Duron 850/Coolermaster DP5 6H11?

[cheapster]

Anyone have any experience with the coolermaster DP5 6H11 heatsink and fan for a Duron 850? It is supposed to be adequate for up to a 1.2 gig T-Bird. Here is a link to the site: http://www.coolermaster.com/products/cpucooler/fcpga/dp5-6h11.html
I already ordered one from newegg.com along with my new motherboard, processor, case and video card. Sure hope I didn't make a mistake! Thanks for any input.
Chuck

[Bovon]

From what I have read, the coolermaster DP5 6H11 heatsink and fan does not cool very well. It seems it will be ok, if you provide adequate case cooling...ie, more input and exaust fans. Do not attempt to overclock your system using this heat sink...it is not good enough. Be sure to lap the base of the sink very good...make a mirror finish on it using wet or dry automotive sandpaper. Depending on how smooth the base surface is in the beginning, will determine what grit sandpaper to start off with. If it is kinda rough, start off with maybe 220 or 3?0, and progress up to about 1000 to 1500 grit. This is important. The base needs to be as flat and smooth as possible. Do the lapping on a piece of plate glass to have a good flat working surface. One thing this also accomplishes is to get rid of the anodized aluminum finish, which impeeds heat very bad. Then, use a sparingly application of Artic Silver on top of the core.

I also recommend the use of a non conductive shim. This is necessary to preclude chipping of the very fragile core. The non conductive shim can be had from Crazy PC:
http://www.crazypc.com/
http://www.crazypc.com/products/accessories/accessories.htm#shims

If you order one, be sure to get the one for AMD. They also have shims for Intel...they do not work on AMD cpu's. DO NOT get a copper shim...they slip over, short out the bridges on the cpu, and fry it.

[Brangwen]

A safe way to remove the thermal pad is to scrape it off (carefully) with a plastic credit card that's been cut in half.

Good luck!

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[cheapster]

Thanks for the replies. Is the provided thermal pad really that bad on the coolermaster heatsink? I mean it is supposed to be AMD approved up to the 1.2 gig T-Bird and I am only planning on running a Duron 850 at default. I do have a tube of the "El Cheapo" Radio Shack thermal paste. Would that be preferable to the provided thermal pad? How do you apply it? I have read just a thin coating on the core. What does that mean? I also read not to apply it with your fingers, that the oil from your skin could affect its heat conductive properties. Help? Any good sites that demonstrate the proper way to proceed? My parts should arrive tomorrow, so any suggestions are appreciated.
Chuck

[Terminator]

yep..got a DP5 6H11 on my duron 600

Have it running at 900Mhz with pencil trick.
Run it at 600Mhz the now cuz no need for more speed.... Voodoo3 is bottlenecking so will save 900Mhz for new vid card.

Right now its at 45C on my ASUS A7V....I agree more case ventilation is needed....hits about 52C at 900Mhz..

CPU is NOT lapped and if I was serious about 900MHz I would lap it and put some thermal paste on it.. the Coolermaster has a thermal strip on it....which I still have on..but would get rid if/when I clock it up.

So in summary the coolermaster isn't that good....can't comment on the superorb's etc...but people here seem to like em.

Hope this helps

T

[RobRich]

I've overclocked Durons past upwards of 1 GHz with nothing more than the pathetic excuse for a retail heatsink that AMD provides with its boxed chips. The Coolermaster DP5 would have to be a better hs/fan than the retail cooler. Take care to remove the thermal pad with a plastic scraper, then use a light sandpaper or abrasive pad to create a uniform surface. Apply a thin layer of thermal paste (silicon, silver, whatever....), and you should be good to go. BTW, most of my Duron builds prove perfectly stable upto ~58C. As for frying the chip, the Duron carries a heat rating upwards of 80C!

For my personal builds, I tend to favor the SuperORB upto 1.2 GHz, and the Alpha PAL6035 or GlobalWin FOP-38 for anything greater.

Catch ya' later,
Robert Richmond

[Bovon]

Chuck, In my opinion, Artic Silver type of thermal goo seems to be better than the older heat sink goo from Rat Shack. One reason is, the older goo tends to harden after awhile, and then it dosn't conduct heat away from the core as well as it did when first used. Personally, I have never used any of the older goo on a newer system, but I have used it on older systems. When the processor was removed a couple of years later, it was dried out and flaky. So, I think the Artic Silver (and perhaps other new types of compounds are improved).

The heat is transferred from the core to the sink better when the sink is flat down on the core. Many newbies have smeared a thick coat of goo on their cpu core, and had temps that were a bit high, after cleaning the goo off, and a reapplication to a thin coat, the temps came down. The goo dosn't conduct heat well at all..its purpose is to assure that the sink is touching the core very good thru minor imperfections in the sink base, and the core top.

When applying the compound, simply place a small dab on top of the core. Take something like a razor blade, or other flat type instrument and spread it on the core evenly, leaving only a thin layer on top. This is hard to describe, but I think perhaps something on the order maybe a very thin piece of paper thickness, or less. You do not want any to sqeeze out from under the sink when it is latched down...so. you can see from that, that the coat needs to be thin.I would think that using a finger would be ok...if someone was worried about body oils, wipe your finger with alcohol first...

Aluminum heat sinks are anadized (sp-the finish on aluminum after is made from raw aluminum) This coating does not conduct heat, and should be removed. Not everyone knows this, but all report better temps after lapping, which removes the anadized finish. The finish is applied to aluminum to stop corrosion, but impeeds heat transfer..it is also electrically insulating. I discoverd this tid bit of info while searching for heat sink data on the net using googles search engine, and ran across a debate between heat sink design engineers.

So, not only does lapping provide a good, flat polished surface for total contact with the core, it also removes the anadized finish, which provides a much better heat transfer.

The thermal pad is included with most heat sinks, primarily for the unknowledgeable newbie, who could slap the sink onto the cpu without any goo at all...and fry the cpu. Removing the pad, lapping the sink, and applying some type of goo will greatly improve heat transfer. Artic Silver is better than Rat Shacks goo, but Rat Shacks goo is better than none.

I have a buncha sites book marked that deal with the 'art' of unlocking a cpu, and I'm sure one or more of these also show how to apply the goo...I'll look for one, and repost..