A64 cooler that uses stock retention frame?

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:28 am

I "need" to get a different cooler for my A64 (socket 939). I'm currently running the stock heatsink with the 70mm fan (not the heatpipe one).

I was considering the thermalright XP-90, but amazing as it may sound I can't get it anywhere around here. THe only thermalright I can get is the XP-120 and that has clearing issues with the DIMM1 slot on my MSI motherboard.

I would prefer one that uses the stock frame. I thought I could mount a cooler to the stock backplate on my K8N-NEO4 motherboard, but looking around it seems that people are removing that and replacing it with what comes with the cooler of their choice!? I WAS going for a Zalman CNPS7000 instead of the XP-90, but if I need to remove the stock backplate I'd rather look around some more.

So... any suggestions? Would the stock AMD heatpipe cooler be a good bet if I could find one?

Suggestions on online shops (preferrebly in europe) that ship worldwide is also welcome (and sell thermalright off course).

00alesmi · Post by **00alesmi** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:50 am

hey, I too wanted to get a quieter cooler than the stock 70mm one but I didn't want to have to rip out my motherboard just to install it.

I managed to get the stock AMD heatpipe heatsink off ebay. It is a decent cooler, however, you will need to change the fan as I found it was slightly noiser than the 70mm heatsink. Having said that - the reason I bought it was so that I could replace the fan with a quieter one. I've tried a few old fans that I have around the house and they have proved quieter - although certainly not silent. I'm currently looking into buying a nexus 80mm to fit on to it. In summary, if you want to use the existing 939 bracket and go for the heatpipe heatsink - it can be made silent, but you're cpu temps will rise a lot depending on how quiet you actually want the system. My fan is very quiet (not quite inaudiable) and my temps are around 40C at idle. Hope that helps as regards the stock AMD heatpipe heatsink!

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:57 pm

Thanks

Well if it's going to bring my temps up then I doubt I'll be going for the AMD heatpipe cooler.

I managed to find the TR SI-120 from a danish vendor, but it costs an arm and a leg. I'm not surprised though. I seem to recall having this problem the last time I caught the bug

I think at least with the TR coolers I only have to switch the retention frame right!? With the Zalman coolers I also need to change the backplate !?

Does anyone have experience with the TR Ultra-90? It's a lot cheaper but is it any good?

SpHeRe31459 · Post by **SpHeRe31459** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:27 pm

The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 uses the stock retention bracket, that would be OK depending on what CPU you have. For more cooling power so does the Freezer 64 Pro.

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:34 pm

I think I pretty much scrapped the idea of the stock retention bracket. Looking around it seems that the options are limited, to say the least. It's only because I'm lazy. I can't be bothered taking the mobo out of the case

They should make a case where the backside was accessible without unscrewing the whole thing. You'd think that at least in the cases where you can pull the mobo tray out, it'd be fine to cut a hole in the plate in the are where the backplate is.

So I figure right now my options are:
- Thermalright SI-120 + 18db Pabst fan (to get both at same store)
- Thermalright Ultra-90 + low noise 92mm fan (I'm not too hot on the tower design though)
- CNPS9500
- CNPS7000 AlCu
- CNPS7700 AlCu

Opinions?

The thermalright is by far the most expensive solution, but I have the ability to switch the fan if it breaks.

The Zalmans, cost a LOT less but I'll have to remove the mobo for installation (and undo the stock backplate with a hairdryer as it's glued on).

I was also considering the Scythe Samurai Z, mainly due to the low weight, and somewhat lower price. Is that any good?

nici · Post by **nici** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:35 am

The Arctic Cooling Freezer64 uses stock mounting, and cools good enough.

I have it on my 3500+ winchester wich is folding pretty much all the time so 100% cpu load, the fan runs at about 850rpm(barely spinning), room temp now is 23Â°c and the edge of the heatspreder is 41Â°c

It was reviewed by SPCR a few months back IIRC.