Which AM2 coolers are compatible with AM2?

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JimmiG

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A lot of manufacturers claim their coolers are compatible with AM2/3, but in reality they are not. This is because the AM2 socket is rotated 90 degrees compared to S775. Sure, you can fit the cooler on the socket, but if the tower-type heatsink isn't properly oriented (fan blowing the air upwards, downwards or forward instead of back towards the rear exhaust fan), cooling performance suffers greatly.

In particular, I'm looking at the various Zalman coolers - I know some can be rotated, but which ones?
I'm also looking at others like those from Thermalright, Noctua etc. Any coolers that are particularly well suited for AM2/3 CPUs? They don't have to be tower heatsinks, but if they are, it must be possible to orient them correctly.
 
well first of all the "right way" to orient a cooler is dependent on what case flow and exhaust fans you have. if you have both top and read exhaust it makes no difference, although to me most coolers look better blowing out the rear exhaust fan. i understand what youre saying though. i was kinda pissed when i got my new m4n82 to find out teh cooler was oriented facing up. just didnt look right. fixed that by getting a corsair h50 but my case allows for it.
 
generally almost all rifle style or mutiple heat pipe heatsinks use the standard bracket which orients the cooler facing up.. there are a few out there on the other hand that use a custom mounting bracket that allows for the cooler to be placed in any direction while still using the stock am2/am3 bracket on the motherboard.. the one i know off the top of my head that allows it is the sunbeam core contact heatsink.. there are couple others but i cant remember exactly which ones they are..
 
if you have both top and read exhaust it makes no difference
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True, however very few cases have a top fan. The standard configuration is one or more exhaust fans in the rear and maybe one side panel fan. The PSU fan might act as a top fan, but in my experience the airflow isn't enough. Also mobo components which are meant to be cooled by the CPU fan also get no airflow.

What about the Nexus heatsinks, like the XiR 2300/3500, HOC-9000 etc.? They look more like regular heatsinks, so orientation doesn't matter.
 
JimmiG said:
True, however very few cases have a top fan. The standard configuration is one or more exhaust fans in the rear and maybe one side panel fan. The PSU fan might act as a top fan, but in my experience the airflow isn't enough. Also mobo components which are meant to be cooled by the CPU fan also get no airflow.

i understand that few cases have a top exhaust fan, but from a design and airflow perspective it makes sense to have one. a case with a top mounted psu only stresses the psu more as warmer air is being sucked through it, so ive stuck to bottom mounted psus since the cases came out. again imo it just makes sense. if you are stuck with a case with a more standard design or are doing a silent/htpc system i can understand why you would be frustrated in your search for a decent amd hsf with correct orientation. the mobo not being cooled can be an issue and is why some boards have auxilary fans ( ie mosfet/chiset fan for this reason), although alot of mobo designs are clearly still assuming that your hsf will be the old style top down cooler which would spread air across the area around the cpu.
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Yeah, if I was in the market for a new case, I would definitely get one with a top fan and bottom mounted PSU. But I don't want to replace my current case, so it's either a big heatpipe cooler that can be rotated, or a more conventional heatsink (like a bigger version of the AMD stock cooler).
 
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