Heatsink Group Test - August 2007 - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 2nd Aug 2007, 13:15

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...k_group_test/1

It's that time again: we round up some more heatsinks from Scythe, Asus and Zerotherm to see how they keep your chips cool in the summer heat... or should that be rain? Nevermind, let's get on with the grilling...

capnPedro · 2nd Aug 2007, 13:58

That Kama Cross looks like a badass engine block.

E.E.L. Ambiense · 2nd Aug 2007, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnPedro

That Kama Cross looks like a badass engine block.

lol, yeah it does.

Darkedge · 2nd Aug 2007, 14:01

good article - I love the way that the motherboard is bent in all the pictures, some of those heatsinks were a complete bitch to fit wern't they?

Mother-Goose · 2nd Aug 2007, 14:30

Good review but still the issue that the Freezer 7 Pro has not been included. I know it is 'old' but it is the best cooler for the money (not the est outright cooler) for C2D's and C2Q's.

It should be included as a bench mark, if I am going to spend more than £17 on a CPU cooler I'd want it to be better and quieter than the Freezer 7 Pro.

You'll be hard pushed to find people that disagree with this as well I reckon. Most other cheaper coolers do perform as the price dictates but the Freezer always out perform their price band.

cosmic · 2nd Aug 2007, 15:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkedge

good article - I love the way that the motherboard is bent in all the pictures, some of those heatsinks were a complete bitch to fit wern't they?

I did not notice that till you mentioned it, then it becomes all too obvious. Seems to have got bad once the Scythe Infinity was fitted.

mk-donald · 2nd Aug 2007, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser

Good review but still the issue that the Freezer 7 Pro has not been included. I know it is 'old' but it is the best cooler for the money (not the est outright cooler) for C2D's and C2Q's.

It should be included as a bench mark, if I am going to spend more than £17 on a CPU cooler I'd want it to be better and quieter than the Freezer 7 Pro.

You'll be hard pushed to find people that disagree with this as well I reckon. Most other cheaper coolers do perform as the price dictates but the Freezer always out perform their price band.

Hey MG. Thanks for that confirmation. Have my eye on either an E6750/Q6600 upgrade and had put a Freezer 7 Pro on the wishlist - glad to hear that first-hand recommendation.

Tim S · 2nd Aug 2007, 15:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser

Good review but still the issue that the Freezer 7 Pro has not been included. I know it is 'old' but it is the best cooler for the money (not the est outright cooler) for C2D's and C2Q's.

It should be included as a bench mark, if I am going to spend more than £17 on a CPU cooler I'd want it to be better and quieter than the Freezer 7 Pro.

You'll be hard pushed to find people that disagree with this as well I reckon. Most other cheaper coolers do perform as the price dictates but the Freezer always out perform their price band.

We did have one but the push pins are broken after many uses - I'll get another in and put it through the same tests as these.

zr_ox · 2nd Aug 2007, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser

Good review but still the issue that the Freezer 7 Pro has not been included. I know it is 'old' but it is the best cooler for the money (not the est outright cooler) for C2D's and C2Q's.

It should be included as a bench mark, if I am going to spend more than £17 on a CPU cooler I'd want it to be better and quieter than the Freezer 7 Pro.

You'll be hard pushed to find people that disagree with this as well I reckon. Most other cheaper coolers do perform as the price dictates but the Freezer always out perform their price band.

I totally agree.

For the cash it's an incredible heatsink.

quack · 2nd Aug 2007, 16:44

Excellent timing by bit-tech, I was looking at some of these coolers just last night.

I'm very interested in seeing bit's results for the Freezer 7 Pro too.

wafflesomd · 2nd Aug 2007, 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by quack

Excellent timing by bit-tech, I was looking at some of these coolers just last night.

I'm very interested in seeing bit's results for the Freezer 7 Pro too.

Second.

pendragon · 2nd Aug 2007, 18:16

yay! more heatsinks! thanks for the reviews!

