thermalright AX-7

[thholr]

Just wanted to let you all know how fantastic the thermalright AX-7 is. I bought it with the famous ( or notorious ) delta 80cfm fan . Applied it with arctic silver 3 and system temperature is now down 11 degrees from what it was before with the standard AMD provided heatsink for the Athlon XP 2000. I will say that the fan is loud and I mean really loud but with that kind of performance , who can argue.

 

[punkrawket]

what motherboard are you using?

 

[aphex]

<< what motherboard are you using? >>



i wanna know too! I cant find out any compatability lists on this baby...

 

[thholr]

I am using the Giga byte GA7-DX
no issues at all.

 

[aphex]

<< I am using the Giga byte GA7-DX
no issues at all. >>



Cool, also where did ya purchase it from?

 

[SnowPunk98]

I have this heatsink I will be reviewing at my website (link in my sig) I will try it on a few motherboards along with that 80CFM 80mm delta and a Panaflo L1A

 

[thholr]

bought it from kdcomputers.com now out of stock though . but I see newegg finally got theirs in .
I highly recommend not getting the delta high output fan , really really loud, I am going to switch to something a lot quieter, anyone have suggestions.
I am thining either the sunon 50cfm or sanyo 53cfm

 

[jsproul]

I'm also curious about mobo support. I have an ASUS A7V266-E and the stupid capacitor right near the CPU gets in the way of many 80mm coolers like the Alpha PAL8045. I don't like the noise of the ThermalTake 6Cu, and would like to switch to an 80mm low-RPM fan.

At least the board is stable, and my Lian-Li PC60 keeps it pretty cool.

 

[dorkface]

Am using my AX-7 with a 1GTbird on an Asus A7V133, using a Panaflo L1A fan. CPU temps are 37 idle, 39 load. Great

 

[jsproul]

<< Am using my AX-7 with a 1GTbird on an Asus A7V133, using a Panaflo L1A fan. CPU temps are 37 idle, 39 load. Great >>



Is this an A7V133 or an A7V133-C? There appear to be some differences in the layout.

 

[mechwarrior]

I happy with my AX-7 using a 40CFM Fan. Had a slight problem getting the clip on my MSI K7 Master. I had to move my PS to get enough room to manuver the clip on. Otherwise I went from 39C on my Swiftech MC370 to 34C idle with a case temp of 23C on my XP1700+

 

[Kaervak]

Any idea if this will fit on a bd133u? I'd like to use it for the 1.1 tualeron I'm gonna be buying soon.

 

[Schmeph]

I just installed my AX-7 with the big loud Delta on my Dragon+/Xp1700+. I was Using the SK-6. My temps dropped 13 degees. I could not believe it. I thought the SK-6 was good. The fan is a little loud but I am real happy. I could not get my Dragon to post at 155 FSB before. But now it posts, loads windows and runs SiSoft Sandra benchmarks without a hitch. I did'nt leave it there but did want to see if it would do it. Very nice HS.

 

[neutralizer]

Does anyone know where I can find the online manual? My AX-7 came with no manual and I am having trouble installing the hsf. How the heck are you supposed to screw a fan on it?

 

[SnowPunk98]

all you have to do is put the screws through the fan, put the washers on on the screws, and screw it into the heatsink inbetween the fins

 

[neutralizer]

anyone know which way the fan should blow on the AX-7?

 

[thholr]

I believe it blows down onto the heatsink. That is what the docs I read said to do anyway .

 

[neutralizer]

What docs?

 

[Laughingman]

I got my thermalright AX-7 from coolerguys today with the delta 80mm - defintely the king if you can stand the noise. Dropped my temps 3 C over my Glaciator II on a 1.33.

Dumped the Delta for a nmb b30 80mm I had laying around and dropped the noise to a more reasonble level, about the same as the GII. Temps ended up the same as GII.

Clip was a little bit of a bear with the screwdriver installation and had a nervous moment when it slipped on me and the scewdriver hit the board but no was damge done. I found another driver with a sharper tool edge and took my time and installed it OK. Much more user friendly installation than the Alpha 8045.

Base was flat and a good finish with minor tool marks. I am not a lapping fanatic so it was good enough for me.

All In all it is a pretty good sink-the best air-cooling but at the penalty of noise. I think for all the effort the glaciator is better price/noise/performance combo.

I think I have conviced myself that we are(I am) at the limit of air cooling. Bigger fans larger sinks just do not cut it any more. It is not like the old days when the first Swiftech came out and had 15 C on the ALPHA 6035.

2 or 3 C is a major improvement these days?

I'm a thinkin allot aboutwater these days......................

 

[thholr]

well I agree and disagree, my temps dropped 12 degrees with the AX-7 over the standard heatsink you get from AMD. Which was fantastic. I was now running in the low 40s. I dont know much about your other setup, so you might be right that the AX-7 might not be that much better. 3-4 degrees does make a difference, but the price of noise in my mind is way too high .
If I were you try downloading cpuidle or a software program like that. EVen though they say windows 2000 already does that, cpuidle pro , drops my athlon 2000 temps down another 7 or 8 degrees ( if you can trust all the monitors , and I am ruinning about 6 different ones to be sure ) now I am running my system around 34 degrees which is where I want to be . I think 30-40 degrees for an athlon 2000 is great. I hope when I replace the delta ( since the noise is a killer ) that i will only loose a couple of degrees.

 

[lebe0024]

I'm a thinkin allot aboutwater these days......................

 

[Ionizer86]

I highly recommend not getting the delta high output fan , really really loud, I am going to switch to something a lot quieter, anyone have suggestions.

YSTech has this fan that's like 27dBa and 39cfm......that's like a really good ratio for blowing a good amount of air with a low-noise comp

 

[Laughingman]

Well I do not think it is worth the upgrade if you have an Alpha, volcano7+ , Akura or half a dozen other heat sinks. If you have a FOP 38 then it worth doing. For noise it is a pretty good alternative with a slower fan, But then again my Glaciator II has the same performance same noise and costs less.

I think at some point solutions go over the top and features like the 80mm delta 68 are not acceptble to a majority. So the option is to find best in the class or shift gears to an alternative like water.

I will stick with the aircooling I have for now. I am looking seriously at water, though when I read forum threads like " I've got slime in my radiator" I have second thoughts.

 

[neutralizer]

<< I highly recommend not getting the delta high output fan , really really loud, I am going to switch to something a lot quieter, anyone have suggestions.

YSTech has this fan that's like 27dBa and 39cfm......that's like a really good ratio for blowing a good amount of air with a low-noise comp >>



Um... it's actually more like 30dBa and 37 cfm, but that's still pretty good. You can't have too quiet and expect decent cooling.

 

[dorkface]

jsproul,



<< Is this an A7V133 or an A7V133-C? There appear to be some differences in the layout. >>



That is with an A7V133. Correction though...if I REALLY make my CPU work at it, temp goes up to 43C. Still great.