Upgrading CPU heatsink

[Atlasion]

Looking for some quick advice on upgrading CPU heatsink. I know next to nothing about heatsinks!

Basically my CPU has been running about 65 to 70 C whilst running FFXIV. According to some website on CPU heats, mine really shouldn't run much higher than 65 C (Its an Athlon 64 dual core). My current heatsink is a Squeeze Quadroflow VIII, which doesn't seem to look too good. Basically what I'm not sure about is how to measure how good heatsinks are and which ones will fit. Its an AM2 (920) socket, which I believe is what matters for fitting? I'm really not looking to spend too much though, as I've recently upgraded/replace several other parts of my PC and I'm already running over my budget. I've been looking at the following 2 on Scan.co.uk: http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-...ore-Socket-AM2

Basically, is the cheaper one any good, or good enough?


Also, this may be the place to ask this: Does anyone here use SpeedFan? My CPU temp often has a flame next to it, but I can't work out what the flame means. And what is "temp1" likely to be?

EDIT: Sorry, somehow hit submit before finishing post.

[Olo401]

That heatsink looks like it's about equal to the stock one that Intel or AMD provides. The AC Freezer7 v2 would be a great upgrade and not too expensive. If you're going for something with more cooling power, the Freezer Extreme is good and still reasonably priced.

If you're considering a CPU upgrade and don't want to upgrade the board and memory, check out the Phenom II x4 920 or 940. Both are designed to use DDR2 memory and both are AM2+, so you can just drop them into your board (you -might- need a bios update but that's no big deal).

[chiyio]

The flame means it's running hot, but it's something you can configure at what temp you want the flame to show for your specific hardware.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185125

That seems SUPER popular and is really cheap.

I personally have one of these, and it seems to do a good job. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118019

[Atlasion]

Brilliant, thanks for the responses. I'll probably go with the freezer extreme. Do you know if Newegg ships to the UK? Couldn't find anything on their website

[Senji]

Brilliant, thanks for the responses. I'll probably go with the freezer extreme. Do you know if Newegg ships to the UK? Couldn't find anything on their website

I would only go with a modern type cooler with a non-proprietary 120mm fan.

Some other popular UK places are http://www.aria.co.uk/ and http://www.ebuyer.com/

[Cheerios]

A CPU temperature of 70c while running your game shouldn't be too alarming. If you're never going over 75, there shouldn't really be a reason to purchase a new heatsink unless you were going to overclock. 85 is where the trouble's at, and 90 is when your PC will likely shut itself off (and it shouldn't reach that unless you apply a heatsink incorrectly, or don't overclock properly).

[Atlasion]

A CPU temperature of 70c while running your game shouldn't be too alarming. If you're never going over 75, there shouldn't really be a reason to purchase a new heatsink unless you were going to overclock. 85 is where the trouble's at, and 90 is when your PC will likely shut itself off (and it shouldn't reach that unless you apply a heatsink incorrectly, or don't overclock properly).

Well, I've had a few issues with FFXIV crashing. One may be due to RAM, which I'll hopefully sort today. I also got the impression it may be crashing due to CPU heating up, as one of the times it Blue Screened and gave the warning 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL', which google said could be due to CPU overheating. CPU temp was 71/72 C at the time, and Googling temperatures for my CPU model came up with max/critical temperatures of 65 or 70-72, depending on the website. I don't think my CPU is particularly fancy, so it may just be a model that's not capable of running at higher temperatures. These websites did state that some CPUs can run at temps of up to 85 to 90 C.

As a result of all this, I got the impression that I may have a CPU heating up issue. Furthermore, this is running FFXIV on lower settings than I'd like to. I assume higher settings would put more strain on the CPU?

[Melena]

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL is one of the super vague bsod's. I've seen it caused by hardware change, anti virus install, bad hard drive, over heated cpu, the moon at a full moon on the third waxing crescent of the year, etc...... You may want to download hiren's all in one and put it on a cd, boot off of that and run pc doctor on your hard drive and cpu, and run memtest86 for your memory and see if anything comes up.

[Jefe]

This is the one I have for my newest build. It's super quiet and it kept the mobo @ 32-34C idle. It can be a pain in the ass to install tho but definitely worth it. Also, don't forget to get Articsilver 5, shit is amazing.

[Atlasion]

This is the one I have for my newest build. It's super quiet and it kept the mobo @ 32-34C idle. It can be a pain in the ass to install tho but definitely worth it. Also, don't forget to get Articsilver 5, shit is amazing.

Hah, I like how the overview states "literally a breeze to install".

Do different thermal gels make much difference? I've noticed some of the other heatsinks come with it already applied. Would apply another one cause any harm?

[Isiolia]

Hah, I like how the overview states "literally a breeze to install".

Do different thermal gels make much difference? I've noticed some of the other heatsinks come with it already applied. Would apply another one cause any harm?

Thermal paste can make a difference, but primarily it's type rather than brand, and proper application. AS is nice stuff, but you may be able to buy something similar locally (that said, if you're ordering anyway...may as well).

The main consideration there is that thermal paste is not a permanent thing - if you wind up removing heatsinks/etc, then it's often good to clean off/reapply thermal paste. Thus, having some around if you're messing with this sort of thing is a Good Idea (TM).

The pre-applied stuff is kind of like the OEM cooler. Most of the time, it'll work, but there's room for improvement. If you want to use something else, you clean that off first, no biggie, won't hurt anything.

[Olo401]

The pre-applied stuff is a self-adhesive pad. They're not the same composition as thermal compounds so you don't get close to a good heat transfer. Usually the pads only come with stock heatsinks or low-end models tho, so chances are if you're buying a good cooler it will come with a tube of grease.

There are also differences in the types of compound you can get - the just OK ones will be a greasy-looking ceramic base, while the REALLY good ones will be a thicker silver or ground diamond compound. You don't need to use much. A drop about the size of a piece of white rice is perfect (it'll pancake out when you mount the heatsink).