My desktop’s RAM got fried a couple of weeks ago. Transcend took way too long and in the process I managed to damage the old jaded motherboard that ran a dual core processor.

I decided to take the plunge. Quad Core processor it would be for me now.

I settled for an AMD Phenom II X4 processor as Intel Quad Core processors are still pretty expensive.

I also settled for a pretty high end Asus motherboard looking at the bad experiences on my older (budget segment) motherboard.

All was well till the machine was booted. The heatsink fan supplied by AMD is so freaking noisy that I had to install EPU-4 utility from the Asus motherboard disc to control the speed.

I have to run the machine with processor set at AUTO mode to keep the noise in control. In simple terms, the machine is under-performing because the fan designed to cool the processor makes too much noise.

Running in auto mode is so not worth it when you spent Rs. 25K for the solution.

I checked out the AMD forums and this is a pretty general problem with this specific range of processors.

Solutions include running the utility in AUTO mode as I am doing right now or getting a third party heatsink (like from CoolerMaster) that is going to cost another small fortune for me.

I could have simply gone for an Intel processor which have never given me problems like these. I am not sure if I would go for another AMD in the future.