Testing low-end coolers. Spring 2007

Recently, we have been increasingly telling about novelties among the CPU "chillers" of the major league, powerful coolers, water-based cooling systems. Meanwhile, most users are quite content with just an ordinary aluminum housing to cope with the job and, if possible, not to irritate with its annoying noise. Why pay extra 50-70 dollars for a CPU cooling system, if a 10-15$ is a perfect match for nominal operation?

But let's not forget that the rule "why pay more?" works in both the hi-end sector of cooling systems and in the value sector as well. Therefore, even a low-end cooler should be chosen carefully because good cooling of the CPU is a guarantee of stable operation in the hot season of year. Although processors no longer "burn up" nor explode, no one is likely to test the anti-overheating protection hardware on himself. That's really nasty and makes no sense.

Today, we are reviewing and testing a number of low-end coolers for both topical CPU platforms: LGA775 (Intel) and Socket AM2 (AMD).

GlacialTech Igloo 5072 (Silent / Light / PWM)

It's hardly needed to present GlacialTech in the low-end sector - those who keep trace of our reviews are already familiar with their products (GlacialTech Igloo 7210, GlacialTech Igloo 7300) in this field. Moreover, the series of powerful coolers like Igloo 5700/7700 has also proven successful. Today, we'll be reviewing the slightly renewed series Igloo 5072 in order to verify how these coolers show themselves in action.

The classically modest package houses only the cooler, a thrust plate for the reverse side of the motherboard, and a brief installation guide.

Prior to an in-depth examination, browse through the specifications of the new Igloo 5072 line of coolers:

As you see, the three younger models are aimed at cooling CPUs of maximum heat emission up to 95 W, and the higher-end cooler promises to dissipate even 130 W. That is, even the quietest models are easily able to cope with almost any Intel CPU, except Intel Pentium D models of clock speeds 3.4 GHz and higher. The official web site brings in a reservation saying that in using CPUs of high heat emission it is advisable to install an additional "blow-out" fan and only in this case a stability of cooling is guaranteed.

It is also seen from the specifications that all the models of the Igloo 5072 series differ in only the rotational speeds of their fans, while the radiator being absolutely identical. By the way, we have already come across such a design of the cooler on Igloo 5071 series, and if we recall their design, it becomes evident that the «5071+1» series have acquired only a new-type fan.

Nothing has been changed on the base - again, the same efficient thermo compound is applied in a uniform layer. The fastening scheme is simple and convenient enough, but to install a cooler on the motherboard it has to be dismantled out of the housing. The cooler is attached with screws to the thrust plate on the reverse side. The screws on the fastening legs are equipped with plastic guide nipples to prevent the screwdriver from jumping onto the motherboard.

Pay a special attention to make the prolonged parts of the cooler not rest against the add-on components around the CPU socket, because it is quite a common problem for coolers of this design. Normally, is solved through turning the cooler by 90°.

The noise level varies essentially as we move from quite models to powerful ones. While Igloo 5072 Silent can still be regarded as noiseless in a closed housing of the CPU unit, the «Light» model stands out among quiet housing fans. The simple modification of Igloo 5072 produces a distinct howling noise, so have to admit the quite unpleasant tone of the howl - it is of irritatingly high notes. As to the noise of Igloo 5072 PWM at the maximum speeds, it is awful, so it was really intolerable to stand the noise within the same room during the tests. Anyway, if your motherboard offers a full-fledged support for the PWM features that controls the fan's rotational speeds, you are unlikely to hear the howl of Igloo 5072 PWM rotating at its full speed.

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 (64)

Arctic Cooling is known first of all for its noiseless solutions, and this series of low-end coolers follows the general trend of the company. The series is not vast – there are merely two models, Alpine 7 and Alpine 64. The former is universal for all modern platforms, whereas the latter is aimed only for AMD platforms.

The cooler is packaged in a compact black box whose walls briefly list the major advantages of the design and the most important specifications. A complete list of specifications can be found in the table:

Both the models differ in only support for CPU platforms and the price, that is, they differ in the fastening only. That becomes well seen if you look closely at the cooler and its package bundle.

The positioning frame for the CPU socket Intel LGA775 has two teeth which are used to tighten the cooler with metal legs. Here is the package bundle of Arctic Cooling Alpine 7. If you throw the frame, the thrust plate and fastening screws aside, then we get an Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 cooler, with its legs hooking right at the teeth of the near-CPU frame of AMD platforms. It turns out that the price difference about $2 is made up just by the additional fastening kit for Intel LGA775.

