In an effort to bring quality and unbiased reviews to our readers, I have decided to implement a program I am calling: ‘A Second Opinion’. A Second Opinion will take a look at products already reviewed on DSM, another staff member will essentially review the product again, but this review will be shorter and more focused on the testing aspects of the products.
The idea is that another viewpoint might shed light on something that the original reviewer missed, and the second reviewers test system is different than the original testing system. Not all products will receive the second opinion, only a select few will. There will be a special category in the reviews section of the site that will be titled ‘A Second Opinion’ here these reviews can be found. I hope everyone finds this program helpful, as the aim to to provide quality, honest and unbiased content to our readers and for our sponsors. So, for our first Second Opinion we have the Alpine64 from Arctic Cooling, this is also our newest staff member, Tomas Ratas’ first review for DSM. So stop by and check out his take on the Alpine64 and drop him a note of welcome in the forums…
Arctic Cooling Alpine64 : Second Opinion
Reviewed by: Tom Ratas AkA: DarthOverlord
Sponsor: Arctic Cooling
Find Arctic Cooling Products at ShopZilla!
Introduction:
In my first review for the Second Opinion, I will be looking at is the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler. Although I am aware of the Arctic Cooling brand, this is my first time trying one of their products. Arctic Cooling has been synonymous for terrific cooling products, particularly in their GPU cooling Silencer line.
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The Alpine 64s selling points are its low acoustic performance and its six year warranty. That type of warranty shows Arctic Cooling is confident in the quality of their products. The Alpine 64 is designed to be used with All AMD Sempron, Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2 (Socket 754, 939, AM2) and All AMD Opteron processors.
Luckily for me I had a brand new Opteron 146 system that I was in the middle of testing and overclocking. So lets take a look at what the Alpine 64 has to offer.
(Editors Note: Original review can be found HERE for entire specs and features listing.)
A Better Look at Things
:
The packaging is pretty standard HSF style, a square box with pictures, specs and information about the product. Found inside the box is the Alpine 64 Cooler, two clips, instructions, a case badge and two mounting screws.
One of the unique things about the Alpine 64 design is the way the fan sits on top of the heat sink. The fan rests on rubber stand offs which help eliminate the vibrational noise from the fan. Fluid dynamic bearings are found in the fan to help further suppress unwanted noise. The combination of these two factors helps create an acoustic nirvana.
The heat sink is composed of aluminum and is a solid piece with machined fins to allow a good thermal conductivity between the fins and the base. The base itself is not smooth and seems to be unfinished. It does come pre-applied with Arctic Coolings thermal compound, Artic MX-1.
During the Second Opinion, I test products that were previously reviewed by Dracos. So the Alpine 64 needed a re-coating of thermal compound. I decided to use Arctic Silver 5 and applied it to the CPU and the heat sink after removing the used Arctic MX-1 compound. After cleaning the base and my CPU with Isopropyl Alcohol, I put a small dollop of AS5 on my CPU and rubbed in a small amount of AS5 into the base of the Alpine 64.
The first thing you notice about the HSF is its size and the unique frame around the fan. The Alpine 64 is much larger than the stock HSF that comes with boxed AMD cpus. Artic Cooling adds a nice touch by sleeving the fan connector cable. The weight is similar to the AMD HSF, but the width and height, make the Alpine 64 much larger.
Find Arctic Cooling Products at ShopZilla!
Installation, Testing and Comparison
The installation of the Alpine 64 was a pleasant surprise. In fact, after the Shuttle SFF ICE Cooler, the Alpine 64 was the easiest HSF installation that I have experienced. Unlike other HSFs, you do not need to replace the CPU bracket on your motherboard. Also, you do not have to apply a lot of pressure to install the Alpine 64.
Test system:
Opteron 146 running 280 x 10 2.8 GHz
AsRock939 Dual SATA2
2x1024MB Corsair XMSPRO 3500LL
Visiontek ATI x800 PCI-E
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64
AMD Stock Opteron HSF
* Arctic Silver 5 was applied to both heatsinks and
* The test was conducted on an open system.
* The Vcore was 1.4
* Idle temps were after the system was booted and running for half an hour
* Load temps were obtained using OCCT after running for a half an hour
* The Case Temperature was measured
Stock AMD at Idle 32 degrees Celsius
Arctic Coolings Alpine 64 at Idle 36 degrees Celsius
Stock AMD at Load 50 degrees Celsius
Arctic Coolings Alpine 64 at Load 46 degrees Celsius
Summary:
Artic Cooling has built an impressive HSF for a very affordable price. After reading some reviews about how this HSF is not really meant for overclocking, I am quite satisfied with the results. It is cooler and quieter than the stock AMD heat sink. While not the ultimate solution for overclockers, it is still a great replacement option for the stock AMD coolers.
Pros
* Price cant be beat
* Whisper quiet
* Easy installation
* Long warranty
* Innovative design
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Cons
* Base could use a some lapping
* If the memory sticks are near the HSF mount, you may have problems with installation.
I think once the base is lapped, the temperatures will improve even more. For my first review, I give the Alpine 64 a 5 out of 5 score!
