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Need a low cost cooler for your low cost Llano?

Subject: Cases and Cooling | March 12, 2012 - 04:19 PM |
Tagged: low profile, low noise, heatsink, arctic cooling alpine 64 plus

If you spent around $100 on your CPU you are unlikely to want to spend a large percentage of that again on a high powered third party heatsink but that doesn't mean you have to stick with the cooler in the retail package.  Arctic Cooling's Alpine 64 Plus stands 69mm x 99mm x 116mm making it perfect for smaller systems and weighs in at only 430g as well.  The price is something you will love, the MSRP is $15 which should sit within anyone's budget.  FrostyTech tried it out on their testbench and as you might expect it did not top the cooling charts but did perform adequately and it was one of the quietest active coolers they've tested.

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"With the release of AMD's socket FM1 Fusion A8-3850 processors late last year there's been a growing need for inexpensive yet relatively quiet CPU coolers of moderate power. The 'Llano' processor only has a 100W TDP and costs just over $120 bucks, so expensive tower heatpipe coolers can be a little bit of an overkill. Arctic Cooling's Alpine 64 Plus heatsink is one economical option to consider; it's rated for 100W and stands 70mm tall so it fits in most media PC cases with ease."

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Source: Frosty Tech

Corsair Hydro Series H100 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Author:
Date: January 17, 2012
Subject: Cases and Cooling
Manufacturer: Corsair
Tagged: liquid cooling, heatsink, h100, corsair

Introduction, Features, Technical Specifications

Introduction

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Courtesy of Corsair

Corsair expanded their product line exponentially in 2011 by adding a variety of PC components like mechanical keyboards, gaming mice, performance CPU coolers, desktop and headset sound systems, solid state drives, and their trademark system memory modules. One of the truest innovations we saw from Corsair this year was their self-contained watercooling units. Corsair developed the H100 to be their flagship CPU cooler that uses a dual-radiator configuration to bring enthusiasts an efficient and responsive cooling solution.

 

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Courtesy of Corsair

The Corsair H100 debuted in June 2011 and is the only self-contained watercooling unit on the market that sports a massive 240mm radiator and digital fan control buttons to adjust the CPU cooler for quiet, performance, and balanced modes. This CPU cooler retails for around $119 before shipping at most vendors, but many enthusiasts wonder how it stacks up against other comparable options from Corsair, Antec, and Thermaltake. Personally, I would also like to see what performance differences I will see using the H100 against a few of the top air-cooled heatsinks I have in our office.

Continue reading our review of the Corsair Hydro Series H100 CPU Cooler!!

A CPU Cooling Heatsink With Built In Computer From AMD

Subject: Cases and Cooling | January 10, 2012 - 08:43 PM |
Tagged: nano-itx, heatsink, e-350, cooling, cooler master, CES, APU

At CES today we saw what at first resembles a Cooler Master V6 CPU heastink and fan combo. The processor cooler features a red 120mm fan housed in a black shroud which is then attached to the heatsink itself. The heatsink is a tower design with six copper heatpipes attached to a copper CPU block. The heatpipes then lead into a tower of aluminum fins to dissipate heat.

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On the back of the unit; however, there's a little something extra in the form of a nano-itx motherboard and AMD E-350 APU based on the Brazos platform. The computer is self contained and provides a number of connectivity options. For more information on the Brazos platform and E-350 APU, see our preview and review articles. A quick run down of the E-350 specifications; however, is below.

  • Two Bobcat CPU cores at 1.6 GHz
  • A Radeon HD 6310 GPU with 80 processing cores running at 500 MHz
  • A TDP of 18 watts
  • DirectX 11 Graphics and DDR3 Memory Support

IMG_7520.JPG

The bottom of the rear of the CPU cooler is the location of the nano-ITX motherboard's rear IO panel. The motherboard features Wi-Fi, HDMI, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, VGA(?), and e-SATA(?) connections.

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A side view of the Cooler Master heatsink is available below.

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It's certainly a new idea, and it will definitely hit home for people that don't need or want to run their power hungry main desktop all the time. Because the system is self contained it does present some usability issues. Mainly that you will need to have a KVM or VNC connection to control it and the inside of the computer case is going to become a lot more crowded with cables. Further, it would be a pain to have to open up the main desktop system just to plug in a flash drive or cable. On the other hand, it'd make for a nice media or file server and would not require the desktop be on 24/7 without needing yet another box crowding my desk so I'd give it a shot. (The inside of my computer case is already a mess of wires so what do I have to lose?)

What are your thoughts on this somewhat strange CPU cooler?