The aluminum radiator is of simple enough design without extravagances, but the fan is not plain. It has no nipple, and its fastening on the radiator is arranged in a way to blow about the whole space near the CPU.

Apart from using high-quality bearings and controllable rotational speed of the fan, the noise reduction is also provided by the way of fastening the fan on the radiator.

The fan is on a rubber hanger so that vibrations are not transferred to the radiator.

A thin layer of thermal interface is applied on the base which is wide enough, but in installing a cooler on the motherboard you have to be ensure it doesn't rest against the add-on components around the CPU socket.

From this view, you can easily see the fastening brackets which have a bend in the middle, due to which a resilient effect is achieved which doesn't let to overtighten the screws.

Both cooler models have a 4-pin power connector for the fan and fully support the PWM intelligent control of the rotational speed. Although that is not mandatory, even at the maximum 2000 rpm the cooler is almost unheard from inside the housing.

SilverStone NT04

SilverStone has long been there on the Russian market, with its stylish housings and power supply units enjoying a special popularity. Today, we've got a low-end cooler under this mark which is especially aimed at modern AMD platforms.

Through a transparent window you immediately see the glittering gold-plated impeller of the fan, which really looks attractive.

According to the data on the box walls and from the official web site, you can compile the following specifications table:

The cooler is aimed at the vast majority of modern AMD processors except those of the top-end. It also stands out with its small weight and minor size.

The radiator appears to be an aluminum rack with the patterned upper rim reducing the air resistance. The fan is a "spice" of this cooler, its nipple is made of aluminum, with the impeller glittering by its "gold-plated" coating. This is unlikely to somehow affect the fan's efficiency, but the exterior is definitely on par.

By the noise level, the fan doesn't have much to complain about, the slight rumbling does not prevent a comfortable work at the computer.

The unused slit across the fins hints to the fact that the cooler is a modification of one aimed at the Socket A platform.

The layer of thermal paste on the base is definitely a bit thick and strongly resembles the unpleasant "silver" paint which is so hard to remove off the CPU and your hands.

The method of fastening on the motherboard is simple - used is a classical clip that hooks at the teeth of the frame near the CPU. This clip made by SilverStone has one trait – you can adjust the pressing force upon the cooler through changing position of the clamp on the clip.

ASUS Chilly Vent

CPU coolers bearing ASUS logo are not frequent at our retail shops, but anyway they have proven successful in our test lab. Let's look at low-end coolers made by this manufacturer.

Their "low-endness" is quite relative, since we haven't been able to find the cooler on sale yet, but the price should not be very high.

The transparent plastic package immediately demonstrates the cooler's exterior, and the additional box with bundled items contains only a tub of proprietary thermo paste and an installation guide.

Externally, the cooler looks simple enough: an aluminum radiator, a couple of heat pipes, and a small fan. But the appearance is misleading - just look at the specifications:

Externally, the aluminum base turned out to be nickel-plated copper, and the "small fan" is in fact able controlling the rotational speed on its own. The rotational speed is adjustable within 1500 to 4500 RPM depending on the air temperature inside the housing. The same methodology is useful during hot days.

There are fins tightly soldered on the base, and the heat transfer is accelerated with heat pipes which transfer heat onto the upper part of the fins.

The base of the cooler is rather coarse, but there aren't traces of coarse polishing. Thermo paste is not pre-applied but is kept in a syringe. Judging by the substance, we deal with the currently popular thermo compound which stands out with its high efficiency and extreme difficulty to apply.

The method of fastening on the motherboard is simple and effective - the thrust plate hooks at the central teeth of the near-CPU frame, with the final pressing is done by turning a wrench.

ASUS Chilly Vent Lux

The second "low-ender" by ASUS differs in only one word in the name and two features. For instance, take the package.

Now the plastic body cast with the cooler is almost fully packaged into a cardboard shell, although the user can see a detailed view of the cooler's design.

The label on the box tells of a small weight of the cooler as "merely 382 g", which means it is a bit lighter as compared to its predecessor.

It is evident from the specifications that all the changes have been made by the new fan which was seen through the transparent walls of the package.

The suffix "Lux" has brought a fan with some larger diameter of the impeller and increased number of fins. The fan rotates at the permanent speed 2000 RPM with the noise level not exceeding 25 dB. Its noise is heard but it can be an obstacle to only those who are after completely noisy systems.

The radiator fully replicates the design of the similar ASUS Chilly Vent, so it doesn't make sense dwelling on that. Fastening on the CPU cooler is both easy and convenient.

