SocketA Coolers Roundup Q4 `2002

Introduction

A few words on the measurement procedure. Without any noise measurement instrument on hand I'm going to estimate the noise levels in score points. That is, the higher the score, the better a certain parameter is, or in this case the quieter a cooler is. Such an estimate is rather subjective (10 - complete lack of noise, 0 - the noise level of a running vacuum cleaner).

Now regarding the temperature. The processor temperatures and fans` rotational speeds were gauged with the Motherboard Monitor v5.2.0.0. The test system was assembled in an Inwin S506 case. If a cooler had a related thermal interface, then the thermal interface was removed it then we measured the noise with the silicon-organic paste KPT-8. The processor was heated up with the BurnK7 software, and Athlon XP with the integrated thermal sensor was chosen as the test processor. That allowed measuring the temperature at high precision.

Thermaltake Volcano 9

Indeed, the blue radiator has turned silvery, with the fan turned rosy. The protective grid and the special casing remained unchanged. The same applies to the retail box design - the cardboard box now has a transparent window.

Inside the box there is a cooler installation manual. A large list of quality paper with color illustrations. But the price has gone up by $7 and now is as high as $23. So, what novelties and improvements have been introduced by Thermaltake engineers this time?

The fastening clip has been modified. Now instead of the single-tooth hooking, the cooler Volcano 9 is now hooked up to all the three teeth of the socket.

The screwdriver catch has been slightly amended. In particular, some special limiters have been added which keep the screwdriver bit pressed firmly and prevent its accidental jump-off. This resulted in more convenience at installation.

Now regarding the radiator - it has remained unchanged. The massive aluminum structure with high fins, a copper disk in the base - all these, as the designers claim, should make the task of pumping out heat from the processor a breeze. By the way, regarding the base - its quality is still unsatisfactory.

In the center of the copper disk there is an almost invisible cavity, which forces the overclocker to finish the surface on his own. I would recommend the ordinary user to add a bit more thermal paste.

A small digression regarding the thermal paste. In various forums/online conferences you can quite often come across lots of questions/arguments on the right use of thermal paste, in particular, the optimum quantity. The thermal paste itself is used for filling the gap between the processor and radiator (of course, very small quantities are meant :). This gap may appear because of the surface roughness and poor processing quality of the base. That gap is filled with air that impedes heat transfer. This results in a local overheat and failures in the processor operation.

Basically, it's not a big deal how much paste you apply (even half a centimeter thick layer). The thing is, in installing a radiator the paste excesses will be squeezed out and only as much paste as needed will stay. Prior to the fixation, move the radiator sideways slightly.

That is why I always apply a thin layer of paste when installing a radiator having mirror-like (or almost mirror-like) surface. When removing a Titan CU6TB cooler I wouldn't find any paste on the processor at all - it all had been squeezed out. But I applied a thicker layer of paste when installing a Volcano 9 cooler.

By the way, for Pentium4 the situation is somewhat different. Moving the radiator sideways won't be a breeze, sine the limiting plastic frame will hinder the motions. And the surface area of the P4 protective cover is much greater. So it would be an ideal solution for Intel processors if a thin layer of the paste were applied (provided there is a tight contact with the cooler).

Coming back to the Volcano 9 cooler. On top of the radiator there is a fan, with the fastening method being absolutely the same as that for Volcano 7. On top of the radiator an adapter frame is placed on which the fan itself is installed. On the sides of the frame there are plates for guiding the air flow. Every plate has a Thermaltake logo.
On top of the fan, there is a decor grid (also bearing the same "Tt" logo).

Therefore, in all the mentioned cooler components no departures from the Volcano 7 have been found so far. It means they are all hidden inside the fan. That's just it - besides the different color we can see that the rotational speed control function has been seriously revised.

Indeed, the rotational speed control in Volcano 7 was not implemented in a good way. The main criticism from users related to the thermal sensor calibration which made the fan rotate at high speed at even relatively lower air temperatures (as you remember, the air temperature in Volcano 7 is gauged inside the case).

thermal sensor colored in green

That generated increased noise levels, and users had to face the problem, - "How on earth can I cool this goddam thermal sensor?" :)

The flaw is evident, and Thermaltake engineers decided to revise the rotational speed control unit completely. The solution came up inevitably - the dependence of speed on the processor temperatures has got to be more precise and distinct. As a result, there appeared a thermal sensor with a very long tail.

