|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
RBMODS REVIEWS |
Date 2005-05-24
Provider: Thermaltake
Author: GooGeL
Editor: Princess Ammie
Thermaltake Sonic Tower
The installation:
The installation on a socket 939 motherboard and processor is very, very simple! We will not use the one suggested in the included installation guide though. We will use the one that's on the Thermaltake site (LINK), since we ran into the problem that the included screws were a little too short.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
So, remove your old cooler and clean the processor with some acetone or ArctiClean for example. Put some new thermal grease on and then put the Thermaltake Sonic Tower on the processor like I have done it in the left picture. A little note here, if you know you are possibly going to use a 120mm fan in the future on this huge cooler, I recommend that you install those two fan clips before the installation on the motherboard and processor. Anyhow, take the so called I-bar and put it in the middle and match the holes on it with the two holes around the retension holder like I have done. Next, take the two screws and the nylon washers from the "K8" plastic bag and put the washer on the thread and do so on the other screw and put the two screws through the I-bar and into the holes on the retension holder. Screw down the two screws criss-cross until you feel the coolers sits there nice and secured. I can say that you can screw the screws down until the I-bar touches the retension holder like I have, without any problems.
 
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
The clearence between the cooler and the video card on a DFi NF4 Ultra-D motherboard is kinda good. If we jump over to the other side and have a look at the clearence between the memory and the cooler, it's really tight! It shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't have any Corsair PC3200XL Pro for example, which are much higher than the OCZ ram in the picture with fancy platinum heatspreaders.
Test Rig:
DFi Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ "Winchester"
2x512Mb OCZ EL DDR PC3200 Platinum Rev 2
PowerColor X800XL 256MB GDDR
OCZ PowerStream 520W
Seagate 7200.7 120GB 8MB cache SATA
Lite-ON CD-RW 40x12x48
Arctic Silver Lumieré
Case fans:
One ADDA 120mm 1000RPM for intake
Two ADDA 80mm 1300RPM for exhaust, and a 120mm fan inside the PSU.
We are going to use the S&M v1.51 program once again for the load temperatures, idle temperatures are taken when idling in Windows. I allowed time for it to stabilize for a couple of minutes. We are going to compare the results to earlier results with the Evercool HPC-925 with the 92mm fan at 5V. The DFI motherboard still shows screwed up idle temperatures, but since there's a little difference I will publish them. The room temperature was 24C during the tests.
The Results:
2000MHz 1.40Vcore:
The results at 2000MHz with the default Vcore at 1.4V, both coolers pretty much performs the same. There's a 1C different at idle and load to Evercool HPC-925 advantage, but it also have a fan blowing air right on it.
2340MHz 1.475Vcore:
If we increse the frequency on the processor with 340MHz and the Vcore another 0.075V to 1.475. You have the results above. A 2C difference at idle and a 3-3.5C difference at load. I think that these are absolutely great results, I thought before the review that I was going to have the temperature around maybe 60C at this frequency. It's a shame that my Winchester doesn't overclock too well so we could have compared the coolers at even higher speeds, 2500-2600MHz.
Conclusion:
Well, there's not much to tell. I think it's well worth its 5 stars of 5 possible and our recommended award I'm going to give it. Check out why under the pros!
Pros:
+ Excellent performence for being only passive cooled
+ It's BIG
+ Quick and easy installation
+ The price
+ Can be installed on every socket available today
Cons:
- No included screws for a installation of a 120mm
- It's huge, clearence problems
Red&Blackness gives it 5 out of 5 dots
 
Was anything left out?! - Discuss this in our forums
Thank you Thermaltake for making this review possible
Thermaltake
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2002-2008 Rbmods.com. All Rights Reserved
Rbmods.com | Rbarcade.com | Rbconsoles.com
| BigMan´s Blog | flash templates | vista icons |
| Make Money Online |   
Our Friends - GideonTech | Metku | AllTheMods | OCModShop | Bona Fide Reviews | Rbmods | ThinkComputers | PCApex | TweakTown |
|
|
RSS
