OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler Review

[Capper]

If you look over any literature of thermal dynamics, or thermal properties of various metals, you'll see that copper absorbs heat very effectively, but that aluminum passes off heat better than copper.......so ideally you'd have a copper base and heat pipes drawing the heat away from the processors IHS, then passing it to the aluminum fins, which with the fans exhaust the heat.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Capper

If you look over any literature of thermal dynamics, or thermal properties of various metals, you'll see that copper absorbs heat very effectively, but that aluminum passes off heat better than copper.......so ideally you'd have a copper base and heat pipes drawing the heat away from the processors IHS, then passing it to the aluminum fins, which with the fans exhaust the heat.

Yeah this is what I've been told, just never got to read anything proving that. Not that I am doubting it though, the whole copper base/aluminum fins thing has been around for a while, in computers and also other sectors.
What's your thought on the heatpipes directly in contact with the CPU? Do you think it would be better with a plate of some sort?

[Capper]

yes, because a basic principle of cooling is the larger the contact surface area, the better/faster the heat dissipation

[onebxr]

It looks like they could mold the aluminum around the heatpipes better where there is no gaps. I like the idea, but its the first one of this type, so they will get better?
-1

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by onebxr

It looks like they could mold the aluminum around the heatpipes better where there is no gaps. I like the idea, but its the first one of this type, so they will get better?
-1

Actually it's not the first one if it's type. Xigmatek and Kingwin both have similar designs as the Vendetta (as far as the base is concerned).

[onebxr]

I stand corrected, the third one of this type.
-1

[Lord Gaebril]

I used this CPU cooler in a PC i built just last month. I finally got everything running the way I wanted except the temps were a little higher than I wanted(38-45 idle, 68-73 load). I was worried I had bought a crappy Heatsink or installed it incorrectly until I saw your review. According to your review (Well written and informative)that you had similar temps running a quad core at 3.0Ghz. Do you think this is the best I could do? Would buying a better heatsink make that much of a difference to be worth it?

___________________________________
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 case
EVGA 680i Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Oc'd to 3.0ghz)
EVGA 8800GT Superclocked Edition
4GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
WD Raptor 150GB Hard Drive
OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit

[Capper]

I tried applying the thermal compound in a variety of ways....as instructed, and then I applied an even coat across the IHS....it lowered the temperatures a bit, but to be perfectly honest, this would not be a top choice of mine for a quad core processor.

I'd recommend:

Thermaltake V1
Zalman CNPS9700
ZeroTHERM Nirvana NV120
Scythe Ninja Copper

The Ninja Copper, while a beast, is a fantastic cooler, and is a great choice, but is a bit heavy and hard to install.

[Lord Gaebril]

I throttled back on my OC until I can get a heatsink thats a little more up to the task of a quad core. My temps go from 45c idle to 55c load almost instantly (And thats with only a 2.66 OC). However I did notice as I was tinkering around that I installed the stupid thing backwards! I'm blowing the hot air back into my case instead of out of the back. Having the side off my case while running lowered my temps by 7c!
Another question. I was narrowing your recommendation on a HS to the Scythe ninja or the Zalman 9700. Looking at the Zalmans, there's one thats all copper and one that has copper heatsinks and aluminum fins. I read on one of your other posts that copper will suck the heat out at a faster rate but that aluminum will dissipate heat faster. Would you recommend the all copper vs. the copper and aluminum HS?

[RA1D]

i own the 9700NT (aluminum) and am happy with its performance and looks. however i've read that the 9700 (copper) may get you one or two degrees cooler. at the same time, the 9700NT is a bit quieter. either way, the performance is very close. i personally like the look of the NT verstion.