Heat Sink

Lets put this in simple words, Processors are attached with motherboard via their connecting socket, different processors have different socket architecture. AMD uses AM2 / 939 / 940 where as Intel is using same LGA775 socket architecture for a long period of time.

And what’s a heat sink ??

When processors run, they generate a lot of heat, heat sink is an environment or object that absorbs and dissipates heat from another object using thermal contact (either direct or radiant).

So, is there any difference between LGA775 heat sicks ??

Infact though they look the same for all processors, but underneath they are different. Intel Celeron and Intel Core 2 Duo doesn’t come with exact same one !!

Let us take a look at some of the Intel default LGA775 heat sinks.

They may look same from the out side, but when you take a look at them from in-side, you may spot the difference !!

Let us take a look at their diagrams,

This bellow one would be a LGA775 of Intel Core 2 Duo E6xxx and E8xxx and Core 2 Quad Q6600 / Q6700,

Where as this (bellow) one is a LGA775 heat sink of Intel Pentium Dual Core / Core 2 Duo E4xxx / Pentium 4 5xx / 6xx / Celeron D

and as the Pentium D / Pentium eXtreme Editions runs at 3 GHz and higher thus generating a lot of heat so this type of heat sink are supplied with them.

The best would be these bellow type LGA775 which comes with top line Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quads (45nm),

Many of us upgrades our system from Pentium 4 to Pentium D or Core 2 range processors. Some time one may find that processor fan is faulty with their new system, and just to save time and money involving in warranty issue, they simply install the older Heat sink and fan with their new system.

Now as you may see,most of the time though the socket is LGA775 and all heat sink looks the same, but underneath they are quite different.

So it is always recommended to use the proper heat sink which is meant for your system, or a better one (if you know what you are doing).