Overclockers Australia - Radiator Zen SCR325-2F

Radiator Zen SCR325-2F - Page 3
21-Oct-01 - Review by Chainbolt
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The Final Run
We first tested the Zen Radiator, then the PAL 6035, and finally the MC462. After the first run we thought it a good idea to run the test again with the Zen Radiator in order to verify our results. This turned out to be a bad idea. The installation was again rather painful. Again a lot of pressure and time was necessary until we finally managed to connect the Zen Radiator with the socket. After powering up, the OS did not boot. To make it short: when mounting the unit on the socket, we had damaged the CPU. Chunks from all 4 corners of the die were broken off.

click to enlarge - broken beauty

We then had a closer look to the Zen Radiator's housing and found that probably a combination of several shortcomings in the design and the material of the holding mechanism and the base plate caused the damage to the CPU:

The holding arms are too short in relation to the protruding nickel base plate: too much force is necessary to bring them down so that it is possible to push them over the socket extensions.
The holding arms are made of plastic, this material is too soft and too easily tiring/wearing out. We doubt very much that these arms will keep their grip like metal clips after repeated installations.
The radiator itself is not firmly fixed in the housing by screws. It is just held back by a nose and therefore moving inside of the housing. This makes it difficult to find the right position when mounting the radiator on the CPU.
A spring like mechanism in the base of the housing (to improve the pressure of the nickel base onto the CPU) is not centered. This means the nickel base plate is not evenly pressed onto the CPU die (picture).
The Zen Radiator's nickel base plate is measuring only 30 x 30 mm. This is too small to utilize the AMD plastic pads which are standing at 35 x 35 mm. That means that when mounting the unit (which anyway has already too short holding arms) the full pressure without any cushion effect through the pads is extended on the die.

click to enlarge - bottom spring not centered

click to enlarge - base plate: uneven position

click to enlarge - CPU Plate: too small for AMD TBirds

We then plugged in a spare Tbird 1.33 GHz in order to complete the second test run and found out that the OS still would not boot. At that moment our frustration was immensely growing. Another inspection of all components unveiled that the motherboard itself had been damaged during the second installation process. A deep scratch through several lines of PCB printing obviously had ended the life of this Gigabyte 7DXR. Again the question, why? And again we have to blame the Zen Radiator's design and material: The end-part of the holding-arm with the spared-out opening, which takes in the socket extension is too thick. It has to be this way, because it is made of plastic and not metal. If it were thinner, it would bend and could never hold the massive housing. But unfortunately it's so thick, that it almost touches the PCB and almost inevitably scratches the printed lines on the PCB. That is what happened in our case and killed the motherboard. Plastic is an improper material for a holding mechanism of this kind. It wears out too easily, and it does not keep the crisp grip which is necessary to hold the arms firmly and safely in the socket extension.

click to enlarge

We have never come across a more flawed holding mechanism and base-plate design. Unfortunately TS Heatronics's inexperience in the PC market shows here. Maybe a shim would have prevented at least the damage to the CPU. But we expect any cooling device to work without such a help, which is not part of the AMD specifications for socket A. We later checked with the vendor other Zen Radiators to make sure that we did not receive accidentally a malfunctioning unit. But it turned out that all units were 100% identical with the one we had used for our test.

Conclusion
The Zen Cooler delivers excellent cooling performance, only slightly behind the MC462 with the 4,600 rpm Sanyo Denki fan. It does however not match the MC462 (and probably also the PAL 8045) with the stronger 5,600 rpm Delta EHE fan. It is obvious that the manufacturer's experience with radiator technology pays off. We also think that this concept has a lot of potential. We are sure to see more cooling devices based on this technology in the future. It is however also obvious that the Zen Radiator's manufacturer does not have experience in the production of CPU heatsinks and that this device was not properly tested with socket A motherboards. The base-plate and bottom design of the device does not suit AMD CPU's. Furthermore: the holding arms are too short, the material is not sturdy enough for such a mechanism, there is no support mechanism to push the arms over the socket extensions, and the end part of the holding arms with the spared out openings is so thick, that scratching the PCB is very likely. Design and material are under no circumstances acceptable. With or without a shim there is a high probability to damage the CPU and the motherboard.

If we compare the Zen Radiator with the current performance leaders MC462 and PAL 8045, we would have to vote for the later ones. The Zen Radiator does not reach their performance even with the weaker Sanyo Denki fan, in particular for heavy duty overclocking the massive MC and PAL sinks seem to be the better choice. The space requirements are basically the same. The MC and the PAL have a far superior holding mechanism utilizing the 4 PCB holes around the socket . We expect the Zen Radiator outside of Japan to be more expensive than the MC and the PAL. We see as only remaining advantage the substantially lower weight of the Zen Radiator.

Zen Radiator Pros :

Good performance, only slightly behind the MC462 with the 80 mm Sanyo Denki fan
Innovative cooling concept (liquid + radiator) with great potential for further improvements
Good airflow through due to 2 fans (blowing and sucking)
Detailed, well written manual (Japanese language only)

Zen Radiator Cons:

The unit-to-socket A holding mechanism is badly flawed by design and material
The design of the base plate does not match AMD Athlons and is likely to damage the CPU
The 2 x 4,600 rpm fans are relatively noisy due to turbulences in the unit
Upgrade to regular size (and stronger) 60 mm fans is not possible
With roughly the same dimensions as the MC462 and PAL 8045, the Zen will not fit on all motherboards
Expensive: with a street price of 10,500 Yen in Tokyo (including tax) = 85 USD/170 AUD more expensive than a MC462.
Manual only in Japanese language at present

Heatronic should go back to the drawing board and redesign the holding mechanism. The current form is not acceptable. They have a potential winner in their hands, but not in the existing form. Due to the very serious design shortcomings, we recommend the Zen Radiator in its current form only for the brave overclocker, who boldly wants to go where our CPU and motherboard have already gone.

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