Heatsink

[Josh]

I was talking to a friend today about my build, when i mentioned i would be overclocking the CPU. He told me to ask you guys on here what heat sink comes with the CPU, or is it just stock? I'm not sure exactly what a heat sink is for the CPU, so any help on the matter will be much appreciated

(The CPU is an i7 2600k on an ASUS P8P67 PRO or SABERTOOTH)

 

[LFFPicard]

It would be the CPU Cooling option you chose on your build.
Either stock intel cooler, Triple Heatpipe, Fenrir, or the Coolit A.L.C

Anyhting above the stock is fine, but gets progressivly better for overclocking as you move up the list.

 

[pengipete]

I can only assume that he means the cooler for the CPU. Which cooler you get is down to you - it's one of the options you chose when configuring your PC.

{Sorry LFP - I had the tab open a while before posting and hadn't seen your post}

 

[Josh]

Stupid question, I quickly realised my mistake. Didn't know how to delete my post though...

 

[pengipete]

It was a perfectly reasonable question - if you've only ever seen them referred to as "coolers" then there's no reason why you should equate that with "heatsink". In fact, a heatsink is not necessarily an add-on cooler - CPUs and a lot of other components have their own heatsinks built-in - you usually can't see them on CPUs. They're also referred to as "Heat Spreaders". You may even come across discussions of removing a CPU's heatsink to reduce temperatures - in that case they're actually referring to removing the heatsink that's inside the CPU's case - not the cooler. If you removed the cooler - you could destroy your CPU. (Note - that "trick" does not apply to today's CPUs). You may also find discussions regarding heatsinks in relation to graphics cards - those are usually metal blocks with fins (no fans) designed to help dissipate heat from the memory on the card.

No-one is born knowing these things and it's easy for us to get into bad habits - such as using jargon and acronymns - which could put some people off or make it more difficult for them to find information. One of the best things about this forum is the absence of snobbery - no-one is going to sneer at any questions you ask (at least, they won't get much support if they do).

If you ever post a question and then realise that you actually know the answer (we've all done it) - best thing to do is post your own reply with the solution/answer and a "never mind" comment. That way everyone knows that you're okay and the info is there for someone else to find.

 

[Josh]

Thanks for supporting me then, also thank you for clearing up about the "heatsinks". I know understand fully what they are