I believe I did post this somewhere else in one of the other forums a few months back - the Socket 775 (Alpine 7) installation is a major PAIN in the ASS. Especially if you have to reseat the heatsink several times, because there is no way to really see if you're putting the heatsink straight such that the side latches will lock onto the knuckles. I have found the best way to do this is using a LED flashlight so that you can see through the fins the placement of the latches vs the knuckles. Without that flashlight, it took me nearly an hour to get the darn'ed thing in.

In the end I just got an XP 120 (this was for a friend's computer), which was a lot better. Granted, for $15 it was a really good deal, but my friend just gave up and went for the XP120 as it cooled better and was quieter (I put a Nexus 120 fan on it).

This is probably the best heatsink out there for your friends and family builds. There is really no reason to buy expesive heatsinks for your mom just to keep it reasonably quiet. For the most part, 28 dba is quiet enough for most friends and family wanting a computer and the price is right. Enabling the fan control in the bios, no matter how crappy it is, is probably enough to keep this heatsink at low volume. Nobody here buys processors with TDP much over 65W and this should handle it just fine.

The new AM2 platform specs PWM 4-pin CPU fan connectors doesn't it? (I know AMD Live! does) So would the Alpine 7 be a good choice for a "set it up and forget it" basic quiet AM2 system?

Wow, an 18C difference between the XP-120 and the Ninja. I knew that the Ninja was more suited for low airflow but that's a pretty big difference. I have a Globewin at 5v on my SI-120 and I'm wondering if I should ditch it for a Ninja.

I'm building a new HTPC w/ the AOpen i945GTm-VHL mobo + Core Duo CPU (socket 478 HSF connector), and looking for a "completely silent" cooling solution like the one discussed in this article (but compatible w/ 478). Any suggestions?

If the thunderous noise your GW NCB fan is making at 5V is causing your neighbors to complain to the police, by all means get the (passive) Ninja. But all the GW NCB fans I know of are inaudible at 5V. So if your CPU is being cooled adequately, and the noise is inaudible to you, then there's no functional reason to replace your HSF. Artistic reasons? That's another matter altogether.

Well said. Plus, I just bought the Socket 775 adapter for my SI-120 a few weeks ago and that would just go to waste. My motherboard's northbridge also gets a little airflow from the Globewin as well which is a good thing considering how hot it runs.

The Scythe Katana is a nice choice in this scenario, provided it will fit your case. I have one mounted on a T2600 and it can cool it silently up to 2.6 GHz with an ambient room temp of 30C. The fact that it’s installed in a P180 helps here of course.

The Katana is a good fit for Core Duo with a S478 mounting mechanism because its mounting clips don’t need to be inserted under pressure, which would risk damaging the more fragile mobile CPU packaging. Its mounting clips are inserted and then screws are used to hold them in place. It means that the heastink is at the exact right height for the CPU, which isn’t always the case with S478 heatsinks on Core Duo CPUs, due to the difference in height between the two types of CPU packaging.
It’s fairly light and the stock fan I estimate can cool up to ~45W whilst running silently. It’s fairly cheap as well, although I recommend it mainly for the mounting mechanism. I don’t think the Mine and Ninja use such a low impact mounting mechanism for S478. They also might not make such a good contact as the Katana, so could even offer worse cooling performance.

I put the Alpine 64 on an Athlon 64 3000+ a little over a month ago. I was originally going to get a Zalman CNPS7000, but a Frostytech article showed equal cooling for 2dB less noise with the Alpine 64, and it was 1/3 the price.

My fan doesn't have any trace of clicking, at 12V there is a little motor hum that is mostly drowned out by the airflow noise. So unless the build quality is variable, perhaps SPCR got a dud unit which is a pity

My Abit motherboard has the uGuru that automatically adjusts the fan voltage, but only lets the voltage drop to 8V. However even at this level within the confines of a case it is very quiet. With CnQ enabled and at idle the CPU operates at 3 degrees above ambient. Under 100% load it operates at 17 degrees above ambient, with the fan still running at 8V.

I also noticed that the PWM temperature dropped, although the case temperature remained the same. Possible the extra airflow from the oversized fan helped.

Devonavar:

Would the A64 version work on a Socket A setup and if possible can you test the mounting?

What got me thinking, is the fact that it's close to the same size as the Stock AMD HS for my XP1800 Athlon and if it's got the capacity to handle such a CPU (non-o'clocked) then it may be worth looking at as a replacement.

This bad boy outperformed a Scythe Mine both at 12v and
an xp-90 with 80m coolermaster at 5v in my nsk3300. This cooler rules. 4 degrees cooler with the Alpine and HD is cooler by a couple as well. I think it has something to do with airflow. the big MINE seems to restrict air flow in the very small case. This does not look good for Mr. Mine as a cooling champ.

regards

I'm using Alpine 64 with socket 939 Athlon 3200+, overclocked to 2200 MHz at 1,35V. I keep RPM at 1600 and idle temp at core sensor is 42C and motherboard's processor sensor 34C (Speedfan). It withstands all the Photoshop working without getting too warm, and PS loads processor quite a lot. Room is about 23C.

how do you find it as far as noise? what else are you running in your system?

My motherboard (I think it's that) has recently died, so I'm going to be getting a new motherboard - a Gigabyte Gigabyte GA MA69VM-S2, AMD 690V most likely. I am now looking at this cooler. Reason being the stock AMD heatsink was a pain to put on last time, and I want something really easy to install that is ultra cheap - basically I just don't want to risk hitting anything on the motherboard due to ridiculous amounts of torsion required.

Is this nice and easy to install for AM2? And will it likely fit ok on the board mentioned above, as the RAM looks a little close from piccies of seen on Gigabyte's site.

Also my CPU is an A64 3800+ single core orleans - I assume it'll handle the heat output that produces easily? (stock fan idled at 28-31C ish and loads around 40-43C for example).

Thanks.