Likely the stock cooler for the X6 yes they are pretty quiet at low speeds but they ramp up to very high speed on load and you really can't miss the noise! To be fair to AMD the stock coolers are ok esp for the lower power processors as you can keep the fan speed down and they will happily cool 45/6...

There is a bit of misunderstanding about Gigabyte. Yes in bios their fan options are limited compared to Asus and Asrock for example who'll allow you to get a CPU temp target and a speed setting for the fan. However using the easy tune Gigabyte software you have very fine control over the temperatur...

In the EU prices have gone up a bit on Intel processors, but it's hard to be certain why that is. Probably a combination of higher demand, and yes I would imagine Intel would respond to the FX situation to make more profits. That is pretty predictable. What AMD do now will be interesting, whent he d...

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/201 ... mments-bar

Yup that's a pretty good article

Agree on the above the PhII series could have been tweaked to improve power consumption and peformance. They could have had a reduced cache version to mirror the current Athlon II line as well. AMD seem dead set on these APU's though they're saying (so it seems) that that's their direction after AM3...

I don't buy the Intel are keeping AMD afloat theory myself. If you remember what the law suit from AMD was a few years back. One major part was Dell and Intel offering them discounts on processors to "not buy" AMD processors. That was Intel actively trying to put AMD out of business. Intel paid out ...

Fusion has potential longer term no question right now though I'm not so sure it's hugely appealing. Here's one obvious example of just how iffy the FX can be even with heavily threaded applications. I'm not one to do rendering on a PC but it's demanding and an obvious example of where more cores sh...

GlobalFoundries is a joint venture with AMD and ATIC which aquired the Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing company based in Singapore. Bottom line is that was not a bad move for AMD because the levels of investments required to keep a modern fab running and up to date is pretty high to say the lea...

I've liked AMD for a long time so it's not about being a fanboy or anything else. Poor is poor end of story. For the time being I can still use AMD for most of my builds (which are not high end machines but more value based ones 2/3 cores or the odd unlocked sempron for the super budget stuff) Looki...

The APU's are not overly exciting but are ok for what they are (if you care about budget 3d performance) I'd consider them for some build but at the moment the budget boards are not as budget as they could be leaving Athlon II's as a better choice for those types of machines. I would still prefer on...

For this kind of thing I'd either try to lay my hands on a s/h processor at a reasonable price to update the pc or simply "junk" (or offload sell on the pc or partial rebuild and sell on etc etc) the lot. Prices are horribly cheap right now esp memory you can pretty much get a decent CPU, budget boa...

I just built a system with an Athlon II X2 260 which is the 3.2GHz model. This replaced a dead mobo on my old Athlon 64 x2 4200...easier to just get the board and swap it all out so I did! The 65w Athlon II's are pretty easy to keep cool even with a low profile heatsink so personally I'd go for some...

Yes you are right in some ways the Pentium 4 range went up high in clock speed and were heavy on power draw with fairly big TDP's. More to the point at the time the Athlon 64 single and dual cores ran cooler, used less power and performed far better even at much lower clock speeds. I ran an Athlon 6...

I wouldn't go so far as to say AMD are almost dead that ignores the appeal they have for low cost systems..I've turned over a few unlocked Semprons to good effect lately and the Athlon II range is still quite well priced as are some of the PhII ones that have had price cuts. Bottom line is the OEM m...

I had high hopes for these processors but sadly looking at the numerous reviews out there FX is a direction that's the exact reverse of what AMD should have been going for (ie do more work per core not lots of cores doing less work) Power consumption is a let down too again I had expected something ...

If you look at the TX-3 it will show you 2 ways/directions to install the CPU cooler so you can have it as I do with the clips as per normal on an AMD system top and bottom but rotate the cooler to allow right to left airflow. It's fairly close and not much space but you can install it so the fan bl...

You should find the clips just clear the side facing towards the rear fan so it can be mounted both ways.

Hi Traveller I've just made a new forum topic to compare the Noctua and Gelid 92mm fans so have a look there it's a slam dunk for Gelid on that one. Only thing to add is I'd use a good thermal paste as well I've kept the coolermaster bundled paste for other jobs but I'd suggest something good paste ...

I was using a Noctua NF-B9 for the TX-3 CPU cooler on my own PC.. When I got a few of the Gelid Silent 9's in I did some experiements with both fans. The results surprised me completely. I was initially a bit concerned the Noctua was not that quiet (at full speed) which is around 1600rpm which is no...

Well quite a lot of choice here... Just about anything will beat a Tricool for noise but with reduced airflow though I think even a slower speed larger fan provides adequate cooling. You could try reducing the fan voltage as a start. The Noctua's are good but somewhat pricey though they are supposed...

Nobody will deny Steve Jobs is hugely talented..possibly awkward and not easy to work for (often goes with the territory of being successful in many fields) It's a shame about his personal health problems and I think everyone will agree on that. I would not wish that on anyone no matter who they are...

What about static pressure surely a pretty important factor here?
Again I'm more interested in real world performance rather than manufacturers spec sheets I'm not convinced most of them are very accurate!

Any update on this just? curious if the OP got this one sorted out

Hmm not sure I like the sound of that! If you rupture a heat pipe that's it it's game over.. Looking around a bit I see Gelid have a new Rev 2 CPU cooler which says it's 74 (l) x 125 (w) x 153 (h) size wise and you can now mount it facing the rear case fan not just upwards (for AMD) Not tried Gelid'...

Hi Traveller I know that site and it can be useful to read at times but I note they do "simulated" tests not using actual processors. Going on my last build with an AMD PhII 6 core (I've mostly used the 1090T CPU) With a Gelid fan and using AS5 thermal paste at stock speeds I'm getting temps at idle...

Well you have to consider a few things I would not cut the foam myself but it's up to you on that one. Whilst the Phenom II cpu is 125w it's a 6 core and isn't hard to tame temperature wise with any of these oversized coolers esp not since you say you are not overclocking. I like the 120mm fan CPU c...

I believe the 5K3000 runs a bit faster rpm than the equivalent Samsung and WD drives. Density increases over time which has improved performance. You have to make a choice between performance/price and quiet. I've used quite a few 7k1000 drives because they're reliable and if you can dampen the vibr...

Good review pretty much agree with all that. I've used a few of these now and I can say it's the first green drive I've used that you don't feel you are making a tradeoff performance wise for. Very little in it between these new ones and the 7K1000c drives performance wise they're that good. Though ...

You don't need to sand the TX cooler down..I'm not sure where all these tales come from but I've read most of them! Some folks are under the impression you have to have a "mirror finish" on a bottom play on a CPU cooler. Having wasted time over the years playing around with this theory I can safely ...

Well a lot of this is open to debate. And some people have their own ideas on things.. So it's not for me to tell anyone anything but I simply give my own personal view right or wrong :lol: There are a lot of variations different fans have varying airfow, static pressure, ambient temps etc etc. I wi...