Silent CPU cooler for socket A?

[antonie_ion]

Hello, untill I'll upgrade my sistem, I'm looking for a silent CPU cooler for socket A.
Compatibility with new motherboards for expensive one would be best.

Motherboard : GA-7VA rev.2
CPU: Sempron 2800+

Thank you.

[NefariousRat]

To the best of my knowledge there is no Socket A fan left on the market that is reasonably silent. The best you could hope for is to find an older model on ebay or some such, or to buy the largest heatsink you can find and mount a better (scythe?) fan onto it. Hopefully someone else can provide a better plan, but I don't know of one.

As to compatibility, it won't happen. Socket A's design was such that few if any modern heatsinks can support it, and of course the old ones won't support a more modern platform.

For what it's worth, I've been in this situation. I went with the 'big heatsink with better fan' option. It wasn't silent, but it was at least tolerable.

[m0002a]

Xigmatek S1283 might work. They claim "All AMD Socket K8 / AM2 / AM3". Not sure if that includes Socket A. It is an excellent cooler that can be run passive (if case fan nearby) or with very low speed fan, on an lower power CPU.

On Xigmatek direct contact heatpipe coolers, I would recommend AS Ceramique or AC MX-2 paste applied directly to the cooler heatpipes instead of the CPU.

[PartEleven]

Oh wow, socket A. I was in your shoes a few years ago when I was trying to update/quiet down my old Socket A systems. Good heatsinks were hard to find then, and probably even harder to find now. Ebay or any other second-hand dealing sites is your best bet. The very best heatsinks are probably going be the Thermalright SI-97, SI-97a, and the Scythe Katana (the original! NOT the "II" or "III" revision).

[Mats]

Xigmatek S1283 might work. They claim "All AMD Socket K8 / AM2 / AM3". Not sure if that includes Socket A.

It does not. Socket A is used with K7, not K8.

SI-97 is a good choice, but I'd rather remove the stock heatsink, clean it properly, apply new thermal paste, and mount a new 80 mm fan.
It shouldn't cost much, and you don't have to worry about it being compatible with your next build.

I'm pretty sure you won't find a heatsink that will work with both socket A and anything new.

There's a way to drop the idle temps: viewtopic.php?p=80822

http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=125&p=266

Maybe you'll find something useful here: viewtopic.php?t=20903

[NeilBlanchard]

I think I have an Alpha for Socket A?

[antonie_ion]

Oh wow, socket A. The very best heatsinks are probably going be the Thermalright SI-97, SI-97a, and the Scythe Katana (the original! NOT the "II" or "III" revision).

It seems like these are the best solutions.
I'm looking for one of these cooler (in fact only heat sink) and a good , silent case fan - Ithink a Noctua NF P12.
Thanks all of you.

[Mats]

Noctua NF P12.

You should use a 92 mm fan with those heatsinks.

Be careful when you remove the heatsink, the plastic tabs on the socket breaks off very easily.

[Arbutus]

I've seen factory Socket-A heat sinks with 60 mm fans that are 10mm thick. They start out screaming and get worse as time goes on. A large improvement can be made with a 60x25mm fan running at 5 volts and mounted to suck the heat up from the from the heat sink. In order to ensure of adequate cooling you will need the standard software for measuring the cpu temp under stress before and after modding.

[jhhoffma]

I used to have a couple Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu's that I fan modded with some older Scythe Kaze-Jyu 100mm fans (one at 1500rpm, one at 1200rpm).

Stock, those heatsinks weren't too good, or rather, the fans weren't. With fan mod, they performed pretty well.

I even used one on my E6550 for a while when I upgraded.

You can find a bunch on eBay. I saw a refurb for $1!

[Mats]

I used to have a couple Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu's that I fan modded with some older Scythe Kaze-Jyu 100mm fans (one at 1500rpm, one at 1200rpm).

I totally forgot about that one, I have one as well. Must be one of the most popular models in 2004!

The problem here is that the OP have a board without the needed mounting holes, so it won't fit.

[tim851]

There's also the Zalman CNPS6x00 - the flower heatsink. They were pretty good, although the fan mounting is a little weird.

Ebay currently lists two of them, albeit absurdly expensive:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zalman-CNPS6000-CU- ... 3cb681d725
http://cgi.ebay.com/Zalman-CNPS6500B-Cu ... 3cb681d448

[SebRad]

Thermalright SLK-800 still for sale, at only £9, it seems anyway!
tekheads
SPCR Review / round up
OK, sorry having looked more closely it's a newer version that needs the SoA mounting holes you don't have

AC Copper Silent 3 £13.

Seb

[swaaye]

I have Thermalright SLK-700, SLK-800 and a Thermaltake Pipe 101. The Zalman flowers are excellent too as mentioned. Any of these coolers can quietly cool an Athlon XP though if overclocking is not part of the equation.



Silent is tough though. Silent wasn't a niche back then really. But you can achieve inaudible easily enough unless your computer lives in a place with no ambient noise.