AM2 cpu cooler...

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freeloader1969

2[H]4U
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Dec 13, 2003
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I'm looking for a decent CPU cooler for my AM2 3200+@ 2.7ghz (1.45 vcore). I've had the chip at 3.0ghz at 1.6 vcore, but way too hot for any safe testing. The stock cooler reaches 60 deg C under load at 1.45 and can go as high as 70 deg C at 1.6 :D

I'm looking at the following...

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=4708

or a watercooling kit such as...

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=3588

Anyone have any good experiences with these coolers? Temperatures at 1.45 to 1.50 and such? Thanks.
 
thats pretty much one of the best air coolers available, and that water cooling kit is badass... my friend has one in his Antec Lanboy. I'd personally go w/ the air cooler.
 
I'd get the Zalman, don't need to deal with the hassle of water, and it should cool just as well (if not better).
 
i like my water setup. nice and ghetto :D

water.jpg
 
I'm EXTREMELY happy with my CNPS9500 :) My 4200+ X2 is running at 2.6 @ stock voltage, and barely gets over 45C while running two instances of F@H at the absolute lowest fan speed. It's seriously near silent, and was the easiest HSF I've ever installed.
 
I didn't think there was a non-copper version of the 9500....I know the am2 version is plated with something but it's still copper
 
Yeah, the AM2 9500 is chrome plated copper & has a green LED, there is no Alu version. The chrome plating actually makes it easier to clean the dust out of it :)
 
saturnine2 said:
Yeah, the AM2 9500 is chrome plated copper & has a green LED, there is no Alu version. The chrome plating actually makes it easier to clean the dust out of it :)
Click to expand...

^the man knows what he's talking about

runs very quiet considering my case is open most of the time
 
So far I have been able to get up to 2.8Ghz on my AM2 4200 with the Zalman. not bad for air. Unless you are in a rush, Thermalright is going to release the mounting clips for the Ultra-120s this month as well. It should do an even better job of cooling (at least, thats what past comparisons on 939 procs showed).
 
uzum4ki said:
quit the bragging. :p
Click to expand...
I know! How many times must we see that image?

About AM2 cooling, there are very few HSFs right now and the CNPS9500 AM2 is the only decent one I can find... A question about it though. Can it be mounted facing in which ever direction I want? I need to find an HSF made for blowing horizontally across the board, parallel with the interface panel, and up.

Really I'd like to find a nice big passive HSF for it. ;P
 
saturnine2 said:
Yeah, the AM2 9500 is chrome plated copper & has a green LED, there is no Alu version. The chrome plating actually makes it easier to clean the dust out of it :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification. To me it look like anodized alu and was like :eek: at the price and now it makes sense being that it is copper. In late July or august I will be upgrading coolers possibly or going wc'ing but have no clue wether to get the Tuniq or the Zalman. I have heard their performance is pretty equal but Zalman is smaller and Tuniq you can replace the fan.
 
Options:
  • Thermaltake CL-P0268 Mini Typhoon
  • Nmedia Icetank
  • Thermalright ULTRA-120
  • Zalman CNPS9500 AM2

Unfortunately the Thermalright ULTRA-120 is too tall for my case (I have exactly 120mm from the mount to the panel) and the Nmedia Icetank and the Thermaltake intakes from the top which is no good for airflow in this case. So the Zalman is currently my only choice. Now if anyone can confirm it can be rotated 90 degrees, then I'll bend the flages down and stick it in.
 
Okay, after simply observing the pictures of the Zalman CNPS9500 it looks like its default attaching orientation is exactly what I need (without any extra mounting bracket).

I also read that it's only about 10dB quieter than the stock HSF at lowest fan speed... not good enough. Still looking for a passive solution.
 
you are not going to hear the zalman if your board supports fan throttling.

It is just quiet... even at full speed... look at that thing... look at how the air pathway is not obstructed... the fan is not blowing down into the board... but to the side where you can easily point it to be exhausted.

that zalman will give you the best temps out of any integrated coolnig solution. by integrated I mean comes with it's own fan...

there are other enthusiast coolers that require you to find your own fan... and they *may* have potential to draw more watts of heat... but it is just easier to get the damn zalman.

as far as passive... if the scythe ninja has AM2 mounting, then that would be the best passive possibility.
 
Well it's all opinion based, but after looking through a few reviews of both this and it's earlier counterpart, measured dBs have only been mildly lower than stock. And stock is LOUD.

If it's more than 30dBs at 1 metre then it's too loud. Currently even my silent Seagate discs are the second loudest components in my case after the stock HSF.
 
it's not loud at all... the zalman cooler is not what I hear coming from my case.

hell... plug in the fanmate2 that comes with the cooler and lower the speed to a level you will never hear...

all the cooler needs is mild air movement to work.
 
BTW, the Zalman can be mounted in either direction. You can fit the bracket between the pipes in case your mobo has the CPU bracket in the "wrong" direction. I have the Zalman and it's great. I have the fan on the lowest setting and it still cools well, plus I think its the coolest looking heatsink ever made. :D
 
Thanks man, but I actually answered my own question already. :D
Anyway, I'll scour the local clone shops this weekend for the Zalman. Considering that two 120mm fans are directly beside the socket I might get away without running the syncs fan at all. We shall see!
 
actaully... when you get the heatsink, you will notice how the fan attaches, and you will see that you can actually unscrew and detach it... and have a perfectly symetrical passive sink...

you will see... you can remove the fan and not have a bunch of mounting stuff to obstruct air... it your 120mm fans are good enough it would work... esp if you do not plan to overclock, it would probably work well too.
 
Yashu said:
It is just quiet... even at full speed
Click to expand...

I dunno about your cooler but I've found that to be entirely untrue. If I plug my CNPS 9500 in to a molex connector to run at full speed or set full speed in the bios it's damn loud. Quieter than my old Volcano-11 or whatever it was, but still damn loud.

Fortunately it never gets up to full speed. Infact, I'm left wishing that this damn DFI bios could be set to NOT turn the fan off when temps get under 25 degrees...
 
I just emailed Scythe and their Ninja is not AM2 compatible. They're comming out with a new Ninja soon that will be AM2 compatible though.
 
After some vicious bending, cutting, and modifying I managed to get the CNPS9500 AM2 into my case. I put a resistor on the line to the fan so it's barely even turning now, but it makes the difference between 45 and 40 degrees celsius at full load on both cores with no noticable change in noise. Unfortunately now my hard discs are the loudest things in my case. :(

There's no real point in turning the fans on since the temperature never goes under 35 at full load with every fan in my case blitzing out or over 45 with everything off.

45 might seem hot to some of you, but it's a lot better than the 80 dregrees celsius that my Socket A has been running for a couple years now.
 
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