[Vis] Socket AM2 HSF

I did the cursory search for similar threads and did not find any so here goes.

I am building my wife a new machine. It is a mother's day present, yes I am that far behind on my honey do list....but we have done some pretty nice upgrades on the house this year :-)


I have spent probably about $200 total in parts for this and have been collecting them since the first of the year....doing this from money earned from side jobs cleaning out spyware and replacing dead hard drives, so the net cost is probably in the negative figures <big evil grin>

Motherboard - Biostar K8M800 Micro AM2
Processor - AMD Sempron LE-1100 (Sparta core @ 1.9ghz)
Memory - 2x Crucial Ballistix PC2 6400 1gb (2gb total)
Video Card - ATI Radeon X1300 PCI 256mb
HDD1 - Western Digital Caviar WD800 IDE 80gb (Operating System and Programs)
HDD2 - Western Digital Caviar WD1600JS SATA 160gb (Storage, backups and Acronis clones :-))



Pretty decent machine for web surfing, email and the ever popular online gaming (pogo, yahoo and myspace games)


This came bundled with a Cooler Master DK8-7G52A-0L-GP HSF.

During the outside the case POST test the fan did not spin up. I tested it on both fan headers on the K8M800 with no dice, tried it on 2 other machines same result...the fan spins momentarily, then stops and does not start again.

For the time being I have plugged another 70mm fan I had on in the heat sink for a Sony Vaio spare we have laying around. (This is not designed to be a permanent solution)

I am on the prowl for a suitable 70mm fan but since I am doing this I am also considering the purchase of a completely new HSF set up which is what led me to this post.


Any of you who have built or read about building an AM2, 754, 939 or Socket F machine lately, what HSF setup did you use and why did you decide on it?

It has been 5 years now since I built my rig and I used a Thermaltake hsf on it and have replaced the 80mm fan that sits on top of it a few times. Currently I have one with pretty blue led's sitting on it for color :-)

I have used several Thermaltake cooling products over the years and a few Cooler Master products but I am kind of out of the loop as far as who the big players are in the cpu and chipset cooling game right now.

thanks in advance for your insight and opinions.

Kazz

For a listing/chart of quiet performance HSF,

• spcr Recommended Heatsinks

Thermalright has been one of the leaders for quite a while now.
But they do not package a corresponding fan
and
There are cheaper costs rivals out there.

You may want to state your budget
and
Preference for tower style
or
Traditional heatsink with fan blowing down on the processor.

Last HSF used one socket 939 and one AM2 mobo was the Scythe Ninja rev.B. Identical to the OCZ Vindicator.
Pros: Nice solid clamping mechanism. Decent performance. Heatpipes. Utilized 120mm fan.
Cons: Bulky size ~ decided to play it safe and remove mobo for installation and tight fit due to nearby capacitors.

I used this on my Abit Socket 939 and AM2 builds: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835200013

The second one was a replacement for an ArcticCooling Freezer Pro on my AM2. I'd bought one of each to compare them, using the Rosewill HSF on the hotter-running Socket 939 and it still out-performed the AC unit. When the AC unit's mounting bracket broke after a few weeks I replaced it with the Rosewill HSF.

The only thing that might bother someone is that - running at full speed - it's a bit audible. (I'm not hung up on having a super-quiet HSF, myself.) Then again, it could be the inexpensive Masscool 120mm fans I have in each case....but I'm not bothered enough yet to find out which.:) They keep the CPUs running in the mid- to high-30s ºC under load which is pretty good in my book and move a LOT of air.

The only reason I tried the Rosewill HSFs last April was because I'd bought a monitor for myself, and several PSUs for customer builds that were of that brand and I was impressed with the quality of the product for the price, especially for a newer brand at the time (about three years ago). I'm happy with them.

Performance is always more important to me than noise level especially since my hearing is not as good as it once was....now the fact that it sits beside my wife carrys a little weight...but not as much as price and performance LMAO.