I am so shocked with the performance of the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 PRO Rev.2 that I decided to give it a small write up.
I recently built a second computer to link up to my TV for further testing, and I decided it was time to buy an AMD CPU! I ended up going for the "AMD (Piledriver) FX-8320 3.50GHz (4.00GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 8-Core Processor" since it was under £100 and offers pretty reasonable performance. Many thanks to community member Mirv who funded this.
I was shocked, however, to find that the CPU fan that AMD supply with this CPU is basically a jet engine, and I couldn't put up with it at all. You could hear it over any game, and it soured my initial experience with the new chip somewhat. I am not overstating just how loud the stock AMD fan is, it's terrible.
I decided to look for a cheap alternative that had good reviews, and I settled with the "Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 PRO Rev.2" (I am not affiliated with the store linked!). This heat sink and fan came at under £7, so you would think it would be pretty shocking, but I am pleased to say it's absolutely amazing.
My temperatures have dropped by at least 10 degrees, and the noise level is much more acceptable. It's not silent, but it's also not loud so it offers a pretty good price/performance bargain for anyone looking at getting a new one. It lets off a very gentle sound, so it won't take me long to forget it's even there.
I do find it a bit amusing that a £6.89 cooler can beat the stock AMD one at temperatures, and at noise level. Although it's not all that surprising, how much can a thin plastic fan and some metal really cost when mass produced?
I also much prefer the way AMD coolers clip into the motherboard, I find the way Intel coolers are attached with the push clips infuriated, so this is a point in AMD's favour right now.
Next up to buy: An AMD GPU to make it a fully fledged AMD testing box for reports and reviews, and you can help by subbing to use on Patreon, or one-off paypal tips. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I recently built a second computer to link up to my TV for further testing, and I decided it was time to buy an AMD CPU! I ended up going for the "AMD (Piledriver) FX-8320 3.50GHz (4.00GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 8-Core Processor" since it was under £100 and offers pretty reasonable performance. Many thanks to community member Mirv who funded this.
I was shocked, however, to find that the CPU fan that AMD supply with this CPU is basically a jet engine, and I couldn't put up with it at all. You could hear it over any game, and it soured my initial experience with the new chip somewhat. I am not overstating just how loud the stock AMD fan is, it's terrible.
I decided to look for a cheap alternative that had good reviews, and I settled with the "Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 PRO Rev.2" (I am not affiliated with the store linked!). This heat sink and fan came at under £7, so you would think it would be pretty shocking, but I am pleased to say it's absolutely amazing.
My temperatures have dropped by at least 10 degrees, and the noise level is much more acceptable. It's not silent, but it's also not loud so it offers a pretty good price/performance bargain for anyone looking at getting a new one. It lets off a very gentle sound, so it won't take me long to forget it's even there.
I do find it a bit amusing that a £6.89 cooler can beat the stock AMD one at temperatures, and at noise level. Although it's not all that surprising, how much can a thin plastic fan and some metal really cost when mass produced?
I also much prefer the way AMD coolers clip into the motherboard, I find the way Intel coolers are attached with the push clips infuriated, so this is a point in AMD's favour right now.
Next up to buy: An AMD GPU to make it a fully fledged AMD testing box for reports and reviews, and you can help by subbing to use on Patreon, or one-off paypal tips. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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12 comments
The only problem with this I see is that the CPU you got is rated by AMD at 125W, whereas the cooler is rated aby Arctic Cooling at 85W. I'd be careful there.
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Try the Arctic Freezer A11 and you will have one which fits the wattage and you will not hear anything anymore :D.
The best is, also its not a top blow system you can install it very easy without need to do something under the mainboard.
The best is, also its not a top blow system you can install it very easy without need to do something under the mainboard.
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GustyGhost Sep 16, 2015
The only problem with this I see is that the CPU you got is rated by AMD at 125W, whereas the cooler is rated aby Arctic Cooling at 85W. I'd be careful there.
A 100W rated model at the very least.
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It's probably not the last cooler it will get, but so far it has been a champ and has been keeping temps cooler than the stock one did, so in this case it doesn't really matter since the stock cooler was junk.
I will be checking out a more expensive "silent" cooler on it next time, and I will post my thoughts on that too.
I will be checking out a more expensive "silent" cooler on it next time, and I will post my thoughts on that too.
1 Likes, Who?
Segata Sanshiro Sep 16, 2015
I had this cooler for just under a year, but started to get really noisy and temperatures were rising. It wasn't really the fault of the cooler, more the fact that it barely squeezed in the HTPC case which got bumped around a bit when I took it on trains and planes, the poor little fan absorbed most of it. The cooler was really good though, shaved a lot of temp and noise off the stock cooler and can't really argue with the price.
I ended up replacing it with the Hyper 212 Evo, which is also awesome value for money (at the next price point up), but pretty huge in size.
I ended up replacing it with the Hyper 212 Evo, which is also awesome value for money (at the next price point up), but pretty huge in size.
