Air Cooling

Category >> Air Cooling

OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler 04-20-2008

OCZ has never been a major player in the CPU cooling industry, but lately they have moved in strong. CES 2007 was their big opening, where they showed off preliminary models of their Cryo-Z phase change cooler, as well as some of their soon-to-be-released air coolers. A little more than a year later now, they have released four air coolers: the Vanquisher, the Vindicator, the Vendetta, which we reviewed back in November, and the Vendetta 2, which we have for review today.

Thermaltake DuOrb CPU / Memory Cooler 04-14-2008

Thermaltake has now carried that same patented design over into the processor realm with its DuOrb CPU Cooler. Utilizing twin 80mm fans just as the VGA Cooler did, this time surrounded by six copper heatpipes rather than two, and both an inner aluminum fin and outer copper fin configuration, the DuOrb CPU Cooler takes advantage of the wide wingspan of the DuOrb design to cool not only the processor but also the memory and surrounding socket area.

OCIA.net Forum Grand Re-Opening Giveaway !! 03-12-2008

Now, with the main site set, we focused our attention to the forums. We switched to a new forum software and also totally reworked the layout to better match the main page. So now, it's time to celebrate, and what better way to do that than to give away a ton of free stuff to you, our readers?!! We have teamed up with several of our sponsors and put together a prize package worth over $1,300 !!

Cooler Master Sphere CPU Cooler 02-27-2008

The Sphere is an all-copper, quad heatpipe and fin CPU cooler shaped like, you guessed it, a ball. It comes with a single-speed radial fan built in, instead of the typical axial fan you find on most CPU coolers. The radial output of the fan helps to cool other components in the immediate vicinity of the CPU socket. This combination of round-shaped fins and radial output fan put the sphere into a fairly unique class of cooler.

Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooler 02-14-2008

I've used more than a few Thermaltake CPU coolers over the years; no surprise considering they've been in business since 1999. Today I'll be taking a look at another of their latest products, the Max Orb. Following the progression of orb coolers, from the Golden Orb II through the Blue Orb and Ruby Orb, the Max Orb represents yet another level of advancement in design for Thermaltake.

Kingwin Revolution Heatpipe Direct Touch RVT-12025 CPU Cooler 01-28-2008

Kingwin is one of those companies that many enthusiasts often overlook. The name has not previously been associated with higher quality and performance hardware, but lately they have really stood out with their upper-end SLI certified PSUs, high-tech CPU coolers and very attractive HDD enclosures.

Thermalright HR-09 Mosfet Cooler 11-29-2007

With the latest designs, many motherboard manufacturers have started producing boards with chipset/mosfet heatsinks onboard, linked together with heatpipes. The HR-09 mosfet cooler was designed for those users with motherboards that either have an ineffective stock chipset/mosfet cooling system, or that don't have one at all.

OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler 11-20-2007

As I mentioned earlier, the base is designed so that the three heatpipes will directly touch the CPU's heatspreader. I'm not a thermal engineer, but I do realize that there is some efficiency loss when transferring heat from one substrate to another, such as from the heatsink base to the heatpipes contained within.

Thermaltake V1 CPU Cooler 11-17-2007

The Thermaltake V1 is a copper base, copper heatpipe/fin CPU cooler compatible with Intel LGA775 and AMD 754/939/AM2 sockets. It has a strange sort of "flower" fin design that resembles something that could have come from the folks over at Zalman.

Thermalright SI-128 SE Heatsink 11-13-2007

Thermalright combines the best of their blow-down coolers with the unique design of the high-riser series to bring us the SI-128 SE. Instead of "Second Edition" as you might think, the S in SE is for Silent, something their HR line of coolers was quite good at.

GlacialTech Igloo 5710 Silent & PWM 11-12-2007

Following the release last month of their 5610 series of 80mm upright coolers, GlacialTech announces their latest 92mm 5710 Silent and PWM designs. If you're thinking to yourself, "Glacial-who?" then you should definitely sit up and pay attention, we're about to blow your socks off.

