Question 1

Does this heatsink come with thermal compound - either pre-applied or in a syringe?  Or will I need to order some Arctic Silver?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as I recall the cooler does have some thermal compound pre-applied to the heat sink.

Still, it's cheap insurance to have some additional thermal compound on hand in case there is a problem with the installation.  I also got a cleaning kit to remove the remnants of the old thermal compound on my CPU before I installed this fan.

Question 2

I am unable to find a manual online, so am not clear if the install uses the Intel pushpins, or if tall the hardware is included.  Does one need to remove the mobo to install?

Accepted Answer

It's just the standard pushpins.  No backplate is required.  If you have the motherboard already mounted you should not have to remove it.  Just be careful not to press down too hard with the pins.  If your motherboard flexes a lot when you push down, you may want to remove it to put the fan on just to be safe.

Question 3

im building my very first gaming pc and was wondering if this fan is something to look at for cooling my CPU? i chose this cause it is very cheap and im trying to stay within a budget.

Accepted Answer

1st? the minimum cooler that should be used is the one generally included with the processor or it's equivalent.
2nd? add'l cooling performance may be required for overclocking or extremely CPU intensive gaming.
3rd? without more details about your particular application, it's impossible to know.
4th? CPU coolers are kind of like sleeping bags, the money you save may not keep you warm at night-or-keep your CPU temp below max.
5th? keeping mainboard chips cool extends life and ups reliability. You cannot over-cool them with forced convection and heat exchangers.
6th? Read Newegg reviews and Googling for your processor and "cpu cooler" and learn from others.
7th? I used this one for a low power Linux bastion firewall, very low CPU workload.
8th? Good luck and have fun..!

Question 4

is this better at cooling than the oem intel fan?

Accepted Answer

I'm sure you will get different opinions on this. I have both the stock intel cooler and this, and I think this one is quitter. as far as better cooling, no not really, about the same temps as the stock cooler. but this cooler is a lot shorter. so if you are going to use it in a SFF case, I pick this one over stock.

Question 5

Does the fan start up loud then quiet down afterwards? Or does it start up quietly?

Accepted Answer

It's not very loud to begin with. The fan only runs at whatever speed the motherboard tells it to run at. The fan does not have its own speed control. Check your motherboard for CPU fan speed settings.

Question 6

Is this a suitable replacement on a GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard?

Accepted Answer

I honestly found that the stock CPU cooler that came with my intel processor was better. This one was quieter, but I definitely noticed differences in cooling. I gave it a try and ended up swapping it back out for the stock.

Question 7

Will this heatsink fit a motherboard that uses an FM2 socket? (ASRock A88M-ITX/ac 2.0 motherboard)

Accepted Answer

Nope, Intel sockets only.

Question 8

the dell motherboard i have doesnt have a connector for the power on it?  thats weird.

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, most Dell motherboards have proprietary PWM connectors for their CPU Fan/Heatsink.

Question 9

Will this fit in the ARock Deskmini case?

Accepted Answer

The 29.5mm dimension is the height of the heatsink from the top of the CPU Chip.  So if you measure from the top of the cpu, you should get an idea if there will be enough clearance.  I have mine in a mini ATX case with low clearance and it fit well.

Question 10

Will this fit motherboard (ASRock Z87 Extreme3) forgot what socket it was but I have a old heatsink with 90mm?

Accepted Answer

No

Questions & Answers