X-bit labs

Fan, Cup and Copper Pipes: Zalman CNPS8700 LED and Thermaltake V1 Processor Coolers (page 8)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 08/30/2007 | 12:09 PM ]

Installation Tips

Mounting this cooler on the supported platforms is very easy. The Thermaltake V1 is fastened on K8 CPUs by means of a clip that is inserted between the heat pipes and is then hitched at the teeth of the retention frame. The orientation of the cooler inside the system case is limited to two positions and depends on the orientation of the retention frame around the CPU socket.

If you’ve got an LGA775 platform, you should first secure the fasteners with plastic locks on the cooler’s bottom:

Then you carefully insert these locks into the mainboard’s holes. The pressure is strong enough to ensure a proper heat transfer. The cooler doesn’t turn around on the heat-spreader. The Thermaltake V1 can be oriented in every direction on LGA775 processors. As you’ve understood from the description of the installation procedure, you don’t have to take your mainboard out of the case whatever platform you use.

The Thermaltake V1 is compact on the mainboard and is unlikely to have conflicts with the near-socket components:

Here is how the new cooler looks like inside a system case:

Note that the cooler is oriented differently in these two photos. In the first photo the heat pipes are parallel to the rear panel of the system case. In the second photo they are perpendicular to it. The installation guide doesn’t tell which orientation is better. As a matter of fact, the spatial orientation doesn’t affect the performance of a heat pipe, so Thermaltake doesn’t put a focus on this issue. And I didn’t find any difference in the cooler’s performance arising from its orientation.

The Thermaltake V1 comes at a recommended price of $40-50, comparable to that of the Zalman CNPS8700 LED.