Athlon Cooler Roundup (March 2000)

Does this mean that RDJD's "bonded fin" heatsink design is bad? Definitely not. RDJD has proved with the K701 that their design makes sense. But the problem with the K702 and K703 is that their heatsinks are based on a design that was developed for single fan coolers. The airflow inside the dual fan coolers, especially in the center, is less than ideal. If RDJD came up with a heatsink design optimized for a dual fan configuration (with a different orientation of the fins, for example), then they could definitely produce top-performing coolers. But let's see what the future will bring...

As for the Vantec cooler: Although it certainly isn't the most efficient Athlon heatsink available - nobody would have expected that - it provides good performance, making it even suitable for overclocking. Whether this heatsink will be successful depends on its price - and it's probably going to be very attractive.

Conclusion

This update to the Athlon cooler roundup doesn't change much about our heatsink buying recommendations for overclockers: VOS32(-plus) or Alpha K7125/YS Tech for hardcore overclockers, ArcticCircle or Alpha P7125/Sanyo Denki for noise-sensitive overclockers.

Only for budget-conscious overclockers, the new recommendation is to pick the Vantec dual fan cooler over the FKK50.