Socket-A Heat Sink Roundup

Date Reviewed: February 9, 2001
Reviewed By: Jason Rabel
Companies: Alpha, GlobalWinUSA, OCZ, TRIG, VantecUSA

What's on the grill?:

In this roundup I have compared 11 different coolers from 5 different companies. All are Socket-A compatible, and some can even be used in Socket-370 (FCPGA) applications. First off, I would like to thank GlobalWinUSA for supplying me with the WBK38, Heatsink Factory for the FOP38, VantecUSA for the FCE-62540D, TRIG for the T40-1 & T40-3, and OCZ for their various line of coolers.

The actual lineup of coolers is as follows:

• Alpha PAL6035 w/Delta

• Alpha PEP66 w/KT7 Low Profile Kit

• GlobalWin WBK38

• GlobalWin FOP38

• Vantec FCE-62540D

• TRIG T40-1

• TRIG T40-3

• OCZ Monster 2 Standard

• OCZ Twin Turbo Standard

• OCZ Twin Turbo Quiet

• OCZ Quad Cool

As you can see, there are some coolers in the list that have been around a while, and some that are brand new. I would like to discuss each of these coolers in a little bit more detail, along with showing pictures of various features of each cooler.

Alpha PAL6035:

Alpha has been making the PAL6035 for quite some time. I still have one of the older versions that is all aluminum and has less pins it it. Over time it has undergone several revisions such as the copper base, increased pin density, and anodized surface. You will notice that there is no finger guard on the cooler but that is because I purchased just the bare heatsink since I had an extra delta sitting around here doing nothing. The picture on the right you will notice 4 little ring indentions on the surface, that is because Alpha supplies you with little rubber feet that stick to the heatsink for FCPGA applications, but for Socket-A applications you do not, and should not use the little rubber feet since AMD CPU's already have rubber pads on them.

Alpha PEP66:

Next up is Alpha's PEP66, which was originally intended for FCPGA Slotket applications, however its popularity has spread to be mounted directly onto the motherboard. In order to fit on the KT7, several stores have offered a Delta low profile (10mm thick) 22CFM fan with the PEP66. You will notice I only have two screws holding the fan down, the bottom two stick out too far and would break off two capacitors on the motherboard if I left them in (That is how tight of a fit this cooler is on the KT7 boards). The PEP66 shares the copper base and anodized surface like the PAL6035, but the PEP66 utilizes a fin structure rather than the pins like the PAL. Every time I look at this cooler it reminds me of the great Alpha P3125 cooler that was the king for cooling Slot 1 CPUs.

On To Page 2 For More Heatsinks