SPCR

Do all S939 X2s come with the heatpipe cooler? If not, how can I know which I will get?

I have been running an undervolted S754 2800+ for some time with the included cooler. It's very quiet, and can even run with the fan stopped at idle. The VF700-Cu fan at 5V and the HDD appear to be the biggest noise makers. Overall I'm happy with the noise level.

I am thinking about using the stock heatsink for a 4200+, possibly with a fan swap. I will enable CnQ and/or undervolt. I'm not quite sure which motherboard to use, probably some Asus. It needs to support undervolting, BIOS fan control and ECC memory, and should be reasonably inexpensive.

The case is an Antec 3000B, with fan at lowest setting. I have been tempted by the Solo, but I really need stealth drive covers (or a door).

I'm pretty much set on the Asus A8R-MVP, it seems like a great motherboard.

But I would appreciate some input on the CPU cooling. Are anyone else using the stock heatsink for an A64 X2?

Generally speaking, AMD's current stock HSFs (I believe there are 4 versions -- 2 low end, one each for 939/7754 and for AM2, and 2 high end) are fairly quiet when used with recent in-BIOS motherboard fan controllers. They are surprisingly quiet. The fan noise quality is not the best, but far better than the fans I've heard on stock Intel HSF recently -- those are mostly horrifically buzzy. They do ramp up somewhat under load, and don't have as good performance as the best aftermarket HSF, but since the stock HSF is almost free, it's not a bad deal at all. Well worth a try if you don't require near-silence from your PC and can live with pretty quiet instead.

We're going to try and round all four of these HSF up along with a couple of stock Intel 775 HSF & do a stock HSF roundup some time soon.

OK, thanks. I'll go for the stock HSF, then. And there's little point in near-silence anyway, too much traffic noise here.

My Socket 939 X2 3800 that came yesterday does not have heatpipes.

I just recieved my 4200+ X2 939 yesterday and it came with the aluminum cooler (Foxconn) w/ 70mm fan. Which makes me wonder if there's any correlation between the CPU's TCaseMax and the stock HSF it comes with.

EasyRaider wrote:OK, thanks. I'll go for the stock HSF, then. And there's little point in near-silence anyway, too much traffic noise here.

It used to be that only the top end X2s came with the heatpipe cooler. I don’t know what top end means for AMD anymore!
I used the stock AMD cooler with an A64 3000+ (Winchester) very successfully when undervolted. I ran it at a very low speed at which point I couldn’t tell the difference between the fan being on or off from a noise perspective. I also tried it with an X2 3800 (1.15V) but the cooling was borderline with the fan at such a low speed. In a better case with more airflow it might just have been up to scratch. With a small increase in fan speed you might well find it can handle your X2 4200 for a minimal noise output.

geforce1 wrote:I just recieved my 4200+ X2 939 yesterday and it came with the aluminum cooler (Foxconn) w/ 70mm fan. Which makes me wonder if there's any correlation between the CPU's TCaseMax and the stock HSF it comes with.

*sigh* I hate buying boxed CPUs. There's never any info about the included HSF.

I could try to ask the resellers. But I suspect I'll be better off just buying a bulk/OEM 3800+ and try my luck with overclocking. I could buy a Ninja or some other heavy duty heatsink with the money I save.

It's my understanding only X2 4400+ and up come with heatpipe coolers. All dual core Opterons come with it as well.

I've ordered an OEM X2 3800+, a Ninja Plus and some other components. I hope OCing will go better than last time, I could hardly increase HT frequency at all before USB-related BSOD ocurred.