Zalman CNPS8700 NT CPU Cooler 11-11-2007

The major selling points of the CNPS8700 NT are its noise levels and its size, making it the ultimate HTPC companion. With these two features at Zalman’s focus, will the performance take a hit or stay true to the Zalman name? Continue as we find out…

Kingwin RVT-9225 Heatpipe Direct Touch CPU Cooler 10-15-2007

The idea of exposed heatpipes makes sense. Besides the transferal of heat between the heatsink and heatpipes, the heatsink itself can be made of aluminum…allowing lower manufacturing cost, and less weight. We’ll see just how well this new idea works.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler 09-22-2007

Cooler Master has been releasing a lot of new products lately. From cases to peripherals, I’m starting to see their name everywhere. One of their most recent products to hit their website is the Hyper 212 CPU cooler. With support for all platforms, four heat pipes, and a silent, blue LED 120mm fan, this cooler has a lot of things going for it.

Tuniq Tower 120-LFB Heatsink 06-16-2007

It has very thin, tightly packed fins for high airflow situations. They are also folded down on the ends to keep the air flowing directly through the heatsink. The blackplate on the top of the cooler is attached to the blue LED fan and slides out with some encouragement, making it possible to put in a higher powered or lower noise fan.

Ultra Products ChillTec Thermo Electric CPU Cooler 03-13-2007

Here we get a look at the heatpipes and the TEC which is sandwiched between two copper plates. Each plate has four heatpipes leading to the upper deck of aluminum fins that are cooled by the 92mm fan. Initially, the CPU is cooled by the "heatsink" - that is, the heatpipes and aluminum fins.

EnzoTechnology Ultra-X Heatsink 02-20-2007

I will be installing the Ultra-X heatsink in my Intel test system. You can see just how large the Ultra-X is compared to the stock Intel cooling solution. The hardware needed for this install includes the backplate, four spring-loaded thumb-screws and four clear washers. Be extra careful when handling these washers, since they are very difficult to see.

Cooler Master Blue Ice Pro Chipset Cooler 09-25-2006

The thin copper fins are skived, meaning they're actually sliced from the base during the manufacturing process. Because the fins are still attached at the bottom there is better heat transfer than if the fins were soldered. It appears that this heatsink has a missing fin at the far left, there is a ridge on the base as if there was once a fin there, and there is certainly room for one. The fan bracket also appears slightly bent.

OCZ Tempest CPU Cooler 08-03-2006

It also includes a quiet 95mm LED fan and hardware for mounting to Socket 939, AM2, 478 and 775. With this impressive feature list it's hard to imagine that the Tempest would not perform well, however given the length of time since their last HSF offering, can OCZ hit a home run right out of the box? Or is the Tempest more likely to go down swinging?

Thermalright Ultra-90 Heatsink 06-13-2006

The Ultra-90 encompasses the same basic features as the XP-90's and XP-120; heatpipes through an array of fins connecting to a base for contact, but the Ultra-90 is a tower design. Thermalright claims it can outperform it's predecessor, the XP-90, using a lower CFM fan. Today we'll see how it compares to the XP-90C using the same fan.

Noctua NH-U12 & NH-U9 Heatsinks 05-10-2006

Both coolers feature four dual heat-pipes through 38 aluminum cooling fins mounted to a copper base, all soldered for maximum thermal convectivity. The NH-U9 is designed to be used with 80mm and 92mm fans; the NH-U12 with 120mm fans. Both coolers can mount two fans at once and are compatible with Intel Socket 478, LGA 775, and AMD K8.

Spire VertiCool II & DiamondCool II Heatsinks 03-28-2006

As I noted before, the DiamondCool is constructed primarily of copper. It has 55 micro (0.40mm) fins soldered to a very thick base (8.5mm). It uses four copper heat pipes to help draw the heat away from the base and transfer it to the copper fins above. In theory this should work very well, but the proof is in the testing.

Thermalright HR-01 High Riser Heatsink 02-02-2006

Today I will be taking a look at the new HR-01, an aluminum heatsink incorporating 8, count them, 8 heatpipes in an all-new (for Thermalright) tower design. Thermalright claims the HR-01 is so efficient, it can be used solely as a passive radiator, meaning it requires no fan attached directly to the heatsink. Many companies before have tried the passive tower design... tried and failed to produce a heatsink that even comes close to equaling the performance of a traditional fan-cooled heatsink.

Thermalright SI-120 Heatsink 11-18-2005

The heatpipes pass through the center of the fins and are soldered in place. A total of 52 fins provide for a large surface area for cooling. As with Thermalright's other coolers, the finned portion of the heatsink overhangs the base by a good margin and should provide indirect cooling for components surrounding the CPU socket.

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OCIA.net and NZXT May Contest!

Another month, another contest here at OCIA.net! We have once again teamed up with NZXT to offer one lucky winner NZXT\'s brand new Crafted Series chassis, the Tempest!

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