OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler Review

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by polobunny

For sure. Bang for buck ratio is really good, I'm ready to bet though many enthusiasts would be ready to chip in a 5 to 10 bucks more for a thin layer of copper under those heatpipes though. :)
OCZ Vendetta+ on it's way maybe?

I'll agree with this too.

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by screwballl

also it has those dumb intel plastic pins which I am not a fan of, especially on anything heavier than 400g... would have been nice to see an included screw based solution...

Yeah, I'm not a fan of those either. But still, at that price, it looks like an excellent cooler.

[azianai]

looks to be competition for the scythe ninja

[bmaytum]

Interesting review, but I have a request:
Can Rich Caporali edit the review to tell us what fan speed(s) were set for the various C2D and C2Q idle & load temperatures

Thanks.

[Capper]

All review temperatures are always recorded at 100% fan speed (controlled by the 4-pin molex). I do this for a couple reasons.....First, different boards have different methods of controlling fans, and as the test bench changes, the environment would change....giving unreliable results from board to board.

Second, with the fans run at 100%, thats finite.......there is no wiggle room trying to guessitimate 50%, 75%, etc.

As always, I'm looking to make reviews better, including making some changes to the current test bench 9I just bought and installed a thermal probe). I will probably switch the temperature recording method this next week after we do our thermal paste roundup of 20+ different thermal compounds.

[halutzparilla]

i love the review but doing direct heatpipe is pretty much downplay the performance with a couple of degree, if they could rethink and re-invent the direct heatpipe being flattened to point of not having the gaps without the baseplate in, that i would like to see the results...

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

i love the review but doing direct heatpipe is pretty much downplay the performance with a couple of degree, if they could rethink and re-invent the direct heatpipe being flattened to point of not having the gaps without the baseplate in, that i would like to see the results...

Well, that's what we think. Maybe adding a baseplate would prove us wrong though and the "heatpipe" method is better with this cooler. At any rate, I would really like to know, haha.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Capper

Second, with the fans run at 100%, thats finite.......there is no wiggle room trying to guessitimate 50%, 75%, etc.

I guess if someone really wanted to, they could hook up a multimeter and ohm out (or increase the resistance of) the wires with a jumper wire to the motherboard 4-pin connection point.

Basically you'd have:

Motherboard 4-pin connector --> jumper wires --> multimeter --> fan on heatsink assembly. Turn the fan speed knob to highest setting. Adjust the ohms on the multimeter to increase resistance, thus making the fan slow down to whatever percentage you desire according to the readout on the LCD screen.

I'm not an electrical engineer by any means, but would something like this work?

On a related note, I did enjoy the article as well. The only issues I have with the product are the aluminum fins, and the mess that the underside of the heatsink causes when you put goop on. Trying to clean that HS up for a fresh installation after all that creamique is caked into the heatpipe crevases is going to be almost impossible.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Well, that's what we think. Maybe adding a baseplate would prove us wrong though and the "heatpipe" method is better with this cooler. At any rate, I would really like to know, haha.

I think just some sort of copper solder that covered the base of the heatpipes in a thin film would work great as it would have lots of direct contact with the heatpipes and give a good area of contact on the processor IHS. But is there such a thing as copper solder?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by garetjax

I guess if someone really wanted to, they could hook up a multimeter and ohm out (or increase the resistance of) the wires with a jumper wire to the motherboard 4-pin connection point.

Basically you'd have:

Motherboard 4-pin connector --> jumper wires --> multimeter --> fan on heatsink assembly. Turn the fan speed knob to highest setting. Adjust the ohms on the multimeter to increase resistance, thus making the fan slow down to whatever percentage you desire according to the readout on the LCD screen.

I'm not an electrical engineer by any means, but would something like this work?

On a related note, I did enjoy the article as well. The only issues I have with the product are the aluminum fins, and the mess that the underside of the heatsink causes when you put goop on. Trying to clean that HS up for a fresh installation after all that creamique is caked into the heatpipe crevasses is going to be almost impossible.

Lots of CPU coolers, including some of the best ones out there, use aluminum fins instead of copper. I don't see how that poses to be a problem.

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I think just some sort of copper solder that covered the base of the heatpipes in a thin film would work great as it would have lots of direct contact with the heatpipes and give a good area of contact on the processor IHS. But is there such a thing as copper solder?

Yeah that's what I was thinking. No a big plate of pure copper by any means, something very thin "filling" the gaps.
I don't think there's such a thing as copper solder. I guess the best thing you could get would be arc welding, but that would be too difficult to control seeing the size of the heatsink.