Battle of The CPU Stock Coolers! 7x Intel vs 5x AMD, plus an EVO 212
by E. Fylladitakis on July 22, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- CPUs
- AMD
- Intel
- Cooler Master
- Cooler
The AMD Coolers
Five AMD-specific coolers are going to be tested in this review, four being stock coolers that accompany AMD’s CPUs and one being a cost-effective cooler from Cooler Master.
| Vendor | Cooler | Common Bundle | Core | Fins | Fan (mm) |
Mass (g) |
| AMD | 1A213LQ00 | AMD “Kabini” AM1 | Alu | Alu | 50 | 75 |
| FHSA7015B | Several AMD Lines | Alu | Alu | 70 | 164 | |
| AV-Z7UB408003 | Black Edition Phenom | Alu +2 Cu HP |
Alu | 70 | 374 | |
| Wraith (125W) | AMD FX-8370 AMD A10-7890K |
Cu +4 Cu HP |
Alu | 90 | 304 | |
| Cooler Master / AMD | HK8-00005 | AMD FM2+ “Godavari” | Alu | Alu | 70 | 125 |
The first AMD cooler that we are having a look at is the 1A213LQ00 that accompanies AM1 “Kabini” core CPUs. It is by far the smallest heatsink of this review and of very simple design, with a full aluminum body, a tiny circular base and a small 50 mm fan. As a matter of fact, it is so small that it can be easily mistaken for a motherboard’s chipset cooler. Kabini CPUs however have very low power ratings, which makes this small cooler more than enough for them.
AMD 1A213LQ00
AMD’s FHSA7015B is perhaps the most widely used stock CPU cooler in existence, as the company has been supplying it alongside with tens of CPUs across nine different platforms (FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, 1207, 940, 939 and 754 sockets). It is a rather simple design entirely made out of aluminum, with a square base and straight fins extending to all four sides of the cooler.
AMD FHSA7015B
Cooler Master’s HK8-00005 is actually the stock cooler supplied with AMD’s high end “Godavari” FM2+ CPUs. It can be bought as an aftermarket cooler for just $14 and should fit all of AMD’s sockets/CPUs since socket 754. It is a relatively small cooler, about the same size as the FHSA7015B, using a similar 70 mm fan, with an aluminum base and fins. The main difference is that there are two heatpipes running across the base of the cooler, transferring thermal energy from the core directly to the edges of the fins.
AMD/Cooler Master HK8-00005
The AMD AV-Z7UB408003 was perhaps the first “advanced” cooler that came supplied alongside a CPU. It was first seen supplied as the stock CPU of AMD’s Phenom X4 9600 processors back in 2008 and can still fit on the latest FM2+ processors. It has large aluminum fins attached to a solid copper base. Four heatpipes run through the copper base, transferring thermal energy directly up to the center and edges of the fins. The short fan is embedded inside the fins in order to reduce the overall height of the cooler.
AMD AV-Z7UB408003
The AMD FX-8370 “Piledriver” processors come with the first stock cooler that has been baptized with a nickname rather than a series of digits and letters - the Wraith. AMD’s Wraith cooler looks almost identical to the AV-Z7UB408003, and its core design is, but everything is larger. The Wraith has larger fins and thicker heatpipes, with a full size 90 mm fan mounted on top of the cooler. At least for the metal part of the cooler, it almost looks as if someone took the AV-Z7UB408003’s schematic and simply pressed the “scale” button, increasing everything by about 25%. Despite the increase in size, the fins are not as dense and the copper base is a little thinner, resulting to a reduction in raw mass. Although the core design may be the same, the significantly superior fan should significantly improve the performance of the Wraith over that of the AV-Z7UB408003 that it is based upon.
AMD Wraith (125W)
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SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Such a useful comparison!Let's see which other stock cooler that you will never get to replace your own stock cooler would be better.
/s
SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
I mean seriously, the massive marketing campaign AMD has been doing for this wraith cooler is the epitome of their lack of R&D investments. Makes me so stupidly sad.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Makes you stupidly sad that they bundle the best stock cpu cooler out of any released ever? Why?It's a cooler that I wouldn't be shamed to choose not to get an aftermarket HSF for, as it's basically just as good as one, and it's one of the only things they can do to get people interested in their CPUs, as they know and you know and I know that their CPUs would be lackluster until Zen potentially comes out with potentially competitive value against Intel CPUs. In other words, they know they're stuck shipping slow CPUs right now, but the least they know they can do is bundle in a pretty neat stock cooler, and that might be enough to sway some buyers in their favor, which isn't a terrible thing, as AMD's already struggling to stay afloat.
SetiroN - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
How much energy they have to put into marketing their stock cooler makes me sad, yes, because at this point it's the best part of the bundle.When a once great CPU manufacturer has to tell their customers that their CPU is better because... it has a better cooler, I think of the moment I first saw a K7 and tear up a little.
looncraz - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
AMD hasn't put a lot of energy in at all, they made the cooler, they made a quick video, uploaded it, and everyone else did most of the work. Beyond that, they just list it as a value-add - and it is a very good value-add, indeed.close - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Ignore him. He's a troll and not even a very good one. I bet he was hoping for some kind of support. He'll keep repeating the same "the best thing a CPU manufacturer's got going is their bundled cooler" because he somehow thinks that backing out from this stupid statement will make him look even dumber in other people's eyes than keeping it up.nathanddrews - Friday, July 22, 2016 - link
Eh? The AMD Wraith is clearly a kickass stock cooler. I, for one, welcome the opportunity to not need to buy additional bulky HSFs. I've got 212s on most of my PCs. It's nice to know that I don't need to for an FX build.AS118 - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link
I agree. I can't say this enough, the Wraith is pretty much a 212 in terms of performance yet it is SO easy to install. Don't even have to put on a custom backplate. I really hope Zen CPU's have the Wraith or something similar.I'd never have to buy another 212 again if AMD keeps making these. (As long as I was buying an AMD CPU that had one)
Samus - Sunday, July 24, 2016 - link
Personally I like the direction Intel went in, by not including a cooler at all and reducing the price of the CPU accordingly ($10-$20 vs Haswell)TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - link
the 6700k is $10 more then a devil's canyon 4790k. The price went UP, not down.