ThermalTake TR2-R1

Recently, ThermalTake is creating not merely new cooler models but as much as new series of cooling systems. One of the series is dubbed «TR2 Value Cooler» and under its trademark coolers for most varied platforms, even for Socket 478, are produced. Curiously, but ThermalTake have created a separate web site for that. Of the TR2 series, we have received a quite interesting cooler for the AMD Socket AM2 platform, named TR2-R1.

The plain but colorful package tells of the key advantages of the cooler, as well as demonstrates how effectively the fan blows about the near-CPU space around the cooler. A special emphasis is made on the noiseless operation - «Ultra Silent».

We noted the weight of the cooler, which is a bit large for a value cooler, as well as not immodest dimensions combined with the attractively low price. The declared noise level meets the large statements of «Ultra Silent», although it is still early to judge about its level.

We found nothing else besides the cooler, so we now move on to its description.

The low but wide aluminum radiator is equipped with a fan of impressive size. The major advantage of the cooler is just the large fan rotating at 1300 RPM. It can't be called completely noiseless, but the noise is vague, and inside the CPU housing you can hardly detect its presence by the sound.

The base is rather coarse to touch but is anyway flat. On the central part, there is a pre-applied layer of white thermo paste, quite a liquid substance, and its excess is easily squeezed through pressure.

The fastening of the cooler is light and efficient - a thrust plate with a clip is used.

Tests

Since these coolers are aimed at varied CPU sockets, we assembled two test configurations differing in only motherboards and CPUs:

Both the processors were subject to slight overclocking to imitate high-end models that offer higher heat emission.

The ambient temperature during the tests varied within 23…24°С. Among the special features, we note a very good ventilation in the housing and quite a hot video card. On the video card, we replaced the default cooler with the alternative cooling system Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus which does not expel heated air outside the housing but leaves it inside.

You must have already been familiar with the testing methodology through our previous materials, so we are imitating three operating modes of the computer:

• Simple. In this mode, there is no load upon the CPU, and all the power-saving technologies are disabled. In the end, we produce a CPU temperature which is typical of the "office" operating mode of the computer and "surfing" around the multimedia content and Internet.
• Games. This is already a serious load upon the CPU and a hard job for its cooler. The CPU itself in this mode is normally used at 80...100%, and the video card running at all the 100% creates a truly tropical climate inside the housing. To generate this type of load, we should simultaneously run two applications: a test for artifacts using ATI Tool which produces a 100% load upon the video card and approximately 80% upon the CPU, and archiving with WinRAR running in the single-threaded mode, in order to bring the CPU usage up to 100%.
• Maximum load. This is a stress test for the CPU and its cooling system. Since S&M has not yet been updated for the full-featured support for Intel Core 2 Duo, we used the no less "hot" module of stress tests in Everest which cyclically runs two most demanding FPU tests. For the AMD platform, the S&M utility is still the most convenient tool for heating, so we used just that. In the Max mode, the CPU is heated up to its maximum temperature which none of the "household" tasks is able heating it up to that.

For comparison, we added boxed cooler for AMD and Intel processors into the list, and even one of the Hi-End class – the cooler Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX.

The results are predictable enough, although it is a bit surprising that the cooler Igloo 5072 Silent lost a little to Intel's boxed cooler, which is strange because it has a powerful radiator and some higher rotational speed of the fan. Most likely, the cause is in the performance of the fans which depends not only on the rotational speed but on the design as well.

Almost all the low-end coolers have shown a performance similar to that of the boxed version. Only GlacialTech Igloo 5072 PWM stood out - at the maximum speed of the fan it showed up to 8 C lower, but at what price? .

The list of participants in the "AMD race" has been noticeably changed . SilverStone TN04 has demonstrated the weakest results - in fact, no one expected miracles from it because the compact and quite "rare" radiator is unable to dissipate heat effectively.

The other "low-enders" have demonstrated a performance greater or equal to that of the boxed AMD cooler, and especially powerful was Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 - it demonstrated an excellent performance in the maximum load mode while being almost unheard inside the housing.

It is interesting to see how the fan's automatic speed control works for ASUS Chilly Vent - just look at the diagram. As you remember, its rotational speed depends on the air temperature inside the PC housing. During tests under the maximum load upon the CPU the hot air from the cooler was immediately picked up by the housing fans and expelled outside, so the overall air temperature inside the housing did not differ much from the normal. The fan's rotational speed under the Max load was at about 2000 RPM, and 1600 RPM in the idle mode. In the gaming mode, ATI Radeon X1950XT expelled all of its heat into the housing, so the inner temperature went up substantially. The rotational speed of the fan in ASUS Chilly Vent went up to 3000 RPM at which the cooler proved one of the best performers in this operating mode. Although the noise level went up significantly.

