Athlon Overclocking w/Retail Fan

[wriddle]

Hello,
Does anybody know/think a retail fan will be sufficient to cool a Athlon XP 1600(1.4ghz > 1.5 or so)? I am also considering buying a Dragon Orb if this is not a good idea... is that a good fan or what?

Thanx:D

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

The question is, how comfortable are you with having higher CPU temperatures? AMD claims an Athlon is stable up to 60 C, but personally, I don't want my CPU that high. If you use an orb (which, in my experience, are pieces of trash for reasons I won't discuss now) you'll probably have higher temperatures. A good OC heatsink is one that has a 60mm high preformance fan (such as a delta 38 CFM) and a block or radial fin layout where the air blows down onto the fins (unlike an orb where the air blows out from the turbine fan). Orbs are also hard to repair if the fan breaks down-a HSF with a removeable fan is much better-if the fan craps out you only have to buy a new fan instead of a whole new unit. You should try to find a sink that has all copper construction, because copper distributes heat more evenly. An aluminum heatsink will have a hot spot in the middle and the rest is only warm. Go to www.plycon.com for some good high-pref. heatsinks, or try www.coolerguys.com.

[missiveusa]

Ditto to the above post. In fact, AMD advises against using any "orb" type heatsinks to cool their cpu's. Swiftech has just released a copper bottom version of the MCX370. It's the MCXC370 for about $40 (w/ pabst fan). I have the aluminum version cooling an OC'ed T'bird 1200 to 1330 MHz. Temps: 31-35 C. Anything near 50C would concern me.