Sidney

Althought they revised the mounting clip design for the better, the base is now larger and will only fit on S-478. The photos above don't show the two add on plates to the left and right of the base, which are needed for the new clips similar to Thermalright and Swiftech.

Both samples show poor base flatness. This is really a huge flaw in not keeping an eye on quality. A little rough finish could be resolved by TIM, concaved surface to such as extend is BAD news.

I've also concluded 80mm fan at the same sound level as 90mm (~2900 rpm versus ~,2,200 rpm) performs better by ~2°C. It is a matter of velocity versus CFM on the spot where cooling needed the most.

Lastly, if the heatsink must be offset from the center; height is necessary to clear memory modules. In a crowded market and only enthusiasts are changing the heatsink; they should look into compatibility with Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, DFI, MSI boards and forget about using OEM boards for internal testing/evaluations.

After lapping, the X-500 using 80mm fan is only 3°C behind XP-90.

Just received pricing info -

Retail price ~US$34

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lazyman

Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

jmke

some good info there Lazyman, sad to see the base being poorly lapped, it makes a larger difference then one might think

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