Volcano 11

H

harrack52

Supreme Geek
I'd like to buy this hsf because the stock amd is not really good. It can hold up for a couple of weeks but then you start having problems because the temps are so on the edge when it's working perfectly, that when a little dust comes in, the temps go up quite fast.
Idle is 48C with a 80mm Sunon case fan, when cleaned up, then it can go up to 56C after 2 months.
I don't know if you've ever seen what the fan looks like but it's quite tiny !!

Anyways, I can have the Volcano 11 for $50 cad, I'll put it on my 2000+ for a while and then on a Barton 2500+ later. For the same price range (more or less $5), is there something better, or something equal that's less expensive. I really don't know much about cooling, and when I find something that interests me, I can't seem to find an online retailer that has it that's gonna' ship to Canada. The adjustable option is nice but not critical to me.

I'd overclock it to 2800+ speed since I've read it can be done without tweaking anything but the multiplier, of course.
 
I've kinda been liking what ThermalRight has been putting out. You'll probably pay more for the 'sink itself, but I've got an SK-7 that I got for $25 USD, minus the fan. They have the SLK-800, and SLK-900U which accomodate up to 80mm and 90mm fans, respectively. I haven't seen it on-line lately, but their AX-7 is a pretty good 'sink.
Thermaltake has been getting better since they've gotten away from the Orb-style coolers, but you might be able to get much better cooling if you can swing some extra cash.
If you get a bigger fan cooling the CPU, the slower it can spin and produce the same or greater airflow with a lot less noise. Depending on your case cooling, you can have a pretty quiet PC with a few large, low RPM fans.
 
I've found a sk-7 on bestbuy.net, through pricewatch, for $24 usd. They say the ax-7 is discontinued and has been replaced with the sk-7.
Now I have to find out what the shipping costs.

right now my case only has one place for a case fan. Like I said, I have a Sunon but am not sure what the model is. I was thinking of buying a Vantec Stealth, which I can get for $20 cad at my local store.
As for the heatsink fan, I'm not sure yet. The sk-7 does not include a fan right ?
I read the fan round-up review on amdmb and thought the panaflo H1A would be good but I can't find one !
I think I'll have to look for something else.

I don't mind putting extra cash, as long as it's well spent.
 
I now know what I'll buy:

- Vantec Stealth for my case, 80mm since it's the biggest one my case can take (I have a standard case) ($23 cad)
- Thermalright SK-7 ($50 cad)
- Antec Smartfan 80mm (don't know how much yet)
 
The SK-7 is good, but it's rated for up to 2000XP Palimino's. You can go a little furthur, but you might wanna get something rated for faster CPU's. Don't get me wrong, the SK-7 is a great cooler for the money, but what you're looking at might be too much for it.
 
It's rated for XP 2000+ and higher.
If I look at the SLK-800, the specs are the same.
So the SK-7 should be ok, am I wrong ?
 
The SLK-800 is manufactured slightly different---how escapes me atm---but it does outperform the SK-7. I went and looked around at reviews, and the SLK-800 seems to run about 4-7 degrees cooler than the SK-7. The upshot is, and you've probably noticed this, is that the SK-7 is about half the cost of the SLK-800. I believe the newer Athlons have use a lower voltage, so the SK-7 with the right fan could concievably do fine. If worse comes to worse, you may get a cap on your overclocking. Just make sure you've got a BIOS update that supports the Barton's.
 
Yes I noticed it, quite hard no to do ;)
$50 for a heatsink is already quite a lot for me, but since I won'T have to buy a sound card (hopefully), I still have a margin.
I intend to use the Antec Smartfan with it.

At the start I wanted to buy a Barton 2500+, but there are compatibility issues with my board. My board should run it, but there's no guarantee. I'd have to play with the skew settings in my bios, I don't know if those settings exist on non-soltek boards.
I've never wanted to overclock really, I'm just tired of having temp issues.
 
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