PC Perspective's CES 2012 coverage is sponsored by MSI Computer.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

Source: PC Perspective

Thermaltake Frio OCK Universal CPU Cooler Review

Author:
Date: November 30, 2011
Subject: Cases and Cooling
Manufacturer: Thermaltake
Tagged: universal, thermaltake, overclocking, heatsink, frio, cooler

Introduction, Features, Technical Specifications

Introduction

icon1.jpg

Courtesy of Thermaltake

Performance CPU coolers have been saturating the market in bunches this year, and Thermaltake added the FrioOCK to the fray to compete against other high-end heatsinks geared toward overclockers and power PC users. We wasted no time installing the FrioOCK in our LGA 1155 teset bench to see how it stacks up against other extreme air-cooled CPU coolers!

icon2.jpg

Courtesy of Thermaltake

The FrioOCK is a universal CPU cooler that supports a variety of socket types from Intel (LGA1366, LGA1155, LGA1156, and LGA775) and AMD (AM3, AM2+, AM2). This heatsink uses a dual-tower design with six copper heatpipes to dissipate heat from the processor. The unit also sports two 130mm fans in a push-pull configuration to wisk heat away from the CPU.

Read the entire review of the Thermaltake FrioOCK Universal CPU Cooler!

The Havik 140, a kilo of cooling from NZXT

Subject: Cases and Cooling | October 20, 2011 - 11:58 AM |
Tagged: nzxt, havik 140, heatsink

The new NZXT Havik weighs in at 1035g, so it is proper that NZXT spent time designing brackets to spread the weight on both AMD and Intel systems, though you are still going to want to be careful with it.  NZXT opted to skip heatpipes directly in contact with the CPUs heatspreader and instead went with a copper base plate to distribute the heat to the pipes more evenly.  That decision seems validated by FrostyTech's testing which placed this cooler above the middle of the pack but not at the top of the cooling charts.  One design choice they are not so impressed with is the rubber fan mounts, while it does keep the noise down they are worried that as the rubber ages it may let the fans start to slip.

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"In this review Frostytech is testing out the NZXT Havik 140 heatsink, a tower style CPU cooler designed for Intel socket 1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD socket AM2/AM3/AM3+/FM1 processors. The Havik 140 cooler performs pretty well as you'll shortly see. Before we get to the massive Frostytech thermal performance charts, let's take a look at some of the notable tweaks this heatsink employs to the standard tower cooler format."

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Source: Frosty Tech

Coolers of the Gods; Loki, Gaia and Aegir

Subject: Cases and Cooling | May 6, 2011 - 02:46 PM |
Tagged: heatsink, xigmatek, cooler

Loki, Gaia and Aegir are all from Nordic mythology but are also now found in PC Cases as well as in Valhalla.  Loki and Gaia can be had for around $30 while the Aegir comes at twice the price and the sizes range as well from the diminutive 330g Loki to the 670g Aegir but all are 159mm tall or less.  Legit Reveiws proclaimed that they are all great values, each with their own traget system.

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"The Aegir is Xigmatek’s high-end offering, and it carries a high end price. Coming in at $59.99 shipped it is not the most expensive cooler we have ever tested but it performed nicely. Coming near the top of the charts throughout most of the testing the Aegir was on par with coolers that cost $20 to $30 more. The fan for the Aegir was nice as well. At 100% speed the fan is quiet. It was hard to pick out the Aegir’s fan from the Scythe case fans I use in the test system..."

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Source: Legit Reviews

Small and quiet but still powerful, the Thermolab Trinity heatsink

Subject: Cases and Cooling | April 27, 2011 - 12:51 PM |
Tagged: thermolab, heatsink

Usually when you are picking a heatsink you can only choose two of the three main attributes of cooling ability, noise produced and reasonably small size.  The Thermolab Trinity has found a way for you to avoid having to make that choice.  At 735g and 150mm x 136mm x 85mm it is certainly smaller than a lot of coolers, it's 130mm fan is reasonably quiet and the cooling ability that Legit Reviews saw in their tests is impressive.  Even better at a MRSP of $55 it is worth taking a look at.

 

LR_thermolab_trinity.jpg

"Overall, I am happy with the Thermolab Trinity CPU HSF. The cooler is a solid performer, easy to install, and coming in at the $55 mark, it is easy on the wallet. Thermolab is still new to some enthusiasts; Trinity is their 7th cooler for the enthusiast market, but they are doing well. The Trinity was within 4 degrees of the top coolers throughout most of the testing. Looking at just the air coolers at 4GHz, the Trinity comes in 3rd place, but is less expensive than the two coolers that beat it: the Zalman CNPS9900 Max and the Prolimatech Super Mega..."

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Source: Legit Reviews

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