Athlon Heatsink Roundup (February 2000)

Reason enough to take a closer look at high performance CPU coolers for Athlon CPUs. We've tested 10 different coolers - most of them being dual fan units.

The testing methodology for this test has been described in the heatsink testing methodology article.

Let's have a look at the test results first:

Heatsink	Temperature
Global WIN VOS32-plus (1)	41 28
Global WIN VOS32	44 32
Alpha P7125 YS Tech fans	45 32
Alpha P7125CM60 Sanyo Denki fans	46 32
Montac ArcticCircle	48 32
TennMax VIVA STF	52 32
RDJD K701	52 32

(1) The VOS32-plus is a heatsink/case cooler combination with fan duct.

Heatsink	Temperature
Global WIN VOS32-plus (1)	n/a
Alpha P7125 YS Tech fans	31.8
Global WIN VOS32	32.1
Alpha P7125CM60 Sanyo Denki fans	33.7
Global WIN FKK32	34.4
Montac ArcticCircle (2)	36.6
Global WIN FKK50	37.6
Global WIN VEK32	40.1
TennMax VIVA STF	40.7
RDJD K701	40.9

 
(1)The VOS32, being a heatsink/case cooler combination, cannot be tested with the simulator.

(2)The Montac ArcticCircle, unlike other heatsinks in this comparison, should be mounted directly on the CPU core, without the Athlon thermal transfer plate. This improves performance; the simulator test does not take this into account. Real-world performance might therefore be better.

Note that the tested heatsinks already represent a selection of some of the best available heatsinks; this means that even heatsinks that reached relatively high temperatures in this test might still be above-average when compared to cheaper heatsinks targeted at OEMs. All of the heatsinks tested would allow an Athlon-650 to run perfectly stable at 750MHz without overheating.

As you can see from the test results: once again, a Global WIN vs Alpha duel.

Note that when comparing Alpha P7125 and Global WIN VOS32, there is a discrepancy between the results obtained using the simulator and the results obtained in an actual computer. The reason is that the air can enter the Alpha heatsink only from one side - the side that faces the motherboard. Thus, the Alpha provides better performance when tested in "free space", since there is no motherboard next to the heatsink that could disturb the airflow. The VOS32, because of its different design, is not affected by this effect.