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Mini Super Orb

The Thermaltake Mini Super Orb.

Overwear.net kindly supplied this review cooler.

Being so large (69mm diameter) the Super Orb would not easily fit on a number of motherboards, most notably the Abit KT7. Although a number of people successfully hacked the Super Orbs with a Dremel, this was a messy solution - especially since the position of the capacitors changed slightly with different revisions of the boards. To counter this problem Thermaltake released the Super Orb's little brother, the MiniSuper Orb.

Mini Super Orb on the left, and it's big brother the Super Orb on the right.

The MiniSuperOrb is only 65mm in diameter but as tall as its big brother at 74 mm. Thermaltake lists the other specifications on the MiniSuper Orb as being identical to the Super Orb. Like the other Orbs in the Thermaltake family, the base of the MiniSuper Orb and the fins are constructed separately. The separate parts are then joined as part of the fabrication process. The top fan is attached by simply screwing the top fan shroud in-between the fins of the Orb - a far from elegant solution.

Fan screws at the top of the Mini Super Orb.

Like the other members of the ThermalTake family, the MiniSuper Orb uses the "Thermaltake clip", but due to its smaller diameter it is designed to fit onto motherboards which have capacitors placed close to the CPU socket. This was not an issue with the A7V, and I was able to use the dual 3-pin fan connectors mounted close to the CPU socket for powering the fans on the MiniSuper Orb.

Performance
MiniSuper Orb - 40°C idle - 41°C full load.

These results indicate that the Mini Super Orb is quite an adequate cooler, but it's not really as good as some of the other coolers tested.

I tested the Super Orb and the MiniSuper Orb directly after each other, however, the MiniSuper Orb - even with it's smaller diameter - recorded a better result under full load. Not able to explain the apparent discrepancy - as test conditions were identical - I re-installed the Super Orb and the results were repeated.

Mini Copper Orb

The Mini Copper Orb is packaged in clear plastic - it looks good.

Overwear.net kindly supplied this review cooler.

ThermalTake have had much success with their 'Orb' range of coolers, however, the TT Orb range are generally seen as mid-range coolers, rather than something that will out perform everything else. ThermalTake have released a new cooler, the Mini Copper Orb, with an integrated copper core. Even on the packaging of the new Orb, ThermalTake says "Highest Performance", which is an indication that the Mini Copper Orb is designed for newer hotter CPU's and that it should outperform the rest of the Orb family.

Comparing the Mini Copper Orb (right) and the Chrome Orb.

At 48mm the Mini Copper Orb is slightly taller than the Chrome Orb. The Mini Copper Orb is also 65mm in diameter, slightly smaller than the Chrome Orb. ThermalTake specify the Mini Copper Orb for use with Socket A CPUs, up to 1.5Ghz. The Orb is cooled with the same 5500RPM, 23.1CFM, 29dBA fan as the rest of the Orb family. The striking difference between the Mini Copper Orb and the Chrome Orb, is the new pure copper base, which does make the Mini Copper Orb much heavier than the Chrome Orb. The copper base also has raised 'pins' which provide more surface area to cool.

The raised 'pins' on the base of the Mini Copper Orb.

The well finished and highly polished copper base, came with a yellow thermal pad applied, but this was promptly removed and we used Artic Silver thermal compound instead. The other main difference found with the Mini Copper Orb is the redesigned ThermalTake clip, the clip now has a small slot to allow easier removal of the clip once it is in place. Rather than damaging your socket or motherboard when trying to remove the Mini Copper Orb, a screwdriver can be used in the small slot to lever the clip outward when removing it. This new clip design is a big step up from the previously almost impossible to remove clip.

The well finished copper base on the Mini Orb.

The redesigned ThermalTake clip.

Performance
Chrome Orb - 41°C idle - 42°C full load

These results are only marginally better than we received for the old Chrome Orb, which was very surprising. Even the Mini Super Orb performs better, but is of course much larger. It seems that the integrated copper core, and the quality finish on the base made little difference in the performance of this new Orb. The fan used in all the Orbs, pushing out only 23CFM may be a reason why the Mini Copper Orb did not yield better results.