With its one end, it was plugged to the speed control unit,

with the other end (where the thermal sensor itself is placed) plugged to either the radiator base or to the inner side of the processor. In the latter case though, the thermal sensor has got to be run through the processor feet very neatly.

By the way, with this method of fastening you've got to remember to remove the jumper (what have we come to!!? - following the user's manual, coolers started having jumpers :).

Thus, as the processor load goes up, the cooler increases its rpm's. But if we attach a thermal sensor to the copper base or aluminum fins, the average rotational speed goes down considerably (the speed drop is especially pronounced in the latter case). The dependence of rotational speed on the processor load will stay, but will acquire greater sluggishness. This option will suit to assembling a low-noise system.

Having a thermal sensor is nice, but the exigent user like myself would rather revolt saying "why should I rely upon the thermal sensor? - I want to regulate the rotational speed on my own!.." So, to prevent things like these from coming up, the cooler is bundled with a variable resistance with which the user can change the fan's rotational speed between 1300RPM and 4800RPM. The air flow amounts to 20.5 CFM and 75.7 CFM, with the noise levels being 17 dB and 48 dB, respectively.

the variable resistance with a red wire

In fact, use of a variable resistance is no longer a rarity. Zalman and Thermaltake Volcano 7+ coolers are bundled with stuff like that for smoothly varying the rotational speed. What is more, the speed selector for Volcano 7+ is sold separately elsewhere and is installed on Tt Hardcano, devices for cooling hard disks.

Using the resistance for Volcano 9 proved to be awkward - the wheel is too small, the wire is slightly longer than that for Zalman Fanmate but insufficient anyway to bring the control outside the case. As a result, you either have to keep the case cover open or remove it quite too often.

There is also one more shortcoming - it can't be used with coolers other than Volcano 9. While Tt Speed Control and Zalman FanMate ran fine with other fans (e.g., in our previous review we examined the effect of Tt Speed Control installation on Volcano 6CU).

I have no doubts that I will have to change the speed manually. At the full speed, the noise is simply unbearable and as I reduce it to 3000RPM, the noise gets down to an acceptable level. At the minimum speed (1600-2000RPM) the noise almost vanishes.

As far as the fan power supply is concerned, then, unlike the Volcano 7 it is implemented in a conventional way - there are three wires on the power connector, which allows to keep track of the rotational speed when plugging to the motherboard.

Besides, the fan can be plugged directly to the power supply unit via an adapter that comes in the retail package (but the data on the speed is missing).

Titan TTC-D5TB(TC)

Look at the exterior first - it`s simply fantastic!

There is a massive aluminum radiator, an aluminum fan and a metal grid. It's a real pleasure holding such a cool thing in your hand. However, in a couple of minutes upon a closer examination you find out that the fan is in fact made of plastic with a silvery coating on, not of pure aluminum. First off, it is warm to the touch, secondly, the coating is easy to strip and black plastic is revealed.

No need to worry though - there is no practical sense in using an aluminum fan at all. Moreover, the price is lower if the fan is made of plastic.

The cooler is very awkward to fit in place - its fastening clip is tight, the screwdriver slit is too small; and there is no barrier for the screwdriver tip.

As far as reliability is concerned, the hooking up to a single tooth of the socket in this case is justified. The thing is that the mass of the aluminum radiator is much less than that made of copper (see Titan CU6TB).

The radiator base is very smooth, although not mirror-like. In fact, it`s extremely difficult to achieve a mirror-like reflection on aluminum surface (evidence to this is my own experience - it took me less than an hour to polish an aluminum waterblock shipped in a bundle with the Poseidon kit, which I am going to review in the nearest time).

Now look at the radiator half face.

We see quite massive fins of varying height, placed on a thick base (especially thick in the center). On the photo, you can see a thermal sensor that runs from the fan into a special inlet.

By its characteristics, the fan is quite average, if not poor. The maximum rotational speed is 3600RPM, with the air flow being 42.6 CFM. At the minimum rotational speed, which is as low as 1600RPM, the air flow amounts to 19.7CFM.

