by Sergey Lepilov
05/08/2007 | 04:36 PM
OCZ Technology Company is very well-known among overclockers first of all as manufacturer of a great variety of RAM modules ranging from inexpensive budget memory kits and finishing with dual-channel kits with nominal frequencies going well beyond 1100MHz.
<%BANNER[article]%>However, you all know that some time ago they expanded their product range by adding power supply units, graphics cards and finally CPU cooling systems.
Having decided to enter this market, OCZ Technology seems to have chosen one of the easiest ways. They decided not to design and manufacture their own cooling systems. Instead they are placing orders with third manufacturers and then enhance or it would be more correct to say modify the solutions themselves. A great example would be a cooler that we are going to devote our today’s article to: OCZ Vindicator.
Take a look at it:
Scythe Ninja Plus, no doubt. Before we continue I would like to say right away that you shouldn’t accuse OCZ of plagiarisms. You may think that Vindicator is ordered and manufactured on the same facilities as Scythe Ninja, but both companies deny it. And as for the users, they hardly mind what brand name is on the cooler. If the production quality is up to the mark and the price is comparable to that of the competitors, then there is absolutely no cause for panic or resentment.
So, let’s take a closer look at the newcomer.
Small package is made completely from plastic and features a carry handle. Since it is transparent you can take a real good look at the cooler without even opening the box:
If that is not satisfying enough, you can always check out all the major features of OCZ Vindicator on the reverse side of the package:
On the remaining sides of the box you can see technical specifications and the list of accessories included with the cooler. The bundle actually looks like this:
Let me list all the accessories from left to right and from top to bottom:
And that’s about it. I wish there had been another pair of spring clips included. Other than that, you need nothing else.
Let’s take a look at the heatsink:
No doubt: this is just like Scythe Ninja. The heatsink dimensions (110mm x 110mm x 150mm) and weight (640g) are exactly the same as by the cooler from Scythe. The cooler sits on copper base with six copper heatpipes 6mm in diameter going through it. The heatpipes are positioned in two levels. Right above them there is a small aluminum heatsink (of slightly different shape than the one by Scythe Ninja).
The heatpipes carry 23 aluminum plates. They contact the heatpipes through aluminum necks (for the sake of higher heat dissipating surface). The ends of the heatpipes are soldered dead and covered with 12 decorative caps:
The profile of the ribbing and the finish quality differ from those we see on Scythe Ninja. There is a Z-shaped notch in the center of the heatsink going all the way through the heatsink plates:
Besides, there are holes that spread away from the notch towards the heatsink corners, like rays, each next hole featuring smaller diameter than the previous one. But the most essential difference is the finish quality of the heatsink ribs. Ninja cooler doesn’t have anything like that, and I have to admit that the heatsink ribs polished to mirror-shine should ensure much more efficient airflow thus increasing the cooling efficiency of the OCZ Vindicator solution overall.
The cooler base is covered with protective plastic film containing a warning that it needs to be removed before installation:
The evenness of the base surface is excellent, however when it comes to finish quality, the manufacturer could have done a better job, I believe:
However, despite the noticeable machine traces, you cannot feel any unevenness to the touch in case of OCZ cooler. Although such unevenness by some other manufacturers may often be a drawback harming the efficiency of the contact between the cooler base and the CPU.
The 120mm fan that comes with the cooler turned out to be of unknown origin:
The “OCZ Technology” sticker on the motor doesn’t reveal anything important and there is no other sticker beneath it. According to the technical specifications, the fan rotation speed is 1,000rpm with 18.5dBA level of noise and 40CFM airflow. The fan operates extremely quietly.
To install the heatsink on any of the compatible platforms (it cannot be installed onto obsolete Socket A or Socket 478 platforms), you will not need to remove the mainboard from the system case. If you have an LGA 775 mainboard, the cooler can be installed simply by pressing the clips into the holes around the processor socket. I would like to remind you that Intel’s boxed coolers are installed exactly the same way. As for the AMD platform for K8 processors, you will first have to replace the bracket at the bottom of the cooler: you will need to remove the LGA 775 frame and install the Socket AM2/754/939/940 bracket instead and then make it catch to the hooks on the standard plastic retention bracket on the mainboard PCB.
