Legit Reviews

i am thinking about upgrading my stock AMD HSF that came with my 955, and don't want to spend a whole lot of money. especially when i'm not planning on setting any overclocking records, so i don't need the noctua cooler i was looking at..

also, do the tower coolers put too much of a strain on the motherboard? I'm just afraid of any towers falling on my 4850 and causing massive damage to any surrounding parts..

The ZALMAN CNPS10X Performa. Very solid performance for a cooler under $40.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1260/1/

as for falling off, as sturdy as coolers are mounted, as long as its done right, they are not falling off.

great! i'll be sure to keep that in mind for my next purchase..and does the link that gives LR 1% still work? i'd love to give a little bit back to the community.

yup

nice! i guess you guys can expect something around the end of july, then. i'll be ordering the Zalman or something close to it for my birthday (7/25)

What about a Xigmatek with a backplate? Had the HDT-S1284EE on my Core2Quad at 4GHz and it ran under 70 at full load. Actually it worked better than the dinky water cooling loop I have hooked up to my Core2Quad now.

Scythe Mugen 2?

Haven't played with the HDT-S1284EE, but the Mugen2 is 5 degrees behind the CNPS 10X Performa in my testing. The Performa has a smaller foot print, and ~130g lighter too.

Without the Crossbow (backplate) the Xigmatek only comes with the pushpin clips. At that point the cooler is too hard to install and doesn't apply enough pressure for it to work adequately (in my opinion).

*EDIT*
Just noticed this is for a quad core AMD. Any of the mentioned coolers will work fine.

Cooler Master Hyper 212

29.99 at Fry's

Just had Venomous X go on sale for 40 at memory express. Too bad its over now and they only ship in Canada.

He was shopping for an AMD system, VenX is Intel only.