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This article has to be the most expensive I have ever written. Don’t get me wrong, the Super Orb and FOP-32 were very generously supplied by Coolerguys and Thermaltake, but I’ve just had to fork out AU$310 for a new Processor (an Athlon to replace my Duron). Yes, I managed to kill my poor Duron 600, but we’ll get into that later.

AMD’s latest processors, the Durons and Thunderbirds, are proving to be very capable and cheap replacements for Intel based Pentium and Celeron systems. Unfortunately for the overclocker, they both put out a lot of heat (the Athlon more than the Duron) and the core’s themselves are very, very fragile.

First we’ll have a detailed look at all the heatsinks:

Coolermaster DP5-5G11

pic borrowed from coolermaster's site..

The coolermaster is the fan which came bundled with my Duron. It is small, and very very quiet. It is also on AMD’s approved heatsink list. RPM monitoring is supplied by a 3 pin power connector.

Specs:
Dimensions : 50 x 50 x 10 (mm)
Rated Voltage : 12VDC
Rated Speed : 4500 RPM
Air Flow : 9.18CFM
Noise Level : 31.5dB(A)
Bearing Type : Ball Bearing

Installation:
The Coolermaster comes with a Thermal Sticky Pad. You can use this if you wish, but I scrubbed it off with a Scrub Sponge and put a layer of Dick Smith Thermal Compund on the CPU die. Then it’s a simple matter of clipping on the back and pushing down the other end with a screw driver. The first time I installed it there was a sickening crack as it clipped in, but there was no visible damage to the CPU.

Removal:
Very Simple, the clip has a placing for a screwdriver, and only a small amount of pressure is needed to remove the heatsink.

Performance:
Idle : 42 Load : 55
The Coolermaster is obviously not designed to be a high performance heatsink. It does an excellent job of cooling the Duron at it’s default clock speed and voltage, but simply cannot handle the extra heat caused by overclocking.

Cost: bundled with Duron.

Globalwin FOP32-1

The Globalwin FOP32 is the smaller brother of the renowned FOP38. It is the same except has a slower, less powerful (and less noisy) fan, and does not have the finger grille. It is also very loud, and the sound is fairly high pitched. Think VCR rewinding constantly and you start to get the idea. It is also on AMD’s approved heatsink list. The FOP32 was very generously supplied by the most gracious people over at coolerguys.com. RPM monitoring is supplied by a 3 pin power connector.

Specs:
Dimensions : 66x58.6x36 (mm)
Rated Voltage : 12VDC
Rated Speed : 4200 RPM
Air Flow : 26CFM
Noise Level : 36 dB(A)
Bearing Type : Dual Ball-bearing fan

Installation:
The Globalwin also comes with a Thermal Sticky Pad, so it was removed and replaced with thermal compound. The heatsink is rather lage, and it is often easier to install if you first remove the fan. The clip is rather clever, there is a sort of notch for a screwdriver, and if you apply pressure in one direction, the clip moves outward, in the other direction, the clip moves inward. It makes installation just a little bit easier. The FOP32 is only slightly harder than the Coolermaster to install.

Removal:
As mentioned before, the clip makes it very easy to remove the heatsink, as very little downward pressure is required to move the little latch outwards, then it is as simple as lifting off the heatsink.

Performance:
Idle : 38 Load : 45
The FOP32 performs well, losing by only a few degrees to ThermalTake’s SuperOrb. The temperatures show the difference between a decent cooler and the Coolermaster, a full 10 degrees under load. The FOP32 is a very good heatsink.

Cost : at AU$45 it’s only a few dollars cheaper than the Super Orb, which outperforms it, but still well worth the money.