X-bit labs

Battle of the Titans: Super Coolers from Scythe, Thermaltake and Zalman Face to Face (page 12)

Category: Coolers

by Doors4ever

[ 10/21/2005 | 11:44 AM ]

So, I decided to reinstall the Shogun, starting from the frame, for better fastening. The result? The initial temperature of the CPU was below 60°C and then went down to about 49.5-51.5°C . Unfortunately, the events followed the same scenario after the launch of S&M, even though developed less quickly. The system shut down when the CPU temperature got as high as 73°C .

I boasted my self-control a few paragraphs above, but there’s a limit to anyone’s patience. Somewhat maddened, I dismantled the system and got to the other coolers and decided not to return to the Scythe Shogun anymore. And yet my inner voice was nagging me and warning me that if I didn’t make things clear with the Shogun, I would remain in history as a “reviewer who didn’t even know how to install a cooler”. So, as a tester I have to carry the test out to the end and explain every unclear fact.

I scrutinized our ASUS P5WD2 Premium mainboard and found no elements that might have prevented the cooler from sitting properly, but I made note of the CPU’s own fastening. It was rumored before the transition to LGA775 that this socket would be able to last through no more than 20 installations. Fortunately, these fears were exaggerated, but the fastening is still far from perfect. It is hard to install a modern processor “with pins” wrongly, yet I had a number of situations when an assembled LGA775 system did not start up until the CPU was reinstalled. Obviously, some of the socket’s contacts deflected or lost contact with the processor altogether. I often saw bent contacts in an LGA775 socket and, unlike with the processor’s own pins, it is virtually impossible to straighten them back. These are all well-known defects of Socket LGA775, but I noticed another one.

Take a look at this socket. It is made by Foxconn and this fastening type is most popular on mainboards. It works simply: the processor is pressed down by the frame which is fixed by a steel lever.

The pressure comes from the lever (in the top left of the snapshot). The frame is asymmetrical – its left part is wider, so the lever presses on the left part of the processor (in the given view).

And here are more snapshots of the same processor from other perspectives:

You can see that the processor has a noticeable tilt to the left! It is not positioned strictly horizontally! The cooler is supposed to press down the contacts on the right, too, but what if it doesn’t do so?