Swiftech MCX370 not any better than Stock AMD cooler!

My CPU, AMD AthlonXP 1700+@2200+, was running a little hot so I decided to throw away the stock cooler and buy something else. My temps were 55*C full load, I just wanted to stay below 50*C so I looked for a cheap and good alternative.

I found the Swiftech MCX370, heatsink only. I read the reviews, all good, read the oc results here, all good, read the forums, mostly good opinions, so I got it. I would still use the stock fan but considering the quality of the heatsink over the stock I thought I would loose 5*C.

WRONG!!! The heatsink is awesome quality but the temps only dropped by 1*C. I thought considering how dense those fin things are, it probably needs a better cooler. I borrowed a 60mm screaming Delta fan from my friend. I tried it at 7V and only lost 2*C. I then tried it at 12V, lost my hearing and lost aswell only 4*C from stock.

What the heck why the poor performance? It didn't need lapping, I used arctic silver II, used 1 set of nylon spacer and there were no problems during installation. The contacts were perfectly clean, I always clean both surfaces with 99% rubbing alcohol to make sure it's clean. I also follow the arctic silver II guide. The temperature in the case is 31*C, it's a pretty hot summer but still my cpu should be cooler. I have 3 case fans out, and 2 in. Oh and if you are wondering I did not reverse the clip springs like some did. I'm going to try to put a 2nd set of nylon spacers but that's going to be it, I'm not sure how much pressure it's applying on my heatsink so I better not risk anything more.

There is this minor thing that could be causing a problem, but I doubt it. I didn't clean all the old arctic silver II of the CPU. The core yes, but some arctic silver remained around the core on the cpu itself. I thought it wouldn't interfeare so I left it alone. It's hard getting rid of that crap, unless I use some rubbing alcohol but I'm not sure what effect that would do on the CPU itself.

Any other advice you guys have?

make sure the core is sqaure in the middle of the heatsink.. having it off will cause problems... and you should really remove all the old aritic silver and apply a very very thin layer on the core with a razor or credit card...

i had a swiftech MCX370-0A, the alum version the a papst 33 fan and on my 1800XP i got 40*C full load with 22*C case using AS3

Well it's no good. I tried 3 times to clean and re-adjust the heatsink but it doesn't help. The 3rd time I put rubber washers to add more tension from the springs. I could tell there was MUCH more pressure this time and yet, no change in temperature.

This is impossible that such a heatsink would do as crummy as the stock one. I think Swiftech has made these low quality so people would buy their newer and better heatsinks. That's probably why these heatsinks have dropped down so much. The constuctions is definitely quality, but the aluminum probably has a slow purity or something. I just can't explain such a poor performance .

touch it and see if its really 50 degrees if it is it should be really hot
PS maybe your case is not well ventilated

yeah, usually when a higher quality 3rd party heatsink doesn't perform as well as you would think, its a problem of good airflow in the case. try to clean up the cables if its messy, ie ziptie them together, or tuck them under or behind places.

What was the stock cooler like? Was it one of the skived aluminum/copper core ones? Those are much better than the old extruded stock coolers.

Considering the diminutive size of the MCX370, it is performing amiably. After all, it was designed for cumine processors, and can only fit a 60mm fan. Also, with such fin density a relatively high-speed fan is needed for good performance.

The only real socket A swiftech cooler (competitive with the thermalrights) is the MCX462+. You can bend the side clips and install a 92mm tornado with rheostat, and get very good performance with decent noise levels. Also, since the fan overhangs the heatsink, voltage regulator components, the northrbridge, etc. are cooled quite well.

Not a lot of air gets out of those fins. For now, I would find a way to mount an 80mm fan to that thing.