Conclusion

GlacialTech Igloo 5072 (Silent / Light / PWM)

Coolers of this series will be quite good as a replacement to Intel's boxed cooler, although that will not add much in terms of the cooling efficiency. On the other hand, the tradeoff will be quite a high and annoying noise level, which especially applies to the higher-end models Igloo 5072 and Igloo 5072 PWM. All in all, the new fan has not proved to the most lucky buy in this line because the previous series Igloo 5071 offered more comfortable acoustic performance.

To install the coolers, you would have to dismantle the motherboard, but that gives a high fastening reliability. At the same time, the cooler does not bend the textolite of the motherboard, unlike the coolers which are fastened with plain clips. The advantage of the Igloo 5072 series is its low price and wide occurrence on the territory of Russia, which is typical of all the coolers made by GlacialTech.

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 (64)

Low-end coolers by Arctic Cooling have stood out for their quiet operation coupled with excellent cooling level. So they can be safely recommended for those who are after reliability and quietness. Of no less importance is that the design of the fan provides blowing about the near-CPU space - the power transistors also need cooling. Unfortunately, the produce of Arctic Cooling is hardly made available in Russia, so it won't be easy to buy them. On the other hand, it price is also not the lowest - 15(17) USD. To install the Alpine 7 model on the LGA 775 platform, you would have to dismantle the motherboard, but that inconvenience is made up for by the fastening reliability. Installation on the Socket AM2 platform is straightforward and causes no issues.

SilverStone NT04

Regrettably, we can't praise this small nice-looking cooler. Its major advantage is perhaps no more than the nice design. By efficiency, it lags well behind even the boxed AMD cooler, let alone the other reviewed coolers. It can't be called neither noiseless nor powerful. Maybe cheap? But you still can't make it available anywhere.

This cooler is unlikely to appear soon on the shelves of our retail shops, but even if does, think twice before you buy it..

By the way, we can help recalling how difficult it was to remove the "silver" thermo paste off the CPU...

ASUS Chilly Vent

Quite a curious cooler, and its major "spice" is just in the fan's automatic speed control. While the motherboard most often adjusts the cooler's rotational speed depending on the CPU temperature, the ASUS Chilly Vent varies its speed depending on the air temperature inside the housing. If we compare these two methods, the most appropriate would be adjustment depending on the CPU temperature. But it often happens that CPU thermal sensors may misread which depends on the BIOS version, so the method used in ASUS Chilly may prove more trustworthy. At the same time, as we could see, it works reliably and consistently.

It is all fine about the cooling efficiency due to the copper base, the couple of heat pipes and a thick radiator - the cooler demonstrates quite a decent performance coupled with a powerful fan. There is a distinct rise in the cooler's efficiency with the rise in the fan's rotational speed. That is due to the high density of the radiator because a strong air flow is needed to provide good blowing.

The installation convenience is a bit shaded by having to apply a very sticky thermo compound on the CPU surface on your own. On the other hand, the margin of thermo interface leaves us the opportunity to reinstall the cooler several times if needed.

ASUS Chilly Vent Lux

This cooler is in fact a twin of the formerly reviewed ASUS Chilly Vent, but instead of the fan with RPM regulator, it is equipped with a permanent speed fan. You can hardly call it absolutely noiseless, and by the efficiency it proved to be better than AMD boxed cooler. To get a substantial performance boost, a much faster fan would be needed, but in that case you would have to put up with the high noise level. ASUS made a bid for the acoustic comfort, so the cooler has been dubbed as «Lux».

The installation traits fully meet those for ASUS Chilly Vent.

Thermaltake TR2-R1

Not a bad radiator and a huge fan made it possible for the new low-end cooler Thermaltake to demonstrate good efficiency, and most importantly – a very quiet operation. No doubt, this cooler has proved to be successful - at $9 in USA it appears to be a good replacement for the AMD boxed cooler, thus providing a quieter and effective cooling. Due to the bigger fan, the cooler does a good job blowing about all the near-CPU space.

The installation convenience is specific for all coolers for Socket AM2 which use a bracket with a clamp, so Thermaltake TR2-R1 has proved no exception.

We appreciate Sunrise-Rostov for the hardware presented for tests.