A Comparison of 34 Coolers for the AMD Athlon XP

Global Win Technology: Cooling Towers CAK4-86, CAK4-88T & TAK58

Global Win Technology sent us a total of three models to test, the CAK4-86, the CAK4-88T and the TAK58. While the copper-based CAK-8X series is designed with sheer cooling performance in mind, the extremely quiet TAK58 offers whisper-like operation while at the same time providing average cooling capacity.

Loud, Heavy And Powerful: CAK4-86

The CAK4-86 is based on a cooler profile made of solid copper. The base plate is approximately six millimeters thick. The fins, created using the skived fin procedure, are arranged in two rows, separated by the clamp, at a distance of just under one millimeter from one another.

With the skived fin procedure, the fins are produced by horizontally removing thin layers of the material. These layers are then erected, thus forming the fins. In order to compensate for the difference in size between the cooler profile (70 x 70 millimeters) and the fan, which is 80 millimeters in diameter, a 20-millimeter adapter has been inserted between the heat sink and the fan. Together with the fan casing, the CAK86 reaches the rather grand height of 10.3 centimeters, and weighs in at a total of 787 grams. The clamp only clips onto the central notch of the socket. Installation was, however, unproblematic.

The ventilator of the monster cooler clocks in at more than 6000rpm, which rather accounts for the infernal racket pervading the user's ears. Our sound meter measured nearly 73dB(A) during operation. However, the CAK4-86 is also the top-ranking test candidate in terms of cooling capacity: with a maximum die temperature of only 46°C and a thermal resistance of just 0.33°C/W, this model affords the kind of cooling capacity that you could at best only expect of water cooling.