Do I NEED a cpu fan?

[Hardwire]

Ok, i'm going to be running a phenom 9850 processor. Question is, if I don't plan on overclocking it yet, do I need a fan or will the heatsink alone be enough for the time being? I just don't want to burn up my shiney new processor.

[cmhatter]

when u buy the processor it comes with a heatsink/fan.

[George Hallam]

With the stock heatsink and fan you get you MUST have the fan unless you like fried chips ;)

but you buy buy a passive air cooled CPU heatsink like this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-039-TR


why dont you want the fan on anyway?

[Heartborne]

All boxed processors come with a heatsink/fan. If you're not overclocking, you don't need any aftermarket cooling. A heatsink alone without a fan will not do it for your cpu.

If you're concerned about noise, your only other option is to go with liquid cooling... but most cpu fans nowadays are pretty quiet.