The heatsink base is pressed pretty tightly against the CPU top heat-spreader in both cases. To be fair I have to say that since there is no backplate for this cooler, the mainboard textolite will slightly curve under the cooler weight in case of an LGA 775 platform. It is not a crucial drawback, but still a drawback in my opinion.
Then all you have to do is mount the fan on the heatsink with the wire clips and hook its three-pin plug to the corresponding mainboard connector. The polished to mirror-shine OCZ Vindicator looks very beautiful inside a system case:
The lower heatsink plate is still high enough above the base, so it will not conflict with the MOSFET heatsinks installed on the mainboard voltage regulator circuitry elements. However, you should note that I had to move the memory modules from the first and second DIMM slots to the third and fourth (picture on the right), because they were hitting against the fan. Although it is the tall heat-spreaders of Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-9136C5D installed in my system that are to blame for that, not OCZ Vindicator. If you are using standard memory modules, there will be no cause for concern.
Before we move on to the technical specifications of the cooler I suggest that you take a look at the side-by-side comparison of OCZ Vindicator and Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B coolers:
Besides differently shaped heatsink plates, the finish quality and different lower heatsink I would also like to point out that the plates on Scythe Ninja’s heatsink are spread out at a greater distance from one another, although there are also 23 of them. The thing is that the Japanese cooler uses the entire length of the heatpipes starting right at the lower heatsink, while the plating on OCZ Vindicator heatsink starts a little higher. And of course, we shouldn’t leave out the different fans: 1,000rpm fan by OCZ and 1,200rpm fan by Scythe. Once again, the design, dimensions and weight of these cooling systems are identical.
Let’s take a look at OCZ Vindicator technical specs before we pass over to the actual thermal testing and performance analysis:
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:
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:
Now let’s take a look at the results:
And what do we expect to see here? :) According to our article called SuperCoolers Return: Zalman CNPS9700 LED and Scythe Infinity, we already know that Thermaltake Big Typhoon proves more efficient than Scythe Ninja in a closed system case, therefore, we shouldn’t actually expect any wonders from OCZ Vindicator. The loss of 6°C in a closed system case and a little less than 4°C in an open stand can be eliminated by installing a second quiet fan (almost with no increase in the level of generated noise). However, the newcomer still cannot outperform the Big Typhoon winner.
In the rivalry between the two clone-coolers, Scythe Ninja won, although we have to admit that its thermal performance advantage is tiny in both test modes: with one and two fans. I don’t see the point in installing faster 1,200rpm fans onto OCZ Vindicator, as the results will not really change, as you may have already guessed.
And in conclusion I suggest that we check out how far our Intel Core 2 Duo can overclock if the OCZ Vindicator cooler is installed in passive configuration, i.e. without the fan. The results turned out not so low actually: 3079MHz at the nominal Vcore when checked with TAT. Although the overall thermal mode looked pretty scary in this case and the CPU was on the edge of going into throttling:
However, you know that in case of 100% load on both cores Intel Thermal Analysis Tool (TAT) loads the CPU in a way absolutely not typical of any applications. Therefore, I decided to continue my overclocking and stability experiments with OCCT program. As a result, we found out that our processor could run stably at 3160MHz (without increasing the Vcore) when cooled with only the passive heatsink!
In this case the temperature under peak load didn’t exceed 75°C:
This is excellent result from the noise-to-efficiency prospective, however you shouldn’t forget that in our testbed the system case was cooled with three 120-mm fans. So, you may not be able to achieve the same results in traditional system cases not featuring that many additional case fans.
What can I say in conclusion? OCZ Technology did a good job on releasing a worthy modification of Scythe Ninja cooler design. And the most important thing is that the user definitely only wins, because Scythe Ninja solution is set at $14 higher recommended price. So, OCZ Vindicator will definitely find its niche. The final choice is yours, anyway.
Now let me sum up all the highs and lows of the solution we have just tested:
Highs:
Lows: