail versions have a 3 year warranty compared to the 30 day warranty on most OEM parts. Tell me why you would want the OEM version again? As for the stock HSF on the Winchester (and presumably Venice) core AMD64's, they work great. I have my Athlon64 3000+ overclocked to 2.5ghz and it's 53C on load. Of course, I'm using Arctic Ceramique and not the thermal pad that came with it. And if you're going to be running at stock speeds, you should just stick with the stock HSF unless you want to have a quieter machine.

 

[Streckfus]

The only reason I'd go for an OEM chip is if it's cheaper than the retail box. Obviously, I'd rather have the retail version because of the warranty, etc. But recently A64's have jumped up in price, and occasionally you'll find an OEM chip for much cheaper than the retail box version, in which case I'd need a separate HSF, hence my question.

Yes, I'd prefer to get a retail box and if the price is right that's the way I'll go. I'm just a little tiffed that a few weeks ago I could've bought the Winchester 3500+ for $274 at ZZF and now I'd have to spend $325 on it, even though the Winchesters are now being phased out to make room for the Venice. Seems they should be cheaper now, not more expensive.

As I said in my original post, I should've bought the CPU then and the video card now. Live and learn, I guess.

 

[akugami]

They're more expensive due to a tigher supply. Give it two to three weeks when the Venice chips start shipping in numbers and the price will drop again. AMD is drying out the market of Winchester cores before releasing the Venice cores. So unless you need it NOW, just wait and the price will drop back to what it was two weeks ago.

 

[chilled]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir
No overclock? What a pity...
I recommend my cooler, of course (Zalman CNPS7700Cu)...but it may be to expensive / overdoing for a non-oc...maybe you can pickup the AlCu-Version which is cheaper and lighter...any way the noise level is great (meaning silent )

I was skeptical at first but the 7700Cu is bloody amazing! I have it set to 5V with the fanmate and have not yet had to increase it for gaming. It keeps my 3200 cool at 33 idle and about 40 load.

You won't regret this baby!

 

[Jeff7181]

If you're not overclocking then you should definately use Cool 'n' Quiet. I have Cool 'n' Quiet enabled right now even though mine's overclocked. It's running at 1125 MHz running on 1.2 volts while sitting idle at the desktop... the CPU fan is spinning at about 2500 RPM... the temp is 30 degrees C. At stock speeds under load it doesn't go above 50 degrees C. So the retail heatsink fan is more than fine for running them at default speeds... and even works for mild overclocks.

 

[user1234]

Originally posted by: ironique

Originally posted by: Doctorweir

I recommend my cooler, of course (Zalman CNPS7700Cu)

Quiet and efficient.

overpriced and not really better than cheaper coolers like thermaltake SilentBoost K8 which costs $25. Isn't the whole idea of overclocking to save money ? so why waste money on the most overpriced cooler if you can get the same result from a much cheapr one ? the same reason why you don't buy a 3800+ when you can get the same performance out of a 3000+. I overclocked my A64 and it never goes above 50C even at sustained full load with the thermaltake HSF, so I recommend it. btw, that's the HSF anandtech (tm) uses in their CPU overclocking reviews.

 

[Gerbil333]

Does anyone know the specs on the stock hsf? I'll probably go with the retail box too, but if it's louder than 28-30dB, I'll go with an aftermarket hsf.

 

[Mucker]

Like useerror1234 says, "you don't need to spend alot to have great cooling" that's why you really need to get this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...380107?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846

Quiet and outstanding cooling performance...

The 360 degree fanning will cool down all of the surrounding components underneath too, not like the 180 degree limited exhaust of the Silent Boost.....

m

 

[Leper Messiah]

XP-120+ panaflo /thread.

 

[superkdogg]

Get the retail package. That HSF is pretty quiet, very good for a stock cooler and also allows the 3 year warranty. To me this is a no-brainer.

BTW, my Winnie OC'd from 1800 MHz to 2700 MHz runs in the 55C range on the stock cooler.

 

[Markfw]

Retail is fine and pretty quiet (unless its in your bedroom), in which case I replaced mine with a Thermaltake Silent Boost K8, almost a silent as the Zalman, but way easier to install.

 

[paladiin]

Another vote for the stock HSF.

I've never used a stock cooling solution before, always spending $20-$30 extra with every CPU I'd get for a 3rd party HSF. This time, I went with the 3000+ retail. Very impressed. While I did put AS5 on it, that really isn't very necessary with the high quality thermal compound that comes with it. I was able to hit 2.4Ghz with my 0503 CPU stable, at around 43C. I had lots of temp headroom to go higher, but my CPU wasn't Prime95 stable at 2.5Ghz, and Windows unstable at 2.6Ghz. At 1.55v, cooling wasn't the problem, the CPU simply couldn't handle anything faster.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

If you're trying to save money, buying a retail CPU is probably the way to go right now.

That being said, though, purchasing a new HSF and thermal compound doesn't have to be a one-shot deal. A tube of thermal paste goes a long way; I'm still using the tube of Arctic Ceramique from two computers ago. And I imagine that I'll be able to use my XP-90 on future socket 939 boards as well.

 

[Streckfus]

Thanks for all the input....I'm probably gonna go with the retail version, although I still don't know which core I'm getting. The Venice was supposed to be released today but I'm not seeing it anywhere as of yet, so at this point the 3500 Winchesters are still sitting at around $300 retail. Ugh.

 

[Mucker]

I just picked up an OEM Winchester 3500+ for $257 shipped from Monarch (I see it rose $15 in one day, it's now $272) My Zalman 7000Cu ($30 from Amazon) is going to keep this Winchie plenty chilly and quiet when I ramp it up....

I expect that the vendors will gouge on the Venice, seeing a 3500+ OEM Venice for @257 anytime soon will suprise me.....

m

 

[user1234]

if AMD's pricing will be the same on the venice as it's for newcastle/winchester than soon enough it will be at the same price. Only question is if and when there will be a 3000+ Venice, as I understand they only gonna have 3500+ Venice and up.