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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NextAMD Phenom II Stock Coolers
June 13, 2010 by Lawrence Lee
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Product
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AMD Phenom II AM2+
Stock
CPU Cooler |
AMD Phenom II AM3
Stock CPU Cooler |
|
Manufacturer
|
AMD |
AMD |
|
Street Price
|
N/A |
N/A |
AMD is no stranger to heatpipes, having used them in their desktop stock coolers
since the days of socket 939. Not only did their dual core processors outperform
Intel's at the time, the introduction of stock heatsinks with heatpipes for
their higher power chips was a very popular move. Back then a CPU cooler with
heatpipes would run you at least US$30~$40, so to get a high performance processor
with a quality heatsink included was a big deal.
The Core i7-980X stock cooler was a first for Intel, a heavy, tower heatpipe
heatsink with a large fan and bright blue LEDs. It easily outmuscled the traditional
spiral heatsink with a copper core that ships with lower-end Core i7s. Recently
AMD also released a six core CPU based on the "Thuban" core and like
Intel, the new chip retained the same TDP as its quad core brothers, in AMD's
case, 125W. But unlike Intel, they decided to stand pat with their stock heatsink,
believing it to be adequate cooling solution for their new hex core processor.
To better judge this assessment, we'll put the current stock heatsink through
its paces as well as their previous version, which oddly enough, is actually
a bigger, more imposing cooler.
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Old school AMD heatpipe cooler on the left, updated model on the right.
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We are not 100% certain about the origin of the heatsink model pictured above
left, but it appears to be the same heatsink that ships with the Phenom II 920/940
(the fastest AM2+ CPUs produced) and older power hungry AM2 processors like
the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ and 6400+. Suffice it to say, if you bought a desktop
AM2/AM2+ processor with a TDP of more than 100W, this (or something very similar)
was the cooler you received. The one on the right is the updated version, shipping
with 125W AM3 processors like the Phenom II 955/965 and the new hex-core Thuban
CPUs
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The Phenom II AM2+ stock cooler.
The Phenom II AM3 stock cooler.
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Both of these AMD stock heatpipe coolers have the same basic components, a
large copper base soldered to two heatpipes, aluminum fins spaced tightly together,
and a fan with a wingspan of about 65 mm attached with the help of a plastic
cover. The body of the old style cooler is larger though, both in height and
width, and heavier by 80 grams. The new version seems to have sacrificed some
heft in order to use a thicker fan with a traditional box frame.
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Approximate Physical Measurements
|
| Heatsink |
AMD Phenom II AM2+ stock
cooler |
AMD Phenom II AM3 stock
cooler |
Dimensions
(L x W x H) |
108 x 92 x 62 mm |
92 x 91 x 62 mm |
|
Weight
|
440 g |
360 g |
| Fan Speed (max) |
4000 rpm |
3280 rpm |
|
Fan Blade Wingspan
|
64 mm |
65 mm |
|
Fan Hub Size
|
32 mm |
31 mm |
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