Phenom II X2 550 BE

[Piru]

I've built one system for a customer with a Phenom II X2 550 BE.  I wasn't particularly happy with the fact that the processor ran significantly hotter (~40C idle) than a Phenom II X4 945, a Phenom II X3 710 or any Athlon II X2 I've used (the rest about 30C idle).  In hindsight it seems almost unbelievable that the CPU fan span faster on that processor than any of the others I've used in system builds, yet the CPU temp was higher, but I definitely remember thinking "that's the last time I use that processor".

PASSIVE COOLING
Who needs friggin' fans!?

[Piru]

@Piru
Is that heat sink really necessary or did the owner want some peace and quiet?

The CPU is Intel® CoreTM2 Q9550 @ 3.4GHz. The gfxcard is passive GeForce 9500GT. The only fans in the system are in the Nexus Clodius case. I can easily run the case fans at the lowest setting (1000rpm) and the CPU cores stay at around 42 degrees max at full 4 core load. There no HDD, but SSD SATA2 drive.

I have similar setup for the router/fileserver, except that it has Intel® CoreTM2 E6350 @ 2.8GHz and the cheapest PCI-E gfxcard I could find. In addition SSD SATA2 system drive the router/fileserver has 3TB RAID-5 setup.

I like my systems quiet.