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Globalwin FOP 32-1 cooler review

Not so long ago, Intel's CPUs have dominated the market. But as time passed by, a new processor family from AMD has been introduced, faster and cheaper than the Intel ones, but also much hotter. If you finally decide to jump on the Athlon bandwagon, this article will show you a solution that will help keeping your CPU cool.

The heat source: Socket A CPU

Powered by 37 million transistors, the Athlon CPU is very powerful indeed and because of that is also hotter. An AMD Socket A K7 Processor - whether it is a Duron or Athlon ranging from 600 MHz to 1.3 GHz - operated without any heatsink can be destroyed in a matter of seconds upon switch on. Also, you must be aware that the maximum heat an AMD processor can take is 90 °C as per AMD data sheet. Unlike Intel where there is an embedded in-the-chip core security regarding overheating, AMD's Socket A processor has nothing of the like.

I purchased my AMD Thunderbird in local store here. Upon buying an OEM/Tray processor there are a couple of things you should consider:

1. Inspect the processor core (square in the middle) carefully for damage. Just apply your fingernail on the four edges of that square. You should not feel any bump on the square.
2. Inspect core for plastic applied on the core (usually blue plastic), whether it's been removed.
3. There are 4 black plastic mounts on the processor. They are called “Athlon feet”. Some users put the heat sink over the processor, but be careful, some heatsinks have already 4 feet. 4 feet are good but 8 feet are bad, the core might not contact with the heatsink because of the too many feet. I have scraped my Athlon feet (the 4 black plastic pieces) with a blade. I just carefully scraped it off. But before you do it, consider the fact that you might damage your processor.
4. Examine the generic heatsink that came with the CPU. Some heatsinks have thermal glue on it. Now you have to think this before inserting the heatsink. Heatsink with thermal glue will give you hard time on detaching it. The heatsink that came with my CPU has no glue what so ever or any thermal paste/pad. Also, I have tested to insert the heatsink and I noticed that the clip has a very strong tension. In my opinion, you don’t need any tension greater than 1 lbs. As long as the flat core of the Athlon has a contact with a flat surface of the heatsink, and the heatsink does not rock on side to side, right away the CPU will transfer the heat off to the heatsink. Currently, I have decreased the clip tension and my generic heatsink doesn’t have any thermal grease or pad between the CPU & heatsink.
5. Of course added experience on how to setup a system other than this procedure is also rather recommended.

The chiller: Globalwin FOP 32-1

This heatsink is of a very unique and excellent design that I have never seen in a generic heatsink before. It has a large base plate with many fins to transport the heat up while the fan has a larger vacuum hole to suck the cool air and blow it down to the heatsink. With fins extended both to the right and left, it really cools down the base plate of the heatsink. This baby costs US$ 20.00 here.