Cheap Socket A HSF

[agmorgan]

I am looking to replace my stock AMD HSF for my Athlon 2000+ (Palomino) on an ABIT NF7 motherboard.

There are so many different options I would appreciate some help choosing

The 2 most important things to consider are COST and NOISE.
I am looking for a price around about £10 or less and it needs to be as quiet as possible (~20 dBA?).

Cooling is secondary but obviously if it is a choice between 2 HSFs that meet the above requirements, the better cooling wins!
It must cool to at least as good as a stock AMD HSF, preferably better.

Here is a brief list of cheap ones I have seen, I don't really know how to compare without buying and trying them out!
There are lots of reviews, but they generally aren't geared toward quiet budget coolers.
Better suggestions are obviously welcome!

Coolermaster XDream III £9.33 inc VAT and P&P
http://www.emodder.com/product_info....oducts_id=1244

Akasa AK-795 £9.33 inc VAT and P&P
http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/products/product.asp?id=599

Akasa AK-827 for an extra £1.50?
http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/products...ct.asp?id=2559

Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 3 aka Copper Lite £9.47 inc VAT and P&P
http://www.hybridpc.co.uk/cpucoolers.php

[si_the_geek]

I prefer to shop at Savastore, as not only do they have good prices, they also have lots of information on all of their products (such as noise rating for all fans). You may be able to find better prices on a few items elsewhere, but their information is the best I've found.

Here's one from their selection that you may like:
GlacialTech Igloo 26 dBA, £2.94 inc VAT (+ about £3 delivery)

One thing to be careful of, is that you get one that is appropriate for your processor (several are for Athlon XP/FX).

Also when taking noise into account, try to find out how much noise your power supply makes - as they tend to be louder (and easier to hear as they are almost extrernal).

[agmorgan]

Unfortunately the Igloo is not rated for an Athlon 2000+

I've dug up the specs and the Akasa 827 is clearly better than the Ak795
http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english...pec_ak_827.htm

http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english...pec_ak_795.htm

The Coolermaster seems to be very quiet (~20 dBA) and pretty too
http://www.coolermaster.com/index.ph...1+XDream%20III

Arctic Cooling have always had good reviews, unfortunately their noise level is in sones.
I'm not sure how to compare it to the other HSFs
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=2&disc=

Any idea how quiet the Arctic Cooling is compared to the others?
Is there really much difference between 20 dBa and 25 dBA?

[si_the_geek]

I've had a look at AMD's system component information and it seems like the standard Athlon only goes up to 1400, then the XP version goes from 1500+ to 3200+. Are you sure it isn't an Athlon XP?

Unfortunately a Sone is subjective rather than measured, so it doesn't really relate to dB at all! I did a bit of a search, and found varying dB measurements for the AC CS3 from 20 to 22.

[agmorgan]

You're right!
I downloaded Everest http://www.lavalys.hu/products/overv...?pid=1&lang=en to check.

I never realised that it was an XP

I did a lot of searching and couldn't find any reviews of the Arctic Cooling that had dBA ratings.
Have you got any links?

I think I might go for the Coolermaster in the end as it has the lowest noise rating and looks pretty with its LEDs too

[si_the_geek]

that's an easy mistake to make!

I haven't got any links, as none of them were trustworthy sources (mainly forums in foreign languages), I did a search for "Arctic Cooling" "Copper Silent 3" db.

In terms of sound levels, it may make no difference to you - my PSU masks the sound of my CPU fan (which is about 5dB louder). But then the most important thing (after compatability) is how you feel about it.