 | Quote: |  | | |  | Originally Posted by Hak Foo |  | | | | | | | | | When I opened the stock heatsink (surely SOMEONE here knows what a boxed AMD CPU is like  ) it had a layer of sickly-grey coloured stuff on it. I assume it's the standard pad. The sink had a piece of plastic to cover the bottom, but no little strip over the pad/goo/whatever so I assume the plastic protected it. I don't remember what it was like on my 3200+.
If I went with the Zalman, I'd be using generic silicone grease, cos I have a small-toothpaste-size tube I bought and will last me for 20 years.
I know the 7000AlCu was unimpressive in performance on the 3200+ (although significantly quieter than this), but that could be because the 3200+ was simply not a cooling challenge, but at least it won't drive me batty like this. :/ | |  | |  | |
I doubt you will see much of a gain with the Zally 7000 over the heatpipe cooler, but it can't hurt to try... I did some testing not long ago on my X-2 and found it nearly equaled my 7700!
That being said, the "Big Typhoon" completely blew away both coolers!
And for 10$ get the AS-5, it realy will make a difference over
most pastes, sometimes 3-5c or more!
(Though it can often can be nearly matched by some of the newer types that have come out in the last year)
Most aftermarket coolers will blow away the stock cooler, the top choices are the Zally 9500 but its rather pricey at over 50$ (And I see there is a 9700 on the way) the Big Typhoon (Around 35$) and a few models by Scythe and Noctua....there are many more "Good coolers" out ther in the 35-50$ range too, but these are just the ones that come to mind!