PSU and CPU Fan problem

[lp2789]

Hi guys,
I have been using my Abit A-N68SV with a 4 pin cpu power supply for quite a while now, but it officially required an EPS 8 pin power supply. Is there any real need for me to upgrade my psu to something with an EPS plug? or will I see no benefit from doing so.
Also, my Abit A-N68SV is a mATX board, and after putting up with my useless stock cooling I have decided to upgrade it. However, the ram slots are around 2 or 3 mm from the side of the cpu plastic clip for the cpu cooling and I have no idea what heatsink will fit without going over into my ram slots, any suggestions on some decent cpu cooling which will fit is welcome.
Thanks

 

[JonJ678]

4 pin vs 8 pin doesn't matter. The 8 pin offers slightly better voltage to the processor which can potentially help with overclocking, but that's all. It's four 12V + four 0V vs two of each, makes no difference.

The problem is more likely to be the case than the board. Abit were good, and probably conformed to the atx specification. So I'd expect any cooler that fits in your case to work with it. Looked at a photo of the board and see why you'd be worried about clearance, but I think you're ok. What's the processor? A cheap heatsink is this one, but I'm very fond of it. Doesn't cool that much better than stock, but is quiet. With reasonable airflow in the case it works fine with the fan removed too.

Welcome to the forums

 

[lp2789]

I have an AMD Athlon 5600 x2 and it was running very hot on the extremely low budget cooler previously, thanks for the suggestions I will bear it in mind, do you have any suggestions for one which would reduce the cpu temps? I dont mind spending a little more to get a better cooler.
Thanks