Retail coolers or buy separate?

[JackCaver]

Just wondered what the general view was on using the coolers that come with a retail CPU.
Should you buy a separate cooler or are the bundled ones adequate?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Stock coolers are sufficient. That said, if you plan to OC, or want to achieve better temps, then you should consider an aftermarket cooler.

 

[Operandi]

They work well enough but I always replace them with something quieter as well as better performance. It has also been my experience that stock HS/F'd don't fare as well with dust build up as the better aftermarket solutions like Zalman, Thermalright, and Alpha.

 

[NuAlphaMan]

It depends on what your doing. Stock coolers are sufficient. If you are an OCer, I'd look at getting another cooler. The list that Operandi list is a good place to start.

 

[modestninja]

Also, the AMD stock cooler is much better than the piece of garbage that comes with Intel processors...

 

[Bobthelost]

Some of them are, the one i got with my semperon 3000 was (and is) crap. But it does work wonderfully with the 4 pipe cooler i had spare 😀

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Some of them are, the one i got with my semperon 3000 was (and is) crap. But it does work wonderfully with the 4 pipe cooler i had spare 😀

Yeah, I meant the newer AMD stock coolers with the heatpipes are pretty decent. The old ones are about as good as the ones that still ship with Intels.

 

[Ayah]

I always found stock coolers too loud.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: modestninja

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Some of them are, the one i got with my semperon 3000 was (and is) crap. But it does work wonderfully with the 4 pipe cooler i had spare 😀

Yeah, I meant the newer AMD stock coolers with the heatpipes are pretty decent. The old ones are about as good as the ones that still ship with Intels.

Except i got the crap one only a few months back, while the 939 cooler was sat in my box of spare parts for nine months. 😉

You're right, some AMD heatsinks are excellent, but some are merely "good enough" especially at the low end.

 

[lenjack]

They tend to be very good and will often support light to moderate overclocking.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The stock coolers for AMD's athlon XP series sucked. The ones for the A64 aren't as bad though for dust buildup and noise (especially now with fan control built into many boards now), and some of the higher-end X2s come with a heatpipe cooler which from what I've heard is pretty close to thermalright's XP90 (I think that is the one)

 

[Baked]

Artic Cooling Freezer 64 for AMD
Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 for Intel

Good for quiet cooling if you don't OC, and good cooling if you do OC.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: JackCaver
Just wondered what the general view was on using the coolers that come with a retail CPU...

IMHO, 'you' used to pay a LOT extra for boxed coolers, e.g. a factory reference fan -- they were the best!

These days, with the latest Intel CD2 offering, for instance... 'they' should be ashamed of themselves!!!

Go with an aftermarket cooler... 😉