Today, I'm looking at the NOVASONIC+ "high performance and quiet"
heatsink from from tocools. It can be used
for AMD Socket A or Intel P4 as it includes mounting parts for both. Included
with the heatsink is a fan speed controller, thermal paste from cooling flow
and detailed instructions.
This is the largest and heaviest aluminum heatsink i've personally
ever handled. It came highly polished on the mounting surface.
The fan controller is adjustable from 5v -11.5v and has a switch to run it
full time at 12v. The instructions are straight forward and not confusing -
it even has pictures for people who don't like to read.
Mounting the heatsink
I run my chipset at 1.9v in order to reach high bus speeds. This can run pretty
hot, so I use a full size Socket A heatsink/fan on it to keep it running cool.
I found this got in the way with the heatsink so I went back to the stock cooler.
The Epox 8rda board I am using has North -> South facing lugs, unlike some
boards which use West -> East facing. This caused problems - I had to remove
the motherboard plate to even reach the north side lugs to attach the heatsink.
I would be inclined to blame Epox for this rather than tocool but it could be
an issue for other people using a board that has similar lug positioning's.