FooSai · 2nd Aug 2007, 18:40

Nice review

That Kama Cross looks real sweet. I wonder what the performance gain would be from using a 120mm fan on it? Any chance you guys could get results using the 120mm fan from the Infinity on it? should give a fair comparison

And on the note of comparing the Kama to the Infinity.... the results table on the Kama Cross' page 2 is for the Scythe Infinity not the Kama

XeroNXS · 2nd Aug 2007, 18:41

For all Infinity owners I can suggest the "Scythe Universal Retention Kit".

It provides a much better fit on the motherboard.
Just recently used it myself.

Tim S · 2nd Aug 2007, 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by FooSai

And on the note of comparing the Kama to the Infinity.... the results table on the Kama Cross' page 2 is for the Scythe Infinity not the Kama

Thanks for picking up on that - I'd looked at this for a fair few hours by the time I got to formatting images.

DarkJedi · 2nd Aug 2007, 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by FooSai

Nice review

That Kama Cross looks real sweet. I wonder what the performance gain would be from using a 120mm fan on it? Any chance you guys could get results using the 120mm fan from the Infinity on it? should give a fair comparison

Agreed. I've got a killer 120mm fan already that I won't be using once I upgrade (currently fitted on a thermalright XP120) and it's silent at full speed, at least I can't hear it and that's good enough for me.

Anyway you can check this?

hamm3rhead · 2nd Aug 2007, 22:13

FTA:

Quote:

Before we move on, it’s worth highlighting the fact that the Infinity’s mounting mechanism is far from optimal again. It’s incredibly difficult to ensure the pins are exerting enough pressure on the CPU because there is virtually no room to get to the pins from above.

The mount pins have a distinctive click when they lock in place. I've had nothing but positive results with this cooler as I can add it to a system without hassle and significantly reduce heat without adding system noise.

Quote:

When it came to removing the Infinity, we used a combination of pliers and brute force to disengage the four push-pins, which put up quite a fight. This makes me wonder how many times this heatsink could realistically be re-fitted – whether through the pins wearing out or through sheer frustration on the user’s part.

To remove the Infinity the mount pins must be rotated slightly, this will disengage the lock via an internal spring. Once the lock/spring is free on all 4 mounts the cooler can be pulled off with a slight amount of force. I've personally removed and re-mounted this cooler in my own desktop a half-dozen times without issue. After installing this in others systems I have yet to remove it so I have no mass reference. I will say the sheer size can be a bit of a hassle in some cases.

Andune · 2nd Aug 2007, 22:56

It feels like the Scythe Kama Cross is leaking a lot of air out on the sides that should have been force through the heatsinks...

-EVRE- · 3rd Aug 2007, 04:11

please keep in mind that there are those weirdos out there that don't use C* .... myself included. For the next review would you please include Fahrenheit?

B[x] · 3rd Aug 2007, 05:26

It seems the majority of the heatsinks tested are taller towers. Would it be possible to test lower profile coolers? I know the Zerotherm CF900 is pretty slim but a comparison of several for the small case market would be nice. I don't know what would qualify as low profile but seeing testing in the below 100-mm range would be fine by me.

Some possible coolers are:
Thermaltake Blue Orb II
AeroCool Dominator 140-mm
SilverStone NT06 - Perhaps compare fans mounted facing opposite directions.
Zalman 7700 - Comparing the aluminum-copper and the full copper versions would be interesting to see.
Thermaltake CL-P0006 - Perhaps compare fans mounted facing opposite directions.

2nd Aug 2007, 13:15	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Heatsink Group Test - August 2007 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...k_group_test/1 It's that time again: we round up some more heatsinks from Scythe, Asus and Zerotherm to see how they keep your chips cool in the summer heat... or should that be rain? Nevermind, let's get on with the grilling... __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

2nd Aug 2007, 13:58	#2
capnPedro Deaf forever to the battle's din Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: North-East England Posts: 2,973	That Kama Cross looks like a badass engine block. __________________ ASUS M4A785TD-M Evo \| AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE \| D-Tek FuZion 4GB Corsair XMMS3-10666 \| Corsair TX650 Point Of View 8800GTX \| EK FC-8800

