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Processor Cooling for Peace and Performance!

There are no other coolers on earth designed like these. Now you can have excellent cooling performance but at the same time virtually no noise! The products employ advanced fin designs which give a vastly superior surface area to that offered by traditional extrusion-based products. Different versions are available to suit a variety of processors, and because of their unique design, the coolers are not only incredibly efficient at removing heat but are also very easy to install.

How is it done?

1. Firstly, because the fins have a very large effective surface area, less air needs to be shifted to produce a given rate of cooling. Therefore the fan can run slower and this produces much less motor bearing and wind noise.

2. Secondly, because the fins are located perpendicular to the direction of airflow, minimal obstruction is caused to air being moved through the cooler and this reduces turbulence, decreasing wind noise even further. A lower fan speed also has the added benefits of a longer running life and a reduction in the build-up of dust, which is a common cause of premature component failure.

3. Finally, for maximum thermal conductivity, the products are precision made from copper, which is 92% more conductive than aluminium. Although copper is more expensive, most customers agree that the cost is worth it for the performance. CPU coolers don't get more efficient than this!

Compatibility

Before purchase, it is essential that you choose the correct cooler depending on which processor you intend to use it with. Compatible processors are as follows: Pentium III™, Pentium 4™, PPGA/FC-PGA Celeron™, Duron™ and Athlon™. The following tables offer advice on product selection and then the products themselves are discussed.

Please note that these coolers are not compatible with the following processors: Intel® Pentium® II and Xeon™ (all types), Pentium PRO® and Slot 1 (SECC) Celeron®. We regret that we have no Ultra-Quiet solutions for these processors.

Intel Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler Selection Guide

	Radial Fin SECC2	Radial Fin FC-PGA	Radial Fin Pentium 4	Flower Cooler
Celeron (socketed)
Pentium Classic / MMX
Pentium III (slotted)
Pentium III (socketed)
Pentium III 1.2 GHz (Tualatin FC-PGA2)
Pentium 4 up to 1.7 GHz

AMD Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler Selection Guide

	AMD Radial Fin	AMD Radial Fin (large)	Flower Cooler
K6, K6-2 and K6-III
Slot A Athlon (up to 1 GHz)
Duron (all types)
Socket A Athlon (up to 1 GHz)
Socket A Athlon (up to 1.33 GHz)
Socket A Athlon (any speed)
Athlon XP 1500+ to 2000+
Athlon MP (Multiprocessor/any speed)

Ideal solution

Satisfactory solution

Radial Fin Coolers - Overview

The innovative fin design of these coolers combined with low-speed fan makes for a product family quieter than any other on the market. But you may think that a low-noise cooler would not cool as effectively as a much bigger noisier cooler. Not so! Because the design is highly thermally efficient, the amount of processor cooling is comparable to a conventional standard heatsink. So you have the best of both worlds: this product runs almost silently yet does not compromise the cooling of your processor.

• No other product gives so much cooling with so little noise

• Surface sound pressure level (ISO 3744 8.5) measured at just 22.12 dB(A) !

• Wide market appeal - from quiet PC applications to high-speed PCs which would normally require very loud coolers

• Patent pending unique folded fins show innovative mechanical design

• Lightweight - from as little as just 90g (3.2 oz)

• 360 degree airflow produces high thermal efficiency (0.70 °C / Watt)

• Fan comes with 3-pin motherboard connector and supports speed feedback

• Supplied with pre-applied thermal interface pad - no need for messy paste

• Design approved by IBM, Compaq, Packard Bell, NEC, HP and Intel

• For exact product dimensions, please see the detailed technical diagrams

If you are planning to buy a Radial Fin™ cooler elsewhere, please be aware that many different configurations are available, and not all vendors offer the low-speed low-noise products available at Quietpc.com. You can be 100% sure that all coolers purchased from Quietpc.com are the quietest available worldwide - guaranteed!

Product Reviews

The Register's Radial Fin™ review with a 1 GHz PIII Click here

Review of Radial Fin Socket A 1GHz Cooler at lostuniverse.org

Comparative analysis of fan noise and actual MP3 samples at lostuniverse.org

Burning Issues' Radial Fin™ vs Thermaltake "Golden Orb" Click here

MIPS-fr FC-PGA Radial Fin™ review using a Pentium III. Available in French or English

Intel FC-PGA Radial Fin Cooler

This product is designed for Intel PGA370 Pentium III and Celeron processors, also known as "Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array" CPUs, shown below. The product does not work with older Slot 1 Celerons. If you have a slotted Pentium III (SECC2) processor, you should use the SECC2 Radial Fin product shown below. If your PC has an FC-PGA CPU mounted in a slocket (socket to slot) adapter, then please order an FC-PGA Radial Fin cooler, not a SECC2 cooler.

The FC-PGA Radial Fin™ cooler is extremely easy to fit; simply hook one end of the clip over the plastic tab on the CPU socket, then move the cooler downward so that the other end approaches the plastic tab on the other side. The bright red thumb clip makes installation a breeze. Make sure the cooler is fitted the correct way around so that the middle of the cooler aligns with the raised die on the middle of the processor - if you get it the wrong way around, the cooler will not sit centrally.

This product has a copper core for excellent cooling and is good for all Intel FC-PGA Celeron and Pentium III CPUs up to and including 1.10 GHz.

