What AMD stock HSF version is the best?

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Yashu

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 18, 2005
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Ok... This is between the two common variations of AMD heatpipe stock coolers.

This one?
rev-quadcorecooling-amd2LG.jpg


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Or this one?
rev-fx60-cooler.jpg


I know people say the newer design is better, but I know that some newer AMD CPUs are being shipped with the older design... so I am curious what you guys think?
 
top heatsink is better, bottom fan is better. i bet they're roughly the same overall
 
I thought the same thing.

I think I am going to buy one of the top (I guess opteron stock?) ones off ebay for 5 bucks to play with it.

Right now I have the x2 4 pipe one... and it is not bad, but I might try the other one... I mean why not? A hobby is a hobby... hehe.

I wonder if there is a review out there where both were tested.
 
Haha, then I would be out two coolers to play with!

I think I am going to order that other one... I can update when I get it and be able to make a good comparison.
 
I have both and have modded the fans (shorted thermal sensor) on both. The top one is can pull out more heat but at the expence of noise. There is really not much difference between the two.
 
just wondering but why is the heatsink on the top fan better. i thought the second one was better. also just FYI, stock opteron heatsink comes with the second one at least that''s the one that came with my opteron 175.
 
Do only 939 CPUs come with those HSFs? My 89W AM2 X2 3800+ came with a regular (no heatpipes) HSF.
 
I like the bottom one better because of the clip mechanism. You can install that cooler in LITERALLY 15 seconds once you do it once or twice.
 
theelectic said:
Do only 939 CPUs come with those HSFs? My 89W AM2 X2 3800+ came with a regular (no heatpipes) HSF.
Click to expand...

The heatpipe heatsinks came with the 4400+ and higher. I think the only reason the top one is better is because the fan on that one (70mm) will blow more air (but at ~6000rpm)than the bottom (80mm) (lower rpm's and quieter). For stock coolers they are both great when the fan mod is done but they are loud. When operating without the fan mod they are still good and quiet. You can buy them for $17 incl shipping but AC freezer pro 64 is the same price and when noise is a concideration its a better cooler.
 
you can zip tie an 80mm fan to the top one.
I have seen very little, if any difference between the two when they both use an 80mm fan.
 
The top one has more surface area.

Even with only two heatpipes, they still curl through in 4 places.

I don't think the 70mm fan is better... I don't think that is why. The 80mm definately moves more air even at lower speed.

I am going to be able to test it soon enough.

I have both and have modded the fans (shorted thermal sensor) on both.
Click to expand...

Does this mean that the fan runs at full speed all the time?
 
Yashu said:
I think I am going to buy one of the top (I guess opteron stock?) ones off ebay for 5 bucks to play with it.

Right now I have the x2 4 pipe one... and it is not bad, but I might try the other one... I mean why not? A hobby is a hobby... hehe.

I wonder if there is a review out there where both were tested.
Click to expand...

A review claims that the top cooler outperforms quite a few other coolers it's tested.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1962&page=5

I just did get one of ebay for $15 shipped and threw it in. There's no difference at idle speeds at all (versus plain aluminum stock cooler), but driving the cpu overclocked/volted it seems to be MUCH better.

Also..fyi-- due to the orientation, this cooler exhausts [very hot] air onto the DIMMs (depending on mobo of course).
 
venm11 said:
A review claims that the top cooler outperforms quite a few other coolers it's tested.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1962&page=5
Click to expand...

Look at the noise level it took to get that temp though, 63dB!!!! On high it's twice as loud as an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro but does 6C better... on low it's the same noise-wise (roughly) but does 6C worse.

Not to derail this thread, but what I find more interesting is that their tests look to be well calibrated - again that ACF64P rises 23.2C over ambient with a 125W heat load, for 0.1856C/W. My rough calculations with my own setup give me a 28C rise over ambient with a 143W heat load, for 0.195C/W. Very close, which makes me feel good about the calibration of the thermal sensors in my mobo, they're at least in the ballpark :)
 
Yashu said:
The top one has more surface area.

Even with only two heatpipes, they still curl through in 4 places.

