Athlon 64 Cooler

[geezerone]

Hi

I have an Athlon 64 (754) 2800+ with stock cooler but looking for better cooling and wondered what people's views are on this relating to choice of product. I have noticed that Gigabyte have some interesting coolers, in particular; GH-ED821-MF and also GH-PDU21-SC . I do have a 'windowed' case hence the Blue LED fan coolers look attractive.

Has anyone experience of these coolers in particular or recommend alternative within moderate budget of under £25?

Thanks

(ASROCK KS8SX Mobo)

[Nox]

Need a tad more info - have you got reasonable airflow 'through' the case? some stock coolers are pretty good, but any heatsink/fan combo needs good cool air to draw onto the processor.

And are you after looks (as you have a window) or performance (looks is 100% personal taste)

Nox

[arthurleung]

You might want to think of replacing the thermal paste under the stock hsf to something better like AS5 or Ceramique.

[BUFF]

You might want to think of replacing the thermal paste under the stock hsf to something better like AS5 or Ceramique.

The paste on the stock cooler is Shinetsu - AS5/Ceramique aren't better.

[999tigger]

Better cooling for that price range is as follows:
1. Arctic cooling freezer 64- good cooling, quiet and excellent value for money.If you are not going to overclock too agressively then use this. About £15.
2. Noisier is the Akasa Evo 913 about £23, very good for overclocking, but the fan can be a bit noisy.

[999tigger]

Ps all the stuff about airflow and using fresh thermal paste as5 applies.

[geezerone]

Thanks for the replies folks

I have a Zorro case with 5 Coolermaster 80mm (22dBA) LED fans; 2 at rear and front and one at side (where 'window' is). Also have Hiper 525W PSU with one fan at bottom and one at rear of PSU when in Midi case.

The Stock fan was installed using AMD pre applied paste but although I have some Arctic Silver 5, I never used it. I reckon the stock fan gets noisy when gaming so looking for quieter cooling under load and having a blue fan on cooler would be great but not the most important factor.

Thanks

[chriswood_7]

The gigbyte 3d coolers are good but noisy...with lots of blue leds on the heatsink, after a few months they will annoy the hell outta you. Ive been looking for a cooler recently and have turned down the arctic freezer and the evo 33 for two main reasons you might want to consider. The arctic has a fan situated on the bottom half and depending on your motherboard it may interfere or be too close to your graphics card. If you dont mind taking your mobo out of the case and fitting a bracket to it and you dont have any actice memory cooling very close to the heatsink itself, then the evo will be better. If you have any of these gripes, I wouldnt bother and would go for a more simple AK-859. I hear its a reasonable cooler and it saves all the messing around. I dunno if im going to get one as my gb 3d pro is doing the job nicely, althought i need to disable them god-damn lights heheheh

Hope this helps

Chris

[sawyen]

I've used gigabyte coolers GT Ultra before.. and its all about looks, cs it looks darn good in a windowed case... the 360 degree cooling idea gigabytes used make sures all ur capacitors and MOFETS stays cool, thus extending ur mobo's lifespan.. but then its abit noisy at full blast..

I'm now using an Xp-90C with a tornado... although XP-90C provides better CPU cooling, the PVM temperatures are much higher than when i used gigabyte.. 30C to 44C, thats something different.. Even my memory feels much hotter to the touch..

So it depends, if u want ULTRA EXCEPTIONAL cooling capacity, then XP-90C or the new Zalman 9000 series should keep you happy.. If you want something that looks good, cools well (not as well as XP-90s) and makes sure all ur mobo components stays super cool as well... then by all means get one from gigabyte 3d cooler range..

P.S. From what I heard, the Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler is the best product within their range.. its much lighter than 3D Ultra GT, and cools as well as the Ultra GT during load.. and it was REVIEWED to be much more quieter than the 747 Ultra GT

[geezerone]

The coolers I was thinking of are on this page:

http://uk.giga-byte.com/Peripherals/...e_AMD%20K8.htm

GH-PDU21-SC
GH-ED821-MF

I don't want the rocket as a review I saw said it wasn't much better than stock.

Also am considering Akasa 120 but don't know if there is enough room between CPU and rear fans.

Cheers.

[999tigger]

Well you were talking about £25. The guys on overclockers who use air are all using what I have said plus the thermaltakes.
I would still get a freezer 64 if ur not ocing and ask advice on compatibility.
Will you be overclocking?

With the evo I'm fitting a silenx fan, which should make the whole thing silent.
Im running at 28 at the moment.
The other one I like the look of is the thermaltake typhoon.

[999tigger]

PS if yu want to push the boat out then the Zalman 9500 as pointed out above is the one causing all the waves at the moment. Scan have it much chepaer than everyone else.

[geezerone]

Thanks

I think i will go for EVO33 but what is the CFM for this fan as I could buy a 22CFM coolermaster 80mm fan instead which is only 22dBA. Thanks.

[arthurleung]

Pre-applied is not as good as fresh stuff
My temp was 51'C passive using the stock and down to 47 with ceramique.
Passive cooling is damn nice (with stock cooler)

[999tigger]

The evo has a thermalpad installed. If you arent going to overclock then use that.
For some reason I went the as5 way, but feel it was a bit over the top.
Yes for the coolermaster fan or you could buy a silenx fan from quietpc, which is what I might do and then it would be more or less silent. Think of the extra money it costs though.

The fan is like a helicopter if you put it on 4500rpm but ok on 2000rpm.

Maybe the evo 120 if you want silence that badly.

[geezerone]

As I don't live on the mainland I have to be choosey where i purchase from as often there is £20+ postal charges (at least Dick Turpin wore a mask!).

I presume the AMD 'Cool n quiet' causes the CPU fan to increase RPM's under load so by getting a 'better' cooler or even arctic paste and 80 - 60mm fan converter this will be quieter?