Have you been looking for a reasonably priced heatsink/fan (HSF) for your AMD Socket 754/939/940 based CPU? One that will cut down on the noise while still keeping your CPU running cool? This review puts Akasa's AK862 to the test, which was provided by the folks at 3DCOOL.COM.
Retail Packaging
Akasa designed the AK862, which supports the AMD Opteron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX51-53 and Sempron 3100+ processors, to replace the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) HSF with a quality unit that is capable of equaling or exceeding stock performance while reducing fan noise.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The heat sink is a large (90x90x45mm), lightweight, all aluminum unit with moderately thick fins. Unlike Thermalright's XP-90C and XP-90, the AK862 is targeted at the mainstream and will be compared to AMD's stock HSF. At the time this review was originally published, on-line prices of the AK862 ranged from $20-$25.
Akasa AK862
The fan speed is controlled manually using a controller that is attached to a case back plate. Mounting the controller is a snap as a single screw secures the controller to the case.
Backplate Controller
Fan speed is adjusted by turning the controller knob and ranges from 37 CFM @ 1700 RPM (24.5 dBA) to 66.3 CFM @ 3100 RPM (40 dBA). The decibel range is acceptable for those who are noise conscious. The AK862 uses dual ball-bearings, which tend to be a bit noisier than sleeve or a combination of sleeve and ball-bearing designs. However, I prefer ball-bearing over sleeves on something as important as the CPU since they generally have a longer service life and are higher quality units.
