Coolers
from Fanner, Sibak and Bitspower
23-May-02 - Article by James "Agg" Rolfe
I have received some coolers from
3 companies, none of whom would be called major players in the
PC cooling arena. It's a market that has seen huge expansion over
the last couple of years and these are some of the more recent
companies to enter the fray. Lets see how their offerings stack
up..
For testing I used the Asus A7V
socketA motherboard. I wanted to get a more accurate indication
of the core temperature of the CPU than the A7V's monitoring provides,
so I modified the socket to allow a thermal probe to run under
the CPU core. I used the MacPower DigiDoc 5 to report the thermal
probe's reading as well as the ambient temperature. I dug a trench
through the upper, movable section of the socket assembly and
the thermistor wires fit neatly between the CPU pins.
I originally stuck the probe on
with Blu-tak, as shown, but in some experimental testing the probe
became unstuck at high temperatures. It's also hard to stick the
probe on without some Blu-tak going between the probe and the
core.. so eventually I used a small strip of tape to hold it in
place, which seemed to work fine even at high temperatures.
This was all done in vaguely-recalled
memory of having seen it somewhere else but I couldn't remember
where. It's since been pointed out to me that ProCooling did it
a while ago here, which is probably where I saw it. They
recommend doing it along one side instead of right in the corner
and I have to agree, mine needs a little jiggle when you're installing
the CPU - otherwise I think some pins are not contacting properly
and the machine won't boot. But once it's in, the machine works
fine. Next time I'll do it along the side. If you're thinking
of doing it yourself: obviously you are throwing your warranty
out the window and there's probably a fair chance of mangling
your mobo beyond repair. But it works (mostly) fine for me.
More of the test procedure with
the results on the 2nd page. For now, let's look at the coolers
in detail:
Fanner 5E070B1H3R ByteCom Fanner are, according to the nice
literature they sent me, the Netherlands branch of Fanner Group,
"based in China, Taiwan, Japan, USA and U.K.". They
also sent me a keyring, a cigarette lighter and a pen.. but my
affections are not so easily bought (mmm, clicky clicky). Their
products are certainly nicely packaged, the glossy boxes adorned
with a not-entirely-relevant picture of what looks suspiciously
like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine. They also include a
multi-language instruction sheet and a little syringe-applicator
of thermal paste. This particular cooler wins out in the shiny
stakes, being made entirely of mirror-finish copper. The folded
fins seem to be stuck to the base somehow and a "Spire"
logo adorns one side of the housing. A thin fan spinning at 5000rpm
isn't loud enough to be annoying and the clip is easy enough to
install and remove, provided a small flat-blade screwdriver is
used. The screwdriver has to be thin enough to fit into the little
tab on the clip, which is a less sensible design than seen elsewhere
in this comparison - but it works.
Fanner 5E070B1H3R - click images to enlarge
Fanner 5T208B1H3T
Another nice easily-remembered product name from Fanner - I can
imagine reeling that one off over the phone to a vendor. Anyway,
this is a large cooler machined from one big chunk of metal -
this bodes well for thermal transfer. The metal it's made from
is aluminium of course so, despite the size, it's actually lighter
than the other, smaller, Fanner cooler. Not quite as shiny a base
as the other Fanner cooler, but impressively flat. A pink thermal
pad is provided but that was ditched in favour of the standard
Arctic Silver we used on the other coolers. Historically we have
found thermal pads to be a pain because they fall apart after
one use and they're nowhere near as good as a decent thermal paste.
A similar slim-line but larger fan spinning at a reported 4000rpm
helps this cooler fare well in the volume stakes, not being too
annoying at all. The clip is another "small flat screwdriver
required" job but installation was easy and painless using
one. Trying to install this cooler with fingers alone is pretty
much impossible. For the size this cooler's performance was a
little dissapointing, but I imagine replacing the fan with a louder
unit would let this monster live up to its looks.
Fanner 5T208B1H3T - click to enlarge
Sibak AC-02-625B
More difficult-to-remember
product names, this time from Taiwanese manufacturer Sibak. I
don't have a whole lot of info about them, except that they were
founded in 2001 by someone called Frank Hsu. At the time of writing
they don't have a website, but you can contact them via email. At first glance this product looks somewhat
like a ThermoEngine, but larger. I'm not sure if
it has the same phase-change mechanism internally as the early
ThermoEngines, seeming to rather have a solid copper core that
contacts the CPU die and goes right through the unit to face the
fan body at the top. It also has curved fins and the fan is enclosed
in a metal shroud which seems purely cosmetic in function. Quite
a fat-bodied fan with short blades spinning at a reported 6750rpm,
it's unfortunately quite loud. The spec sheet lists it as 7000rpm,
pushing 32CFM of air at 38dB. Pulling the fancy shroud off reveals
it's an Everflow unit and, while not looking identical to the
dreaded Delta 7000rpm screamer, it certainly sounds similar. I
personally can't handle the high-pitched whine of a 7000rpm 60mm
fan for very long at all. Also in the plain white box are a couple
of instruction/info sheets and a packet of generic "Silmore"
thermal paste, which again we ditched in favour of Arctic Silver
for standardised testing. The mounting clip is another that requires
a thin flat-blade screwdriver but the clip does not have any guards
to stop the screwdriver slipping out, possibly with disastrous
results if this happens when you are exerting a lot of force in
an attempt to get the clip on. A screwdriver through your motherboard
can happen before you realise you're in danger and it's a soberingly
expensive experience.
Sibak AC-02-625B - click images to enlarge
Sibak AC-01-625B
This curious cooler looks similar in design to the Titan Majesty Twin, except it only has the
single fan. The similar side-on cylindrical body with an end-mounted
fan is certainly unusual. Taking the back plate off reveals a
solid copper core like the previous cooler and the fan blades
are positioned so that they force air through both the outer and
inner fins, but in reality it doesn't feel as though much airflow
gets into the central chamber. The fan is another Everflow unit,
but at only 4900rpm a fair bit quieter than the 7000rpm model
on the other Sibak unit. The clip again requires the use of a
screwdriver, but it's more tricky to remove due to the height
of the unit - it seemed to foul the screwdriver when trying to
bend the tab out to clear the socket lug. Not a huge drama, but
fairly fiddly and with core-crunching paranoia more stressful
than I prefer. This cooler uses all 3 lugs on both sides of the
socket, which is handy for if you've snapped a lug off your socket
in the past. The package is otherwise the same as the other Sibak,
with a simple spec/instruction sheet and a tube of generic thermal
paste.
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