X-bit labs

Gigabyte Volar CPU Cooler Review (page 3)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 01/21/2008 | 04:01 PM ]

As you can clearly see there are only three copper heatpipes, each 6mm in diameter, and not four, as you may have thought at first. One heatpipe, which two ends originate from the center of the cooler base, loops in the middle of the heatsink array and ends back at the base. Moreover, if you look at the heatsink from one of the sides, you will see that it consists of two halves, with a heatpipe running right in-between them:

Since the heatsink array is ribbed, it is very hard to ensure proper contact between the heatpipe and the heatsink ribbing that is why Gigabyte used a lot of thermal interface for that purpose. The remaining two heatpipes are much shorter. They originate from the side of the cooler base and end in the center of the heatsink.

The heatsink ribs split in two in the middle thus increasing the heat dissipating surface area:

The heatsink is topped with a seven-blade 120x120x38mm fan:

The fan rotation speed is 2,000rpm but it can be dropped to 1,500rpm with the help of a variable resistor designed as a short wire that should be connected to the fan cable and the mainboard connector. The manufacturer claims that the corresponding noise levels will be 23 and 18dBA for these two modes respectively.

The fan is an F121225SL model from Everflow:

The marking suggests that this is a 25mm fan, but when we measured the fan width with a measuring tape, we got indisputable proof that it is indeed 38mm, not 25mm. The fan uses slide bearing and is guaranteed to ensure 30,000 hours or over 3 years of non-stop operation.

The cooler base is protected with a paper sticker with a warning that it needs to be removed before installation. However, I doubt there is anyone who will install a cooler with this sticker despite the bright read color and a warning message :) Once the sticker has been removed, we see very even but not well-finished base surface:

There is no polishing or even any kind of finish at all here. You can feel the roughness of the base surface with your fingertips. However, if you favor mirror-shine finish quality, you will hardly be bothered by this drawback of the Gigabyte Volar cooler: with proper materials, some skill and desire, you can easily get the sacred mirror-shine surface in 10-15 minutes.