But remember that the maximum rotational speed is achievable at the thermal sensor temperature. It's already as high as ~3000RPM at 60 C. and at 40 C it is 2150RPM (a complete list of the readings can be found here).

Nevertheless, the fan has one undisputable merit - it's the very low noise level which is about 29 dBa at the maximum rotational speed and 22 dBa at the minimum. Be careful when plugging this fan to a device sort of Tt Speed Control or Zalman Fanmate - it won't start at the minimum speed.

The remaining cooler component is a grid that protects the work area of the fan against the user's fingers or other foreign matter.

The last but not least - the price. It's low enough and amounts to ~ $8; for this money the user also gets a tube of proprietary thermal paste "Titan Silver Thermal Grease" (which in fact is no better than KPT8).

The preliminary conclusion is this - the cooler offers a good "price/performance" ratio and excellent noise characteristic.

GlacialTech Igloo 2310

In fact, anyone holding the mentioned coolers on hands will likely ask the same questions - the 2100 and 2200 models are too small, with feeble fans. I also thought the same, but the package said in black and white: "Supports processors Athlon XP 1600+, 1700+ for Igloo 2100, and Athlon XP 2100+ (!) for Igloo 2200".

While looking at the caption "Athlon XP 2100+", I wondered if there was a hidden trick inside the Igloo 2200 cooler. But even at standard speeds the processor temperature exceeded 75 C and was still going up. So I decided to stop testing the Igloo 2200 (of course I did not test the Igloo 2100 model with XP 2100+ either).

Well, away with criticizing the GlacialTech company for the errors made by the marketing people (even renowned companies suffer from misleading the buyer). The Igloo 2100 and Igloo 2200 coolers themselves can easily cope with cooling the Duron processors (if not overclocked heavily).

Today we'll be looking at the elder models, in particular, Igloo 2310 and Igloo 2400.

By appearance, the cooler Igloo 2310 is rather mean: it has a small full aluminum radiator, 70x60x35 mm in dimensions, on top of which there is a metal frame on which in its turn a 60 mm fan is installed.

The only thing that makes the cooler stand out among most others is the slightly biased (relative to the transverse line) fan and the silver-based thermal interface. As we found out the last time, by its characteristics the thermal padding is as about as good as the KPT8 paste. But the biased fan is a more interesting solution aimed at eliminating the so-called "dead spot". In practically every cooler there is a spot usually at about the center where the air flow is minimum, therefore, the cooling efficiency turns worse. But if the fan is biased by a small distance sideways, this "dead spot" is reduced considerably.

In particular, such a cooling scheme is actively used for nVidia-based video cards Ti4200 - Ti4600.

I liked the fastening mechanism of the cooler - the clip has a finger stop, which allows installing the cooler without a screwdriver. But I used a screwdriver to remove the cooler.

As you can see on the photo, it is hooked up to the socket with the two teeth.

Turning back to the base. To keep the thermal interface layer undamaged, the base is covered with transparent plastic. But the processing quality of the base leaves much to be desired.

The noise level made me happy - although audible, it proved to be quite acceptable. That was due to the 60 mm fan producing a 13.3CFM air flow with the rotational speed 3000RPM.

Resume: the increased radiator dimensions and a more powerful fan can indeed cool lower-end Athlon XP processor models. And the performance promises a reliable cooling of processor models up to XP 2600+ inclusive (in fact, I would fear of installing such a cooler on such a processor).

GlacialTech Igloo 2400

The increased dimensions have made it possible to install a fan of larger size (70x70x15 mm).

This fan has a high rotational speed (up to 5000 RPM) and, therefore a better throughput (30 CFM) with a higher noise level (37dBa).

Regarding the base, a layer of the mentioned thermal interface protected with a plastic cover is applied on it. The processing quality is as poor.

As far as the fastening is concerned, the clip is absolutely identical to that in the previous models: it is hooked up to the socket with the two teeth, plus a special finger stop.

Of the shortcomings of the cooler are the overly radiator dimensions which prevent installation on some motherboards.

