CPU Cooler Charts 2008, Part I - Loosing Your Cool?

I think that's a weakness and false promise right there! You promised me a CPU HSF article, I got a 404!

Correct link:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/CPU- [...] 30115.html

Google - CPU Cooler Charts 2008

Good article. It is specific enough to help people avoid "gotchas". I'll look forward to the remaining installments.

That was only part I. They had some 80 to do; I'm looking forward to the AC Freezer review also.

what kind of paste are you using?
toothpaste?
my stock cooler on a 6750 has 25 idle and close to 50 on load.
maybe 2 more cores get twice the temp.

It is an odd mount, but then again, it's not inside a case anyway.

cools.

reading all of the article.

Why no Coolit products? Like to see something that can match this:
Q6600 oc'd to 400x9, vcore +.17, Prime95 all four cores, ambient at 20C

I really like that Tom's is doing this, but why oh why the random selection? Since the sheer amount of coolers obviously makes segmenting the articles appropriate, lumping similarly ranged products together would make the articles much stronger and relevant individually. I.E. Part One - Entry Level/Stock Replacement, Part Two - Midrange Air, Part Three - High End Air, Part Four - Water, Part Five - Passive, etc. and so on.

I could not use this article to make a buying decision until the entire round-up is completed. We need to see similarly priced units compared directly, not a random pool.

The way they mount those heatsinks was rather strange. I mean - if you're trying to emulate actual positioning of the components and even bother to mount the MoBo upright, then why aren't those HSFs blowing out hot air in the direction of the back of the case (and its respective fan)?
Has a single one of the test subjects received a 10 for installation? Seems like the only way do that is for the HSF jump out of the box, mount itself, cook dinner, bring the beer, and give a relaxing massage. Too subjective. The criteria should have been made clear from the start - what gets you 10, and what nets you 0 (i.e. is unforgivable).

btw. Does TAT support 4 cores? I always preferred it over Prime95

It's hard for me to believe that the zalman's 8700 cooler to be 6°C cooler than the scythe ninja ('other giant cooling')

aren't the nervana, thermalright, and the scythe ninja are all essentially the same type?

Probably just using it from their CPNS 9700 series. Most companies do that when they win an award they use it as the company name.

But still funny huh?

I hope they have the Thermaltake BigTyphoon VP and BigTyphoon 14. Both look promising. Just need a LED fan instead and I would be set. Love my CPNS9700 but if thosse cool better I would get them.

I am hoping Thermaltake sent them samples. Probably not but you can hope right?

BTW nice profile picture. CTRLALTDEL-Online is the best web based comic ever. GO ZEKE!!!!!!!!!

Ih and this is my 666th post. Should turn out deliciously evil.

I'm gonna wait for part 2 of the test. At least the Thermalright is a winner here. It's the best air cooler available. But I'm waiting to see others such as the Tuniq Tower and Zalman's towers.

I wanted to say the exact same thing. Last time I checked, hot air went in the UP direction... And inside a closed case, with possibly a crossfire config or something, would be more interesting. Also, testing temps of cards and ram around the HS since they usually are designed to cool othing things in the area...

I can't help but think that they are doing something wrong for so many decent looking coolers to perform so poorly (and so HOT!). I myself have the scythe ninja rev B and I use it without a fan to keep my c2d 2.8 (OCed from 1.8, and also undervolted to 1.1) under 50 even under prolonged full load while ambient temps are around ~65-70.
Of course, I am using the antec 900 with the big top fan - so my components all go together really well. Still, it seems like the reviewer may have been hasty at times and perhaps misapplied thermal gunk or didn't always have the retention mechanism fully secured.

I find it funny how people like to bitch and complain about how the tester didn't do x, y, and z, when conducting a comprehensive test like this one. Let's see those people go through the process of testing 80 heatsinks and do it so perfectly.

Whether these coolers were tested in a case or not isn't all that important. Each of these coolers are tested under the same conditions and since none of them are hindered by a poor case design (or even helped by a really good one), each cooler is left to stand (or fall) on its own.

Still, I have to agree with some of the people in here when they mention temperatures: are the Quads THAT hot? I have a E6300 OC'd to 3.14GHz, cooled by an Ultra 120 eXtreme, and under load using Orthos, the temp stays under 55C (in an Antec 900).

No, quads are not that hot.

with the P35 DS3r(Q6600 @ 3.0) fan control on my hottest core stays at 55-57 and coolest at 52ish(the last 2 stay within a degree of each other)
I was surprised at the fact that my e6600 @ 2.93 seemed to run as hot as my Q6600. Even power(i only noticed about 30-40 watts more, i was expecting 2x the e6600) wise i find the Q6600 has been great for the encoding time saved.

Yes, ambient temperature can (and does) play a role here and I don't recall (without going back through the article) if they mentioned it or not. Still, there are too many case designs with too many fan setups to even possibly go through them. And remember, too, that dude is testing 80 of them! Personally, I wouldn't want to even test 5! And someone mentioned using a slide-out MB tray; are you serious? name the case with an opening that big! I do believe that even in cases with slide-out MB trays, the CPU cooler has to be removed.

It may come later. There are a lot to test and might be considered in the higher end air coolers since they are very good for the price.

I still want to see the Thermaltak BigTyphoon 14.

Where are you KyleSTL? I thought you would have been the first to post.

You can't take these results and compare them to anything else except what is in this review. That is the trick with heatsink reviews. You can't cross reference tests from a year ago, other sites, or your home setup because there are too many factors involved that affect the performance. (CPU, thermal paste, the person, temp recording, testing duration, room temp, solar flares <-jk...)

Whether or not they do the tests in the case or out of the case or under water or on the flipping moon...it doesn't matter as long as the conditions are the same for each test. The only information you can get out of this is relative performance.

I was actually headed to this thread to make fun of the people who are responsible for the Scythe Kama sink. WTF were they thinking? Look at the fan placement. A chimp could figure out that the air is going to flow around the sides rather than in between the fins.

I agree, there is more information that is needed.

The fail stamp has me confused. It would be much more informative to say...we had trouble with installation, we give it a 1 rather than...this one makes me PO...FAIL. I had to double check to make sure Charlie didn't do this article.

I could park my car in that thing