( 9 reviews )
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Posted: 06-03-2009
This is a very good quality cooler. After 3+ years of using the stock Intel fan/cooler I finally decided to upgrade to a quieter model. The Intel fan would just get too loud at times, and got very annoying. Based on the reviews on this site and elsewhere, I decided on the Big Typhoon. Installation was a breeze, and I had the Intel fan out and replaced in about 20 minutes total. I was very happy with the results of the Big Typhoon. This thing is QUIET, and does a great job of keeping my temps down. I have the fan set to the lowest setting, and cannot hear it at all. It also keeps my CPU temp well below where it was with the Intel cooler. Overall, I would recommend this if you are looking to upgrade your CPU cooler.
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Posted: 03-07-2009
If you have a socket-AM2 motherboard, then DO NOT BUY THIS! Bought this to put on a socket-AM2 motherboard. The advertising by the manufacturer and their manual says it will work with a socket-AM2 motherboard, and will do so using the typical retention frames that almost always come with socket AM2 motherboards. However, they've made a really stupid mistake in the design of their mounting hardware for socket-AM2. They include a mounting clip that is supposed to be positioned over the base block of this CPU cooler and has pieces to reach down and engage the tabs on a standard socket-AM2 retention frame. This mounting clip has a lengthy lever on it that is supposed to be turned a quarter-turn to tighten down this CPU cooler onto the top of the CPU. However, the manufacturer made the lever TOO LONG. There is no way to use the lever to tighten down this CPU cooler, because it is blocked by the fins overhead. It doesn't matter which way this mounting clip is installed -- either way, the lever is blocked by the fins. I suppose I could bend some of the fins out of the way, but that would undoubtedly comprise this cooler's effectiveness, and besides, it shouldn't be necessary to do such a thing. This begs the question of whether they ever actually tested this, or did they just take this mounting clip from another of their models of CPU cooler and toss it into the box with this CPU cooler. As a result, I have no idea how effective this CPU cooler is at actually cooling a socket-AM2 CPU -- since it was impossible to complete the tightening down process (which is the last step in installing it), I never had the chance to find out.
