ZeroTherm BTF90 CPU Cooler Review

[One4yu2c]

As one of the hottest products to hit the market today, the ZeroTherm BTF90 is classified as a high end CPU cooler solution geared for enthusiasts. Sporting a massive copper base, eight heat pipes, and copper fins, the BTF90 looks and feels to be the end-all CPU thermal cooling solution. Or is it? Let’s take a closer look at this behemoth cooler and find out!
Dave Montez

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[Yellowhello]

Great review. Nice looking professional pics. Looks like a good cooler (save it installation) but a butterfly? An enthusiast cooler with a butterfly on top............. Strange. It could have been anything and they chose a butterfly.............

[gvblake22]

The butterfly design was chosen for a reason (as Dave Pointed out in the article):

...the butterfly design was to be incorporated into our first product because it represents our first flight into the retail market, but also like a butterfly, our company APACK was changing from a very comfortable OEM market to the very open world-wide market.

A question for ya Dave... Can the BFT90 also be mounted if turned 90º so the fan on the cooler blows toward the rear case fan?

I think if they dropped the price by about $10 - $15 it would be a hit (excluding the current rebate offer), but right now it is a little on the expensive side compared to what you can get for close to the same price (Thermalright Ultra 120). Another great review though, thanks!

[garetjax]

Thanks for comments guys. =)

Originally Posted by gvblake22

A question for ya Dave... Can the BFT90 also be mounted if turned 90º so the fan on the cooler blows toward the rear case fan?

I don't see why it couldn't. The mounting bracket is attached to the cooler itself, not the motherboard. This means that positioning the cooler assembly so that the fan points to the rear of your enclosure should be easy enough to do. There's really nothing keeping you from pointing your cooler in whatever direction you want except for your motherboard layout (northbridge cooling solution comes to mind). I only mention this because the BTF90 is 5" wide and could be too large to orient at a 90 degree angle and still miss hitting stuff on your motherboard.

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I think if they dropped the price by about $10 - $15 it would be a hit (excluding the current rebate offer), but right now it is a little on the expensive side compared to what you can get for close to the same price (Thermalright Ultra 120).

ZeroTherm is currently offering a $10.00 rebate on their BTF90 cooler at Newegg, which brings the cost down to $34.99. Not too bad! =)

[Pete]

Hey Dave, how is the cooler compared to other tower style coolers that you have tested?

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by TTPete

Hey Dave, how is the cooler compared to other tower style coolers that you have tested?

This was Dave's first cooler review for HardwareLogic. Matt (Prolific_One) normally tackles our cooling assignments, but we got caught in a time crunch and Dave helped us out in a pinch.

[RA1D]

that review was a pleasure to read. awesome job, dave

[Quakindude]

Great review Dave! I dugg it.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by garetjax

ZeroTherm is currently offering a $10.00 rebate on their BTF90 cooler at Newegg, which brings the cost down to $34.99. Not too bad! =)

Agreed, with the current rebate it is a good deal. But otherwise I think the regular price is just a tad high. Glad to see it's not one of those "all bark and no bite" coolers that look pretty but can't perform.

[garetjax]

I'm pretty stoked at the positive responses for the cooler review. To be quite honest, I was a bit leery of reviewing a cooler due to my little experience in testing them in overclocked conditions. After a bit of coaching from Rich, Paul and Matt, everything turned out perfect. Much thanks to them for their help and also to you guys for the kudos. =)