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I personally purchased an arctic freezer extreme rev. 2. Not quite the same category, though. I have been really happy with it so far, and it's really silent :)
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Yeah very good mark of coolers and your alpine 64 rev 2 have very good specs
Diameter
92 mm
Fan Speed:
500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)
Airflow:
45 CFM / 77 m³/h
Noise Level:
0.4 Sone @ 2,000 RPM
Current / Voltage:
0.16 A / +12V DC
In my case stay busy with my new cpu and alpine 11 plus, this is specs
Diameter:
92 mm
Fan Speed:
500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)
Noise Level:
0.4 Sone
Current / Voltage:
0.16 A / +12 V DC
Airflow
74 CFM / 125.7 m³/h
Some images
With Prime95
Comparing stock cooler vs artic 11 plus
For now stay very busy testing wine 1.7.51 and 1.7.51 csmt git stefandosinger
Update for example in zombi with wine
Wine on Intel Pentium G3220 at 3.0Ghz Stock
View video on youtube.com
Wine on Intel Pentium G3258 at 4.1Ghz + Artic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus
View video on youtube.com
Wine CSMT (stefan dosiger git) on Intel Pentium G3258 at 4.1Ghz + Artic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus
View video on youtube.com
^_^
Last edited by mrdeathjr on 16 September 2015 at 8:02 pm UTC
Diameter
92 mm
Fan Speed:
500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)
Airflow:
45 CFM / 77 m³/h
Noise Level:
0.4 Sone @ 2,000 RPM
Current / Voltage:
0.16 A / +12V DC
In my case stay busy with my new cpu and alpine 11 plus, this is specs
Diameter:
92 mm
Fan Speed:
500 - 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM)
Noise Level:
0.4 Sone
Current / Voltage:
0.16 A / +12 V DC
Airflow
74 CFM / 125.7 m³/h
Some images
With Prime95
Comparing stock cooler vs artic 11 plus
For now stay very busy testing wine 1.7.51 and 1.7.51 csmt git stefandosinger
Update for example in zombi with wine
Wine on Intel Pentium G3220 at 3.0Ghz Stock
View video on youtube.com
Wine on Intel Pentium G3258 at 4.1Ghz + Artic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus
View video on youtube.com
Wine CSMT (stefan dosiger git) on Intel Pentium G3258 at 4.1Ghz + Artic Cooling Alpine 11 Plus
View video on youtube.com
^_^
Last edited by mrdeathjr on 16 September 2015 at 8:02 pm UTC
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I specced a new pc recently and er went a bit nuts :P http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/hydro-series-h100i-extreme-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler
Back on topic that cooler will deffo go in my spare machine when I finally get around to sorting it though. :)
Back on topic that cooler will deffo go in my spare machine when I finally get around to sorting it though. :)
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I made the mistake of buying a rather expensive Noctua cooler for my work machine a few years back, and now I'm hopelessly in love with them. (Please don't tell my wife.) Their heat sinks and fans are pure gold. Well not actually made of pure gold but copper, aluminium, plastic and whatnot. Still, you know what I mean.
Spoiler, click me
I've had my share of hits and misses in the cooling department in the almost two decades since I built my first rig as a teen, although back then the coolers were all crap. Some were made of copper, but that just made them slightly heavier and more expensive crap.
One shiny blue sink with a tiny little fan - appropriately shaped like a jet engine - that sat on one of my early Athlons (or might have been a K6-2 or something) was so extraordinarily loud I was positively scarred for life. And so were our neighbours. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner trying desperately to reach earth orbit.
I won't even speak of my unfortunate but repeated missteps into the world of overclocking, let alone the subsequent hasty exits from said world with my tail between my legs, the remains of a handful of expensive components serving as smouldering proof of my shameful failure.
One shiny blue sink with a tiny little fan - appropriately shaped like a jet engine - that sat on one of my early Athlons (or might have been a K6-2 or something) was so extraordinarily loud I was positively scarred for life. And so were our neighbours. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner trying desperately to reach earth orbit.
I won't even speak of my unfortunate but repeated missteps into the world of overclocking, let alone the subsequent hasty exits from said world with my tail between my legs, the remains of a handful of expensive components serving as smouldering proof of my shameful failure.
1 Likes, Who?
... and now I'm hopelessly in love with them. (Please don't tell my wife.)No, no. The only thing that's pure gold is your statement! :D
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I wouldn't worry about the coolers TDP in this case since the CPU will throttle itself if its temperature gets too high. Also TDP is only a general guideline most of the time since the efficacy of a CPU cooler is heavily influenced by a large number of differing factors that include airflow and the ambient temperature. You also have to factor in the processors real world usage. E.g. how many cores will be fully utilized and for how long.
It's important to note that a TDP rating isn't a rating for how much power a processor can draw, instead it's a rating that indicates how much heat the cooler will need to dissipate based on what the manufacturer believes to be normal usage. To give an example, a processor with a 125W TDP rating could consume closer to 180W when maxed out. If you were to put a 100% load on a processor for an extended period of time, say to render a 3D scene or encode a 4K video you could easily cause the temperature to rise beyond the acceptable limit even with a cooler that is rated for the recommended TDP.
This scenario however isn't likely given that Liam seems to be using this machine for gaming. As such I'd imagine that the majority of the time he won't even use 4 cores. Much less all 8 cores maxed in a loop that is designed wring every ounce of power out of it.
Last edited by jamesc359 on 16 September 2015 at 10:03 pm UTC
It's important to note that a TDP rating isn't a rating for how much power a processor can draw, instead it's a rating that indicates how much heat the cooler will need to dissipate based on what the manufacturer believes to be normal usage. To give an example, a processor with a 125W TDP rating could consume closer to 180W when maxed out. If you were to put a 100% load on a processor for an extended period of time, say to render a 3D scene or encode a 4K video you could easily cause the temperature to rise beyond the acceptable limit even with a cooler that is rated for the recommended TDP.
This scenario however isn't likely given that Liam seems to be using this machine for gaming. As such I'd imagine that the majority of the time he won't even use 4 cores. Much less all 8 cores maxed in a loop that is designed wring every ounce of power out of it.
Last edited by jamesc359 on 16 September 2015 at 10:03 pm UTC
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TheCrazedMind Sep 22, 2015
I have the exact same cooler as this on my AMD FX-6300 OC'd to 4.0 ghz and this cooler brings my temps down by about 20 degrees as compared to the stock cooler on stock core clock. Great cooler for the money and earned my respect for this company!
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