Cooling for AMD

Eyeless Blond · Post by **Eyeless Blond** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:28 am

So, I've got a fairly typical setup, with an AMD Athlon X2 4850e on an MSI DKA790GX motherboard:

all in an Antec Solo case. I'm pondering whether or not to upgrade the CPU, which would imply an upgrade to an aftermarket heatsink. Now, looking at the recommended HS list I noticed that all of the top-rated tower heatsinks have a limited AMD configuration, where the exhaust is blown up toward the power supply rather than out the back of the case.

Is there another list where I can find heatsinks specifically for AMD? Should I just go for one of the top-down models?

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:18 am

The Ninja being a giant square that you can put the fan on any side of avoids this problem.

Not sure about the rest of the towers but something to look at.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:53 am

Noctua Tower can be rotated in AMD set-up nad Mugen 2 should align correctly too. Sunbeam Core Contact Freeze is also one of the AMD tower coolers that aligns correctly towards exhaust.

Shamgar · Post by **Shamgar** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:16 am

In a Solo, if you don't want the fan blowing into the power supply, you have to go with the heatsinks the previous posters referred to. Noctua NH-U12P is widely available and includes both AMD (allowing for rotation) and Intel mounting support hardware. The downside of the Noctua heatsinks is their temperamental P12 series fans. If you can handle a little less CPU cooling with the benefit of some motherboard cooling, you can opt for a top-down heatsink. Some of the newer top-downers perform as good, if not better than some towers.

Because of the support beam in the Solo and the size of performance coolers these days, you must be careful that any cooler you choose has a decent enough clearance around it.

One way you can get around the upwards blowing heatsink restriction on AMD is to use a case with a top mounted exhaust as in the Antec P18x and Gaming 300 towers. Being an owner of a Solo case myself, I would rather keep the case I have and select some options to make the most of it rather than buy an entirely new case.

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:56 pm

Thermalright has an "S-clip" for HR-01, Ultra-90, Ultra-120, SI-97A, and SI-128, which makes it possible to turn these heatsinks 90 degrees.

Vibrator · Post by **Vibrator** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:09 pm

spookmineer wrote:Thermalright has an "S-clip" for HR-01, Ultra-90, Ultra-120, SI-97A, and SI-128, which makes it possible to turn these heatsinks 90 degrees.

The S-Clip isn't too suitable for the Ultra-120. It's a little flimsy for that.

Shamgar · Post by **Shamgar** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:28 pm

You may also have some trouble finding an S-Clip as very few vendors appear to stock it. It's a shame that manufacturers don't just bundle the heatsink with the necessary hardware. It would probably bring the price up a few dollars at most; something that most users wouldn't mind paying in the one go to get things up and running the preferred way the first time around.

Rucker · Post by **Rucker** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:34 am

thejamppa wrote:Noctua Tower can be rotated in AMD set-up nad Mugen 2 should align correctly too. Sunbeam Core Contact Freeze is also one of the AMD tower coolers that aligns correctly towards exhaust.

I'm using a Mugen 2 on an AMD P2 720 on an Asus Mobo. Fans (push/pull) blow east-west. With the Mugen you can mount fans on all four sides so any orientation should work. Temps are great - 27C for Prime95; that's 7C above ambient.

I've seen other posts here that show that the Mugen can fit in a Solo, and that's what I'm using for next build.

EekTheCat · Post by **EekTheCat** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:55 am

Zerotherm Zen FZ120S. Using it for a Biostar 790GX board, fan blowing to the rear of the case.
Though there's not as many HSF options for AMD users, we fortunately have some good models that support the corect alignment. All of the forementioned units are considered to be the better coolers.