Should I replace my retail p4 fan and heatsink?

[Rick67]

I've got a 2.53 P4 (Retail Boxed) and I was thinking of replacing the heatsink and fan with a Thermaltake P4 Dragon 478. Is it worth it or should I just use the fan and heatsink that came with the CPU? My case (Lian Li PC-61) doesn't have a see through side so I don't need it for looks. I've heard this fan/heatsink is load as hell and that would drive me nuts!

 

[Bartman39]

Take a look here this might help...?

 

[Mikki]

The retail hsf is excellent, esp. if you're not oc'ing. Even if you do, they're still very good, I still use one (for the moment). HTH

 

[THUGSROOK]

here's a link on how to mod the retail fan ~ no more variable speeds!

<EDIT> either OC.com is down right now or they deleted the tread.

 

[Rick67]

THUGSROOK,

Your link doesn't work.

 

[THUGSROOK]

its working now

 

[SpeedyGonzales]

Rick67,

if you do not overclock your CPU or use a higher Vcore to achieve higher clockspeeds, than go with the standard HSF. A good replacement costs you at least 30-40$ and it is only worth it, if you plan to do serious overclocking.

I can not speak for the 2.53Ghz CPU, but my 1.8a was running with the stock HSF at 2.4Ghz. I purchased a ICH-L71 with a 4200rpm fan and that gave me 3-4 degrees less heat running the CPU at full load (in a case with excellent airflow). For heavy overclockers this may make sense, but even in my case (overclocking already 33%), I am not sure, the investment was worth it.

I know, that some people here invest regardless of the value. Their motivation is to get the last Mhz out of their CPU.

To cut a long story short: If you want to overclock and run the CPU with a higher Vcore, than post the temperatur results here using the stock HSF. The professional overclockers will tell you, if buying a new HSF is worth the investment.

Cheers
Speedy

 

[Duvie]

Screw that thermaltake volcano....pure crap...I tried one and it could not effectively cool my oc I have now back when it was 2.66ghz...

Even roundup review I read awhile back showed that heatsink was a POS....

Get a Alpha 8942 with a goo 80mm fan that can do 45-50 cfm with 38dba or less...

 

[Mikki]

There's a Swiftech I'm looking at right now that's supposed to be pretty awesome (in addition to the Alpha), SupermanCK was talking about it in an earlier post, looks really good...

 

[oldfart]

As others have said, the stock unit is very good. No reason at all to change it unless you are doing some extreme overclocking. As for disabling the variable speed feature, I wouldn't. All you will gain is a lot of noise.

 

[THUGSROOK]

on the other hand ~ some ppl wouldnt be caught dead with a retail fan

 

[oldfart]

Its interesting that there is a different mod for 1.6 and 1.8. 2.0 and 2.2, and above 2.2 in that forum that Thugs linked to. What are the differences between the different HS/Fans? I would think a 2.53 would have a bigger HS/F than a 1.6A. In the S370 days, every CPU had a different HS/Fan. Has anyone compared them side by side?