I don't think the 70mm fan is better... I don't think that is why. The 80mm definately moves more air even at lower speed.
I am going to be able to test it soon enough.
Does this mean that the fan runs at full speed all the time?
Click to expand...
Both have 4 heatpipes. The top one has 2 on each side. The top one with the 70mm fan spins a lot faster than the 80mm.so it blows more air and is louder.
As to the fan mod you can run them at full speed but I do not. On most 939pim MB's you can go into the BIOS and set the % fan speed (I found 55% (on the 70mm) to give the most toleable noise while keeping my X2 3800 O/C to 2.75ghz@ 1.5v at 50deg C. Full speed can get me to 44deg but the noise is awfull. Some BIOSs do not allow you to set the fan speed. For those I use SpeedFan. I currently have 2 of the top ones, 1 bottom one , and 2 AC 64 pros all on O/C dual core machines folding 24x7 @ 100%. I like the AC 64Pros the best for their low noise and good performance. But the stock heatpipe coolers are good also if you controll the noise. The stock one also cool (if you run them a bit faster than stock) the regulators and memory.
 
I have q-fan control... so basically I would leave the temp sensor alone... because q-fan speeds up to full under full load.

I could also try using a resistor and leaving the q-fan control alone. I will play with it when I get it in the mail.
 
[BRO]Alaskan;1030553400 said:
I have both and have modded the fans (shorted thermal sensor) on both. The top one is can pull out more heat but at the expence of noise. There is really not much difference between the two.
Click to expand...

I thought they regulated the fan based on the cpu's internal sensor. If there's a sensor on the fan... it would only regulate based on the ambient system air temperature.

In any rate... how do you do this?
 
It certainly has it's own sensor (probably because not all motherboards have the thermal throttling).

It is not tied to ambient though... I don't think... it definately has the sensor somewhere on the heatsink where it can get a good result.
 
FYI there is a temperature sensor on the fan that DOES use case temp to adjust the speed. Take a look for yourself. It is the little green thermisistor sticking out of the hub just under the blades.
 
if it is within the heatsink fins and area it isn't technically using ambient case temp. The thermistor is going to respond rather directly to the temperature of the heatsink by convection and radiation.

I would say case temps are secondary but still important.
 
um, it is on the fan, not the heatsink, and case air is rushing past it. While I agree there is probably a small amount of heat being radiated to it convection is pretty much being defeated by the fan.
 
Does it catch some exhaust airflow? The top heatsink appears to be designed to circulate some exhaust air back into the intake (observe the 2 top finny areas).

But what's the point of using a thermistor if cool-n-quiet is regulating the fan speed anyway? OR, does cool-n-quiet not regulate fan speed at all?

So if i short the thermistor leads, the fan will run at its full ~5400rpm?
 
Justin:

If it reacts to mostly ambient, then it must have an extremely sensitive thermal throttling range.

What I mean is, the ambient temp. in a well ventilated case does not go up very much even under full load.

Even with the motherboard on the bench, that fan throttles up under full load when you have settings that are going to make the CPU hot (overclocking, extra volts).

I certainly know this from messing with the new one with the 80mm fan.

It actually does a pretty good job of knowing when to speed up even when ambient temps aren't an issue, such as running it on a bench.

venm11:

I am almost 100% sure AMD included this thermal throttling feature because they wanted to make sure that in any kind of stock build there was going to be functional throttling. This way, even the noobiest of noobs are still protected and AMD is going to have less heat related RMAs.

So far, I like to use a mix of bios control and the thermal sensor on the HSF. It's super quiet under light load and still has the power to cool if it gets extremely hot. Hopefully the top one will cool even better when I get it.
 
venm11 said:
I thought they regulated the fan based on the cpu's internal sensor. If there's a sensor on the fan... it would only regulate based on the ambient system air temperature.

In any rate... how do you do this?
Click to expand...

The temp sensor adjusts the fan based on ambient temp. On the 80mm fan short the thermistor (the little green thing under the fan LOL) on the 70mm fan there is a small piece of a circuit board sticking out under the fan. Short the thermister soldered on it (it a very small black rectangular component). Then get your hearing protection.
 
I had a chance to test both fans now, and I think I am more impressed with the updated (bottom) one.

They both give me the same max temp, yet the 80mm fan in the bottom one is much MUCH quieter. Those that have said the 70mm one was loud are RIGHT. Even through my p180, it sounds like a constantly ringing whine that would just drive anyone nuts unless they were in a server room.

I am going to switch back to the 80mm one and then leave it be. the 70mm one can go into one of my spare builds.
 
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