X-bit labs

OCZ Vindicator CPU Cooler Review: When the Copy is As Good As the Original (page 5)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 05/08/2007 | 04:36 PM ]

Specification

Let’s take a look at OCZ Vindicator technical specs before we pass over to the actual thermal testing and performance analysis:

Testbed and Methods

We will investigate the thermal performance of OCZ Vindicator cooler against that of its today’s competitors in a closed system case and in an open testbed. We had our platforms built according to the following configuration:

• Asustek P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP mainboard (Intel P965 chipset, LGA775, BIOS 1101);
• Cooler Master Blue Ice Pro chipset cooler (~2500rpm);
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 CPU (2133MHz, 1.325V, 4x266MHz FSB, 2048KB L2 cache, SL9S9 Malay Conroe B2);
• Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease;
• Sysconn GeForce 7600 GT 256MB graphics card (running at 670/1584MHz with a ‑90MHz delta) plus a Zalman VF900-Cu LED cooler at 1700rpm;
• 2 x 1024MB Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-9136C5D DDR2 SDRAM (SPD: 1142MHz, 5-5-5-18, 2.1V);
• Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 HDD (SATA-II, 320GB storage capacity, 7200rpm, 16MB cache, NCQ);
• ASUS ASCOT 6AR2-B Black&Silver ATX system case with 120mm system fans from Cooler Master (1200rpm, 21dBA) and 120-mm Sharkoon Luminous Blue LED side panel fan (1,000rpm);
• MGE Magnum 500 PSU (500W) + 80mm GlacialTech SilentBlade fan (~1700rpm, 19dBA)

All tests were performed in Windows XP Professional Edition Service Pack 2. We used SpeedFan 4.32, Intel Thermal Analysis Tool (TAT). RightMark CPU Clock Utility 2.25 (for thermal throttling check). As usual we performed at least two cycles of tests in each mode and waited for 25-30 minutes for the temperature inside the system case (closed testbed) to stabilize during each test cycle. During the tests on an open testbed we took half the time for temperature stabilization. The room temperature remained at 23.5°C during the tests (as stated on the charts).

We tested OCZ Vindicator not only with one standard fan, but also with the same fan (~1,000rpm) blowing the air outside the case. Among our today’s testing participants that will be competing with OCZ Vindicator are the following solutions. The first is Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B with a standard 1,200rpm fan and an additional identical fan blowing the air outside the case. And the second one is the highly efficient Thermaltake Big Typhoon in standard configuration, which is selling for almost the same price as the OCZ solution. In conclusion I would only like to add that the fan rotation speeds on the charts below are reports according to the mainboard monitoring system.

Maximum CPU overclocking was limited by the efficiency of the today’s weakest testing participant – the OCZ Vindicator cooler with only one standard fan. So, Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 with the nominal frequency of 2133MHz overclocked to 3440MHz with the Vcore increased to 1.425V: