AMD operation vs quality

[VandaL]

hey guys, i've never had an AMD...ever

and i want an ultra quiet system....so that i can sleep...while its ON
from what i remember back in the day...they overheat, and thats why they use gigantic heatsinks....which are obviously loud (unless its aftermarket)

since im gunna be only downloading/uploading with this sytem, i dont need anything powerfull, however an equivalent of a Pentium4 would be preferred.

my options at this time, are:
1) Semperon 2600
2)Athlon XP2200+

any advice...even if its general AMD stuff is greatly appreciated

Thanks in Advance!

[Cevinzol]

In general AMD chips run cooler than their pentium counterparts. (Gosh I hope I didn't open a can or worms with that)

But thats not the issue.
CPUs don't make any noise, they are... silent.
All modern CPUs REQUIRE active heat sinks.
That means either forced air or liquid cooled.
Do not stick with the factory heat sink if you want quiet (or cool)
Air is cheaper but louder.
Liquid is also harder to install and higher maintenance.
For what you're planing on doing Air cooled should work just fine.
Tom's Hardware just reviewed 6 AMD coolers (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/04/25/six_coolers_for_amd_processors/) the vapochill mini and the zalman both got high marks for quiet and cooling ability.

also look into isolating your HDDs and case fans with sound dampeners.

[bartvandenberg]

ive got a 64 bit 3200 athon cpu with an aftermarket coolermaster heatsink/fan. its next to silent, and my chip stays below 30 idle, and thats overclocked to 2.2.

amd chips running hotter? as far as i know, those were previous chips. the 64 bits chips run cooler than there competition intels. i think the duron and old athlon chips ran hotter than intels old chips.

zalman without a doubt makes the best cpu coolers. they win benchmark after benchmark. there gpu coolers also kick a$$


and id go with a sempron 2800 64 bit. its a good chip, cheap, stable and from what i hear, and awesome overclocker.

and although this may be a more expensive cpu cooler, its one of the best.. literally.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=165&code=005009

[DaveW]

Plus they look SWEET in. Zalman coolers always give you an interesting internal feature.

-Dave

[VandaL]

thanks guys!