2nd Aug 2007, 14:30	#5
Mother-Goose Tories ftw! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: England - Surrey Posts: 3,750	Good review but still the issue that the Freezer 7 Pro has not been included. I know it is 'old' but it is the best cooler for the money (not the est outright cooler) for C2D's and C2Q's. It should be included as a bench mark, if I am going to spend more than £17 on a CPU cooler I'd want it to be better and quieter than the Freezer 7 Pro. You'll be hard pushed to find people that disagree with this as well I reckon. Most other cheaper coolers do perform as the price dictates but the Freezer always out perform their price band. __________________ Goose Q6600, Striker Extreme, 4GB 6400C4 Dominator DHX, Raptor X, 2x400GB spinpoints, BFG 8800GTX OC, Stacker 830 Evo, HX620, Nova T 500, Freezer 7 Pro

2nd Aug 2007, 16:44	#10
quack \o/ Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Posts: 5,220	Excellent timing by bit-tech, I was looking at some of these coolers just last night. I'm very interested in seeing bit's results for the Freezer 7 Pro too. __________________ Denying Rights to Music lovers. Denying Rights to Movie lovers.

2nd Aug 2007, 18:16	#12
pendragon I pickle they Join Date: May 2004 Location: Massachusetts,usa Posts: 629	yay! more heatsinks! thanks for the reviews! __________________ -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- GCS d-@ s-:>: a- C++$ UL---@ P++>+++++$ L+ E----@ W+++ N o? K? w++>+++++ O---@ M-- V? PS--() PE+@ Y? PGP-@ t+(+++) 5(+)@ X@ R+(++) tv@ b++ DI@ D++ G e++>+++++ h! r(%) y? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

2nd Aug 2007, 14:01	#4
Darkedge Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 334	good article - I love the way that the motherboard is bent in all the pictures, some of those heatsinks were a complete bitch to fit wern't they?

2nd Aug 2007, 18:40	#13
FooSai Multimodder Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: UK Posts: 70	Nice review That Kama Cross looks real sweet. I wonder what the performance gain would be from using a 120mm fan on it? Any chance you guys could get results using the 120mm fan from the Infinity on it? should give a fair comparison And on the note of comparing the Kama to the Infinity.... the results table on the Kama Cross' page 2 is for the Scythe Infinity not the Kama

2nd Aug 2007, 18:41	#14
XeroNXS What's a Dremel? Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 9	For all Infinity owners I can suggest the "Scythe Universal Retention Kit". It provides a much better fit on the motherboard. Just recently used it myself.

2nd Aug 2007, 22:56	#18
Andune Minimodder Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 29	It feels like the Scythe Kama Cross is leaking a lot of air out on the sides that should have been force through the heatsinks...

3rd Aug 2007, 04:11	#19
-EVRE- Supermodder Join Date: May 2004 Location: Idaho U.S.A Posts: 343	please keep in mind that there are those weirdos out there that don't use C* .... myself included. For the next review would you please include Fahrenheit? __________________ (Phenom II 940)(Foxcon A7DA)(8gb OCZ DDR2 800 )(8800gt aka hair dryer)(Big yellow case, CPU, GPU)(Enermax Liberty 500w)(lite-on DVD-RW w/LightScribe)(Seagate 300gb sata)(Seagate 320gb x2)(WD 200gb)(Dell 3007WFP 30"LCD, 19" Samsung, Acer 1280x720 projector)

3rd Aug 2007, 05:26	#20
B[x] Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 268	It seems the majority of the heatsinks tested are taller towers. Would it be possible to test lower profile coolers? I know the Zerotherm CF900 is pretty slim but a comparison of several for the small case market would be nice. I don't know what would qualify as low profile but seeing testing in the below 100-mm range would be fine by me. Some possible coolers are: Thermaltake Blue Orb II AeroCool Dominator 140-mm SilverStone NT06 - Perhaps compare fans mounted facing opposite directions. Zalman 7700 - Comparing the aluminum-copper and the full copper versions would be interesting to see. Thermaltake CL-P0006 - Perhaps compare fans mounted facing opposite directions. __________________ Negative Space - Thread - Website Project S (On Hiatus) - Thread - Website