X-bit labs

Brother against Brother: Thermaltake Big Typhoon vs. Thermaltake MaxOrb

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 04/19/2007 | 09:02 AM ]

Coming from the same brand, these two air coolers are just too different to end their today’s competition with a draw. We are going to introduce to you the newest Thermaltake cooler – MaxOrb. Let find out if defeats the powerful predecessor.

Table of contents:

• Thermaltake MaxOrb (CL-P0369): Package and Accessories
  
• Design
  
• Installation
  
• Specification
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Thermal Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

Releasing their highly successful Big Typhoon back in 2005, Thermaltake has not treated us to anything new and more effective in the way of air-based cooling of CPUs since then. Minor improvements of the Typhoon resulted in the modified VX version presented in 2006, and that’s all.

The return of the Orb trademark with appropriate air coolers was, in my opinion, a rather lame attempt to appeal to overclockers. And finally, there was CeBIT 2007 where Thermaltake showcased its MaxOrb, a cooler that combined radial ribs with heat pipes.

However, the Typhoon is still being produced and selling for very modest money in comparison with other high-efficiency coolers. Can the young MaxOrb challenge the old Big Typhoon and earn overclockers’ recognition? I am going to answer this question, and some others too, in this article.

So let's get started!