Three Down-Draft Heat Sinks: The Last Of A Dying Breed?

Features
By Patrick Afschar
published

There’s an enormous amount of aftermarket coolers available to those wanting more performance or lower temperatures. The market’s currently dominated by tower coolers, and top coolers have fallen out of favor. Rightfully so? We find out.

Enermax ETD-T60-VD: In The Box And Installation

Enermax is predominantly known as a power supply vendor that is still new to the cooling world. It had an impressive debut with the ETS-T40 tower-style cooler, and the company now sells a down-draft heat sink and fan combination called the ETD-T60.

The ETD-T60 is available in two versions. One, the ETD-T60-TB, comes with a fairly low-key 120 mm cooler rated for anywhere from 37.57 to 86.70 CFM at fan speeds from 800 to 1800 RPM. 

However, we received the ETD-T60-VD, which sports Enermax's T.B.Vegas Duo 120 mm fan. The fan has a total of 18 red and blue circular LEDs, which really catches eyes. Unfortunately, you lose some of the "go" in exchange for the extra "show." Our review unit's fan is only rated for 33.26 to 75.98 CFM at the same 800 to 1800 RPM. The fan is mounted to the cooler using a plastic frame.

Enermax employs a universal backplate for all CPUs. Four spacers are stuck through the motherboard and screwed into the backplate with run-of-the-mill nuts. The company bundles an adapter for Phillips screwdrivers in case you don't have the necessary hardware. Two metal braces have to be screwed to the bottom of the cooler with a pair of screws each, and are attached to the four spacers with knurled nuts. This secures the cooler to the motherboard.

The cooler’s shape is asymmetrical; the shorter side is designed to float over installed memory without touching taller modules. Enermax's ETD-T60-VD can be installed on all current AMD and Intel platforms except Intel’s LGA 2011. Thermal paste is also included in a small application syringe.

Patrick Afschar
37 Comments Comment from the forums
  • boulbox
    My h100 is horrible compared to this :(
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    WOW! Sound levels are way above advertised levels.
    Reply
  • killerclick
    Scythe coolers are the best overall, but 1000+ RPM is just too high.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    I used to have a Thermaltake Dualorb, and it was really nice because both fans would also blow over the ram and and chipset heatsink. I am currently using a 2500k running at 5GHz with a CM Hyper 212+, and my ambient on the cores is around 28-30, and peak is on average about 67-68c. At any rate, interesting article.
    Reply
  • luciferano
    JohnnyLuckyWOW! Sound levels are way above advertised levels.
    Don't forget to account for ambient noise, which is already often higher than the rated loudness of many coolers.
    Reply
  • with the enermax and noctua both @ $68 the scythe is a steal @ $40 on amazon.
    Reply
  • antemon
    coolermaster didn't send in their vortex (which is what i have)
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    It has been my life-long dream to pair a Cooler Master GeminII S524: bit.ly/PiVHxw
    with the greatest 140mm desktop PC fan in existence, the Sanyo Denki 9LB1412M501: bit.ly/QOHXJA
    Specs: 140x140 51mm 138CFM 2000rpm 39dBA 12V 0.5A
    Essentially the most perfect balance of airflow to noise I have ever seen.

    I can only imagine how well this fan can cool not only the CPU but virtually the entire upper half of the motherboard as well. Alas, my dream will remain a dream since although I know where to buy the fan, the min. order quantity is 10, pushing the total price to at least $500; way out of my reach.

    But speaking of which, Tom's, why not compare motherboard voltage regulator and RAM module temps with these top-down coolers vs tower coolers? Myself and many overclockers will be extremely interested in these temps.
    Reply
  • doive1231
    You could just get an Ivy Bridge CPU and sleep tight.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Top->Down coolers are my favourite choice for building normal non-oc rigs since they cool so much more than just the cpu, as for overclocking "real water" cooling with extra spot on fan for the voltage regulators + ram is my favourite. Seem some forget that with water/air tower designs the MB don't get much often needed airflow around the upper part of the MB.
    Reply