Intel SECC2 Radial Fin Cooler

This product is designed solely for Intel SECC2 Pentium III, sometimes also called Slot 1. Unlike the FC-PGA Pentium III which lies flat on the motherboard, the SECC2 Pentium III stands vertically upright in a long slot. If you have a Pentium III, please ensure you check to see whether you have an FC-PGA version or a SECC2 version, so that you order the correct Radial Fin product. If your PC has an FC-PGA CPU mounted in a slocket (socket to slot) adapter, then please order an FC-PGA Radial Fin cooler, not a SECC2 cooler.

Because the SECC2 cooler is so lightweight in comparison to conventional extrusion heatsinks, no mechanical heatsink supports are required. Excellent CPU cooling is achieved through the innovative folded fin design, and the product is near silent in operation. Installation is a little more involved than the FC-PGA product, but comprehensive fitting instructions are provided on the website, and can be found here. The product is now available in an improved format with a copper core and will work with CPUs running up to and including 1 GHz.

Intel Pentium 4 Radial Fin Cooler

This new product is designed for Pentium 4 processors and the critical cooling they require. Being physically larger than the other Intel Radial Fin coolers, it offers 100% safe cooling and yet the 60mm fan gives good airflow with minimal noise - just 27.1 dB(A)! The fan rotates at a nominal 3100 rpm and gives 16.1 CFM of airflow. The product is good for processor speeds up to and including 1.7 GHz and is available in both socket 423 and 478 versions. For the quietest Pentium 4 solution available, this is the product of choice.

AMD Socket A Radial Fin Cooler

This cooler has been designed to address the specific cooling requirements of AMD Duron and Socket A Athlon processors, (also known as socket 462). The cooler will work with all Duron processors, but please note that AMD manufacture two versions of the Athlon processor - Slot A and Socket A. The earlier type (Slot A) looks similar to a SECC2 Pentium III (pictured above) but is not compatible with either the SECC2 cooler or this one. There are no plans to produce a Radial Fin solution for the Slot A Athlon, but if you have a Slot A Athlon, please consider retaining your existing heatsink and using the fan kit contained in our Flower Cooler (see below). In summary, only Duron and Socket A Athlon processors are compatible with this Radial Fin cooler. If you have an Athlon, please check to make sure it is a Socket A version, (often informally called "Thunderbird") before purchasing this product.

Like the FC-PGA Radial Fin™ cooler, the AMD Socket A Radial Fin product is extremely easy to fit; one end of the clip hooks under a plastic lug on the CPU socket, then as the cooler is pressed downward, it progressively comes into contact with the top of the CPU. When the cooler is fully pressed downward against the CPU, the bright green thumb piece allows you to easily latch the clip under the lug on the other side of the CPU socket - simplicity itself! A bevelled edge on the bottom of the cooler ensures that only a minimal point pressure is exerted on the CPU during installation, removing the risk of damage. Detailed fitting instructions are available here. For a no-compromise near-silent cooling solution for your Socket A AMD processor, look no further than this unique product.

Two versions are available, depending on the speed of your CPU. The first (and original) product is designed for all Socket A CPUs up to and including 1.0 GHz. For Athlons running faster than this, a new larger version of the product is available which offers the increased cooling required for CPUs up to 1.33 GHz. The larger cooler will course also work with Duron/Socket A Athlon CPUs running at less than 1.0 GHz and will give superior cooling and future-proofing at the expense of increased product cost. The typical running temperature of an Athlon while using the appropriate cooler version will be approx 50-65°C at full load, well below AMD's maximum of 90/95°C.

Flower Cooler

This amazing and beautiful new product is as versatile as it is effective. It will work on virtually any socketed CPU, AMD or Intel. We are recommending this cooler for the new Athlon XP+ series processors and it will work fine for CPUs right up to the XP 2000+. The heatsink consists of 56 flat copper fins, compressed very tightly together at one one end and clamped between two aluminium blocks. Two very strong hex head bolts are used to keep the assembly together, and once tightened, the base of the cooler is machined totally flat, and polished so it gleams, in order to gain the best possible heat transfer from the CPU. The fins fan out like petals on a flower, giving the absolute maximum possible surface area for effective heat dissipation.

You may be wondering how a fan is mounted on such a strangely-shaped heatsink. The answer is - it isn't! An Ultra-Quiet 92mm fan is supplied with the product but it is not mounted directly to the heatsink. Instead, it is suspended above it using a cleverly-designed adjustable bracket which affixes to the PC chassis by sharing the two or three screws which are used to secure PCI/AGP cards (see photographs below). Taking this approach allows a larger fan diameter (92mm) which means the fan blades can rotate slower to produce a given amount of airflow, hence less noise. In addition, no vibration is transmitted from the fan into the heatsink which is again good from a noise point of view, and is also better for the processor itself.

Note to owners of Slot A Athlon: This product will provide a solution to your noise problem if you retain your existing heatsink, but instead of using the fan(s) mounted on the Slot A heatsink, use the fan and mounting bracket supplied with this flower heatsink. Your Slot A Athlon will be adequately cooled in near-silence!

The cooler is supplied in a boxed kit of parts, with all the items you need for a successful installation. These include: Flower heatsink, 2 x retention clips (one spare), 92mm Ultra-Quiet fan with 3-pin connector, fan mounting bracket, screws, syringe of thermal compound, noiseless resistor cable, heatsink installation tool and instruction manual with pictures.

Because a large (92mm) fan is used, the motherboard and other components in the PC will benefit from the extra airflow. This is especially useful when a motherboard is equipped with our silent motherboard heatsink. The resistor cable included with the product can optionally be used to lower the fan voltage and this makes it run slower and even quieter (almost silent). Where greater importance is placed on cooling, the cable can be omitted and the CPU will run cooler as a result of increased airflow.