X-bit labs

Four CPU Coolers from Thermaltake Tested (page 15)

Category: Coolers

by Vasily Melnik

[ 09/05/2005 | 10:40 AM ]

Conclusion

I should acknowledge that the coolers all passed the tests. Here’s a summary diagram:

You can see two distinct groups here: the leaders can keep the temperature below 65°C under load whereas the other coolers can’t get below 72°C. There’s one real loser here, Thermaltake PIPE101 rev.2. It can’t compete with modern solutions that feature massive heatsinks and even its all-copper design with heat pipes cannot help – the heat dissipation area is just too small. As for the Sonic Tower’s 72°C in the passive mode, this result should not be compared with the PIPE101 for obvious reasons.

In fact, it is the Sonic Tower that deserves to be called the best in this test session – a passive heatsink capable of handling such a hot CPU is a very rare thing on the market, especially at such an appealing price – it just doesn’t have competitors in its price category. The only thing that can stop a potential buyer is the size of that cooler. If you don’t want to bother about the size and the possible problems with its installation, but you need a good air cooler, consider the Big Typhoon. Costing $10 more than the Sonic Tower, it represents a classic design, has almost the same heat dissipation area and offers good functionality. As for the difference in price, it is quite understandable - $10 is the price of one 120mm of that class.

I can’t recommend the Silent Tower or the PIPE101 as universal cooling solutions – they should not be purchased for top-end processors.