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01-Oct-2001 - Article by Wolfy page 1 2  When compiling our original Monster SocketA Cooler Roundup, I decided to test the coolers 'stock' - that is - how they are shipped by the manufacturer. As would be expected, the results showed that the coolers powered by high speed, high airflow, loud fans won out. This put the ThemoEngine at a disadvantage, since the stock fan was only rated at 4500RPM, 18CFM, and 33dBA. Many people who wanted a performance boost simply replaced the stock fan with something more powerful, resulting in noticeable cooling benefits. Soon many retail outlets were supplying the ThermoEngine with a choice of fans - including the popular Delta 6800RPM, 38CFM monster. Realising that many of their customers were intent on the 'best' cooling possible, ThermoSonic started shipping coolers with a more powerful fan. The YS-Tech 6800RPM, 40cfm, performs about the same as the Delta fan - but is a little cheaper. The newer ThermoEngine; "V60-4225 High-Performance CPU Cooler Suitable for Over 1.7GHz Processor" also includes a fan guard, a very good idea when dealing with high RPM fans.  Black ThermoEngine with Default fan (left) and Silver ThermoEngine with High Speed YS-Tech fan, finger guard removed (right). As part of the original Cooler Roundup, we received two ThermoEngines from EYO - Black and Silver hollow core models. However, some time ago ThermoSonic changed the manufacture of their ThermoEngines and the newer models ship with a solid core. So I was able to pick up a Solid core Silver model, from a Sydney based retailer (who shall remain Secret) who was selling out of them at the time. A quick email to Below-0 and they were able to complete our collection and supply us with a new Black Solid Core ThermoEngine fitted with a high speed YS-Tech fan. Now that we had 4 different models of the ThermoEngine, there were three things that I wanted to compare. Firstly and most obvious, was the difference in performance achieved with different fans. Secondly, to determine if there was a noticeable difference in performance between the different colours and core types. And thirdly was something that I noticed when compiling the original roundup - the 'grey thermal phase change goop' supplied with the ThermoEngine seemed to perform the same, or better than Arctic Silver, generally regarded as the premier thermal paste. The tests were conducted in my system, being an Aopen HX08 full tower case fitted out with a Duron 700 running at 933 (1.9V) on an Asus A7V133 motherboard. Corsair RAM, an Asus V7100 video card, a SBLive! sound card, Pioneer DVD, a Maxtor 8Gb HDD and a IBM 40Gb HDD complete the rest of the system. Two Panaflo 120mm fans and two Sunon 80mm fans provide good airflow through the large case. In conjunction with the onboard CPU thermal sensor, I also used a Senfu thermal probe (suppled by Cool PC). Without a Dremel, I was not able to cut up my CPU socket like I would have liked, so I mounted the probe adjacent to the CPU core, as close as it would go without adversely impacting the results. All tests were conducted with the ambient temperature within 1C. Running Seti @ Home command line client for 1 hour simulated full load conditions. I could have used my Athlon CPU which runs at 1333Mhz - but was a little cautious and decided to use the Duron instead. The major concern that I have with the ThermoEngines is the amount of force required to attach the heatsink. A screwdriver must be used to force the clip down onto the CPU socket lugs. While the clip is well designed (and the pressure probably within the AMD specifications), I've never killed a CPU fitting a ThermoEngine, but I am still a little wary of the procedure - we've seen some bad things happen when screwdrivers slip, too. The ThermoEngine design tends to cut-up the little rubber feet on the AMD CPU's as well, and after repeated tests the one of the feet was ripped off (and replaced with a pad supplied with an Alpha cooler) and the other was pretty chopped up.  The rear pads on the AMD CPU (left side) tend to get cut-up by the ThermoEngine's design. Each of the four coolers (Silver Hollow, Silver Solid, Black Hollow, Black Solid) was tested with different fans. The default (4500RPM, 18CFM) fan, a Low Speed YS-Tech (4500RPM, 26CFM) fan and a High Speed YS-Tech fan (6800RPM, 40CFM) were all used for our comparison. (All these fan combinations are available with ThermoEngines purchased from Below-0). Each of the different combinations was also tested with the default 'Grey Goop' thermal paste that is pre-applied to the ThermoEngine and with Arctic Silver thermal paste (provided by CoolPC). The GlobalWin WBK (supplied by ComputerAlliance) that won the Monster Cooler Roundup was also tested to provide a performance reference. Other Recent Reviews:
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