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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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3
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1284
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$14.50
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7.7
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supersize
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Description:
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The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 heatsink is an economical lower-noise AMD Athlon64 heatsink that allows consumers on a budget an option for reducing computer noise. By way of its specially designed and vibration dampened fan, Arctic Cooling have put together a very simple extruded aluminum heatsink that handles the heat well without all the buzz and whine.
The Alpine 64 suspends its 2000RPM fan on four dual axial rubber vibration absorbing posts. The general purpose of which is to prevent fan motor vibrations from transferring to other areas of the computer chassis which could cause noise. The 90-ish millimeter fan minimizes turbulence and noise by essentially floating the impeller alone above the aluminum component. Typical noise sources created by air moving over the edges of the frame are removed from the equation. The whole package weighs in at just 486 grams, and judging by recent information the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 should even be compatible with AMD socket AM2 heatsink retention frames... though im aren't 100% certain.
The most significant and arguably most straightforward aspect of the Alpine 64 heatsink; the lack of a centerline clamp-load mechanism. Stock AMD K8 heatsinks have all been designed with a simple rotating cam lever to lock onto the heatsink retention frame and apply the correct clamping force in one fell swoop. The cam lever apparatus typically runs down the center length of a K8 heatsink, so naturally it obscures the hottest portion of the heatsink base and prevents cooling fins from being situated there.
The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 heatsink does away with all of that by implementing edge-of-the-heatsink clips. Two stainless steel clips are each attached to the plastic fan support frame with a single fine thread machine screw. The fan support frame is constructed of glass fiber reinforced plastic, so it should hold up well to the clamping forces and typical case temperatures without give.
When the clips are in place on the K8 heatsink retention frame, clamping force is applied by tightening the machine screws with a phillips screwdriver. As a result of this retention method, the body of the aluminum heatsink is all cooling fin without impediment to airflow. Basically, that means there are cooling fins directly over the portion of the heatsink in contact with the core of the AMD Athlon64 CPU below.
For an all aluminum heatsink tackling something like an Athlon64 X2 3800+, that's pretty important.
One of the novel features of the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 heatsink is how the fan is attached to the heatsink. Traditionally, fans are clipped or screwed firmly into place. Screws will hold a fan firmly, but do nothing to prevent rattling sounds from developing elsewhere if there is a little vibration going on. The AC Alpine 64 uses rubber fixtures at each corner of the fan hold it in place.
The rubber fan mounts reduce the chance of errant noises, and at the same time absorb or dampen some of the vibrations that are inevitably caused by minor imbalances in the impeller.
Arctic Cooling's 'dualaxial' rubber post hold the lightweight Alpine 64's fan in position, in both axis. The long term stability of the rubber fixtures with respect to drying out and becoming brittle, is the one component which remains to be seen.
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Keywords:
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Arctic Cooling Alpine 64
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Price:
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$12.99
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Author
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GeekMan
4.0ghz
Registered: July 2006
Location: N/A
Posts: 1441
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Review Date:
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $13.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Quiet, Cheap
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Cons:
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Weak stock fan
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This is a nice fan and all but, the stock fan is winpy.
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Energizer bunny arrested, charged with battery.
INTEL 45
My FOR SALE Thread 
My 4.0 GHz Build! 
Quote:
Originally Posted by j0z3
Right you are ken.
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phantasm
1.3ghz
Registered: January 2007
Location: Varna
Posts: 269
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Review Date:
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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cheap, good cooler
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Cons:
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nice and beautiful fan. 
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***Inappropriate signature removed
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Sreenath
3.5ghz
Registered: June 2007
Posts: 726
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Review Date:
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $15.99
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Cools well, looks nice, bigger than expected, quiet
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Cons:
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Doesn't match high end copper or heatpipe coolers
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This heatsink is arguably the best designed heatsink ever made; by this i mean it cools fantastically WITHOUT copper, OR heatpipes....and with a small area compared to performance coolers but significantly more area than cheap 80mm HSF's, this attractive HSF has a silent fan which moves a decent amount of air, blowing inward to the fins. The fan retention with rubber allows for flexibility. i remember flexing and moving the fan slightly to install a rear exhaust fan. The simple and thermally optimal HSF retention allows for much better cooling than K8 stock fans.
I used this on my AMD Athlon 64 3800+ overclocked from 2.4GHz to 2.75GHz; it sits in my dad's computer which is on just about 24/7 and has had no problems. Temps are in the mid to upper 40s load...
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"Ubuntu", an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me"
My claims to nerdyness: Hours on computer:16/day; Websites Penetrated:7; Software Bugs Discovered:17; SAT:2290; ACT:35; soldering burns:9 (i think); Robot Wars 2006 Regional Champ; OS: Slack 12;
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