Owing to the increased cooler throughput the company GlacialTech recommends it for overclockers and promises a correct operation of processors of up to Athlon XP 2600+. In this particular case, I would rather agree with this statement. As the tests showed, the efficiency of the Igloo 2400 cooler is not much inferior to that of the higher-end models and is quite enough for cooling high-end Athlon XP processors.

Tests

We used the cheapest among the Athlon XP line (XP 1600+) as the test processor. But all the tests were done with a processor whose clock speed was pushed from its standard 1400 MHz up to 1750 MHz, and the 1.85V voltage (the maximum for Soltek 85FRV motherboard which, by the way, supports Athlon XP thermal sensor).

In this operation mode the processor consumes about 80 W of power. Therefore, this allows to approximately estimate the efficiency of the coolers on new Thoroughbred processors. Although based on the 0.13 mk process technology, the Thoroughbred processors run at higher speeds and the heat emission is quite high.

The first test was done in the Idle mode, i.e. the WinAmp player is running in the tray while the user is browsing HTML files.

As we can see, full copper and partly copper coolers prevent coolers from heating up over 60 C.

Now we apply maximum load to the processor. For that we use the CPUBurn (or the like) software. By the way, games are not quite suitable for heating up processors. In particular, the popular Quake3 Arena heats the processor up by 3-6 C less than the CPUBurn does.

the zero value means no tests were done.

As you remember, in the previous roundup I selected the best coolers from each of the price range and those best at the "maximum efficiency/minimum noise" ratio for each of the category. Let's see if the new coolers can press the former leaders.

See what we've got.

In our table, the following changes have been observed.

1. First, in the 200-400 rubles price range, in the maximum efficiency category, the cooler Igloo 2400 has established a firm foothold and outpaced the Tt Volcano 6CU by a couple of C degrees.

   Probably, the 6CU+ model equipped with a high-speed fan (7000 RPM) would have shown similar results. But it is only those coolers that run relatively quietly or those for which the manufacturer promises a quiet operation are taken for the review. The 6CU+ model won't ever fall within this category :)

2. Secondly, in the price range 200-400 rubles in the maximum quietness category, the Titan TTC-D5TB(TC) has gained a no less strong foothold. Owing to the very quiet 80 mm fan which is equipped with a speed vs. temperature controller, it takes the lead in this price category.

3. Thirdly, in the price range 600-800 rubles in the maximum quietness category, the Thermaltake Volcano9 has pressed the long-standing leaders manufactured by Zalman.

4. But in the maximum efficiency category, Volcano9 is a loser. Its main rival, Titan TTC-CU5TB cooler, shows equal performance level, but it runs an order of magnitude less quieter and costs much less.

Findings

Thermaltake Volcano 9
Brief resume - it is a slightly modified Volcano 7 with improved noise characteristics. The buyer gets a choice between the manual and automatic rotational speed selections depending on the thermal sensor readings. In its own way, the cooler is universal - it would suit to those seeking quiet operation mode as well as those into overclocking (however, the overclocker will have to balance between the high noise levels and the cooling efficiency). No doubt it offers definite pluses: the variable resistance and a thermal sensor. But its high price, $22, crosses out all of its advantages.

Titan TTC-D5TB(TC)
Unlike Volcano 9, the cooler TTC-D5TB(TC) is meant for only one thing - maximum quiet operation at minimum cost. Indeed, for this reasonable money we get a cooler that is able to cool most advanced cutting-edge processors while keeping the noise levels at an acceptable level. On the other hand, I would advise taking a very special care when using the cooler for overclocked processors. The range of reasonable voltage raise for Titan TTC-D5TB(TC) is about 0.1V. But if you've got a faulty specimen of the processor which requires a substantial voltage raise, then I would recommend taking a closer look at coolers with fully (or partly) copper radiator.

Igloo 2310
This is one more relatively quiet cooler with an aluminum radiator. It does a great job cooling the processors both at its standard and slightly overclocked speeds. I would not recommend this cooler for the serious overclocker and for use with higher-end Athlon XP models.

Igloo 2400
Owing to its powerful albeit a bit noisy fan, the cooler showed excellent results. By its efficiency, it can be compared to some partly copper coolers. However, if you decide to buy it, I would recommend buying a speed regulator as well.

Addendum

A review of this "miracle" is going to be complete in the nearest time.

Previous tests: