I have to say i had a pentium 4 2.8 for about 2 years it never preformed liked i wanted it to. I have since i guess you could say down graded to a an athlon 64 2.2 and it out preforms my old p4 by leaps not quite bounds. I don't understand how intel messes up thier chips.

I tossed the replacement fan. The cam/post attachment method is just not up to the same class as the CPU and certainly not confidence inspiring. Put a Thermaltake Big Typhoon on it. (Had to grind about 1/8th inch off one side of the "H" clamp to clear the VR heatsinks by the rear panel outputs but that was it.) The BT has a 120mm fan, runs at 1300rpm constant, flows 54.4cfm max, and is rated at 16dBA. (10dBA is normal breathing and 20dBA is a whisper at 5 feet.)

The Intel Desktop Utility showed 140F idle and 190F load with the original motherboard/CPU/HSF. The new motherboard/CPU/BT idles at 102F and hits 111F under [the same] load. (Sorry, never really took a liking to anything but "F.")

I haven't used an Intel stock fan for anything but initial testing since the 3GHz Pentium 4 --despite that same guy at Intel telling me he'd, "heard of 4GHz OC with the OEM model." Yup.... They just don't work well.

Eeeeek. That worries me... if I wanted a hair dryer I'd buy one!

A cheesy cheap heatsink on a toasted-cheese processor ?

The boxed versions of the Athlon X2 4400+ processor and the higher members of this series all come with a very nice heat-pipe heat-sink -- very sweet. Not that the X2 really requires any such beast. Fully-loaded Prime95 maximum core temp is ~ 52 degrees C (23 degrees C ambient). Maybe Intel should license the AMD design ?? Would still probably need to double the fan speed to keep that turkey 955XE processor under 70 degrees C. Not only does Intel inherit the P4 architectural inefficiencies, but they also have been penny-pinching their silicon-processes for years. They still do not have SOI and thus have been continually combating current leakage. Do not expect any power-dissipation miracles with Conroe/Merom. Definitely gain power-efficiency with the revised non-P4 architecture - however Intel will be still combating increased leakage on the 65nm and 45nm smaller geometry processes, requiring far tighter control on core voltage. In fact, the current generation of (dual-core-compatible) motherboards will not be able to take Conroe as a retrofit -- the new processor requires an updated voltage requlator design. Yet another brilliant Intel-inspired (-planned ??) motherboard change after the fiasco of the non-dual-core compatible 915 and 925 chipsets. Planned obsolescence -- Intel-style. Gotta get a quick payback on the $350million invested in updating their motherboard chipset capacity.....

Son of Dustbuster...

i once forgot to put thermal paste between an XP 1500+ (i think) and its heatsink. also, i tried running a Duron 700 w/ a giant copper heatsink and no fan once, just to see what would happen.

with those two instances as exceptions... i've never had a system that ran @ 60C, much less 70C. that's simply... well, extreme. ;)

while the retail cooler blows (hardy har har), I think it's safe to say that anyone who buys an Extreme Edition anything is going to have a high-end aftermarket cooler strapped on (and, as you said, it's a requirement...I think it's something most people would do anyway) and it won't be that big of an issue.

Damage,

I am the Grammar Police. POSTed whould be:

POST'd

As stated below, anyone buying this combo is wanting two things performance and Intel (???).

That said this type of person buying the top end Intel CPU would know to buy a after market air cooler at a min. A Zalman or Big Typhoon would easily cools this thing if you dont overclock.

I have a Big Typhoon on my Intel P4 640 (3.2ghz Preshott) and it never goes above 51-53C after playing BF2 for 3 hours.....and its super quiet.

Jesus Tap Dancing CHRIST that's a FIREBALL of a processor.

Nerd appeal is a fickle thing. It wasn't but a couple years ago that those godawful 7000 or even 8000rpm Delta fans were being touted in every cooling review. Perhaps there are a few "old school" enthusiasts who still feel this way and would put up with a cooler like this.

Personally, I am not convinced that the current trend of windows and garish neon lights all over everything is any improvement over yesterday's vacuum cleaners.

prescott^2?

I don't trust the retention mechanism on the retail heat sinks. They're PLASTIC. That's right - totally PLASTIC. It takes too much down force to install them and there's no clear indication that it is securely fastened. There are also 4 points to fasten, any of which can be done inappropriately.

Intel: STOP CHANGING YOUR HEAT SINKS. Find a design that works, spend the money to use it in all of your boxed processors in the same family!

Insanity. My overclocked Opteron 165 @ 2.6GHz 1.45v runs a maximum of around 45C with a Prime95 running on each core. Of course I have a aftermarket cooler, but it's just a $35 Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. It's very quiet too, and maxes out at a whole 2300RPM with its 100mm fan.

And you guys should see the cooler AMD shipped with this CPU. I coulda just used that. 4 heatpipes and a 80mm fan, and copper base. Absolutely impressive thing there.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=399

I pity the people that end up with one of these in their systems.

Fan noise is a totally negatory aspect to using a computer, probably to the point of causing people to feel unwell.

The difference between a silent system and a noisy one is night and day. The entire experience of using the system is different, pleasure vs. stress.

This is performance at any cost. Honestly, if the processor won't run without such a cooler, then it shouldn't be on the market. This isn't targeted at server rooms, it's people home gaming systems. People who'll be damaging their hearing because they'll up the speaker volume to drown out the non-atmospheric fan noise. Otherwise add another $20 to the price and include a quieter, better cooler. Don't skimp on the cooler, ship something worthy of the $1000 the product costs.

Wow, we can have a cookout using this chip as the grill! Hot Dogs anyone? BBQ!

Like many others in this thread I was blown away at how cool the Athlon 64 line runs. My CPU idles at 26 and runs full load at around 42. It's running at 1.35v 2.4GHz.

No clue why anyone in their right mind would run Intel.

Someone at Intel needs to wake up. Why not do an oem deal with Zalman, or license a design from them for a good cooler, with a more average to low noise output.

Can anybody say FX5800 noisy?

Anyway, that thing is HOT! I've had my home PC (X2 3800) running almost everyday now with Folding, and it sits comfortably at low 40Cs.

Oh BTW, that's with stock cooling.

This just in... Intel is offering an Extreme Deep Fryer Edition as well. It eschews a fan in lieu of two long heatpipes that extend outside the case and wrap around a stainless steel bin. The bin is then ready for heating all your favourite foods and turning them into artery-choking balls of goodness!

Order yours today and have yet something else semi-useful from Intel, the company with the dancing guys in the NBC suits!

Extreme Edition needs extreme measures.

How very odd.