X2 5600 (Windsor) + MSI K9A2 Platinum + Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Results

Ok, this is informative.

I was wondering around what to get to replace my Thermaltake TR2 M14 SE and I found a core contact solution. You need to use a bit more thermal paste than usual due to the surface of the cooler. I used AS5.



Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer
Msi K9A2 Platinum
Thermaltake Kandalf Super Tower

Cooler issues :
The cooler is not aesthetic one bit however it does its job. The clips are another story thou. You can never grab them fully, they are too close to the fins so you can't easily hold and bend them to hook to the original AMD brackets. It's considered to be light so you wouldn't have to be concerned about the pressure on cpu.
High speed vibrates the whole heatsink a little.

Mobo issues :
Biggest issue is you can't use the 1st bank at all on K9A2 Platinum. So i moved my 2x1024 to the last two banks. I had a BSOD at first boot try but it settled after a quick safe mode detour.
Only one other tiny issue is that the connecting pipe of the infamous copper mobo hsf might give you a little headache if your hands are big.

Case:
The Super Tower Kandalf with 25cm fan on side panel accepts this cooler.

There's a possible way of seating the fan a bit outwards (tilted away from mobo) if the clips allow it to clear the 1st bank, i didn't try it so i can't be sure.

Performance :
The performance is ofc better than the stock and my stupid TT TR2 M14. I use CoreTemp. Everything at default values in mobo. Only rams are manually set to 4-4-4-15-2T at 2.1v.

-The idle was around 42-46c (core0-core1) in a 25-26c room.
-Now it's around 31-37c (core0-core1)
-The load was around 50-54c and it's now 36-42c with 10 mins of SuperPi or 5 mins of prime95 torture test.

And these are with fan at low speed. High speed doesn't mean anything at idle and i'm not comfortable with it vibrating the Heatsink.

A little question btw, the core0 is spiking between 31-32 and core1 is spiking between 37-38c. The temp difference is 6-7c between cores, is it normal ?

Yes, the temp difference between the cores might be perfectly normal, but who knows you could try to reseat the cooler if it doesn't change blame the IHS or something, don't worry about it.

Nice results with the new cooler by the way.

Your cores report temperatures that look sane. Most K8s had bugged temp readings, either too high or too low. My current 4850e reads subzero idling at stock for instance. "The idle was around 42-46c (core0-core1) in a 25-26c room" looks close to accurate enough to trust.

Kuroimaho answered your qs.

What exact voltage is your chip at BTW? K9A2 has good voltage regulation.

It's auto in bios and cpu-z says 1.35v, which should be default according to amdcompare.com

I know the core reading are not %100 accurate. The mobo's slot probe was showing 32c while the core temps were 43-46.

And I recently mantled a x2 6000 to a friends computer and mobo was showing 40c and coretemp was showing 22 and 21

Yes, they work great for Phenoms too. I've been too busy (lazy) to do any scientific readings but my temps are not in the idle 30s opposed to 40s and 46-52 opposed to 58-62 full tilt.

It's been a hot day, yesterday. 29c case temp near PSU.
Cpu cores were 36-41c at idle. Still pretty sick performance. It would have been 46-50 with the previous one.

It's a solid 9-10c upgrade on the stock voltage.

I'll experiment with my rams first with little FSB ups, just to make rams go high so i'll be sure about the limits of the ram, it's already 4-4-4-15 with 2.1v, should be ok at 900mhz i guess. Then i can focus on the cpu more.