Introduction

Following up on our P4 Roundup we have a few heatsinks designed especially for the A64 platform; some of the HSF combo's previously tested could be mounted on A64 and P4, and with the help of a custom bracket almost any P4 heatsinks which uses the Intel retention bracket can be installed on A64.

This will be a to the point review, each heatsink will be evaluated on easiness of use and installation, compatibility and of course its performance will be thoroughly tested.

This review is split into 2 parts; the first part describes each heatsink in detail with pictures, good/bad points and performance with different fans and settings. In the second part we’ve combined all results in 2 graphs sorted by cooling performance and noise/performance ratio.

Previously tested but included for reference (links lead to detailed overview of these heatsinks done in previous reviews):

Coolermaster Hyper6

Coolermaster Hyper48

Thermalright XP-120

Thermalright XP-90

Zalman CNPS7000CU

Zalman CNPS7700CU

Stock A64 Cooler

New contenders:

Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja

Scythe SHOGUN Heatlane

Titan Vanessa-L

Titan Vanessa-S

ThermalTake Sonic Tower

TTIC NPH K8-1

Arctic Cooling Freezer64

Scythe Kamaboko

Scythe KamabokoZ

Thermalright XP-90C

So let’s get on with the show

Test setup


Test Setup

JMke's Test Setup
CPU	A64 3200+ @ 2200Mhz default vcore
Mainboard	DFI NF3 Lanparty
Memory	1 * 256Mb PC3700 OCZ
Other	ATI R9000 Passive Cooling Silverstone 300W Passive Cooled PSU Maxtor 120GB IDE HDD

all results were taken with room temperature at ~25°C, but temp fluctuations, different mounting and user error can account up to 1-2°C of inaccuracy in the obtained results. Please keep this in mind when looking at the results. Each heatsink was tested repeatedly; if we got questionable results the test was restarted.

Setup was installed in a case less environment

Noise level of each fan was recorded with SmartSensor SL4001A, the sensor was placed ~40cm away from the HSF. The lowest dBA reading in the test room was 36 dBA. There were a couple of heatsink and fan combo's which produced <36dba readings, they were placed in a quiet room (~30dba) to obtain below 36dba readings.

System was stressed by running K7 CPU Burn for 30min (after Thermal Compound’s burn-in); this application pushes the temperature higher then any other application or game we’ve yet encountered. Speedfan was used to log maximum obtained temperatures.

Arctic Silver kindly send us their “Lumière” thermal testing compound which has the same colour as Ceramique, but only a break in time of 30min!

Arctic Silver’s ArctiClean was used to clean off thermal paste of the CPU and heatsink between tests


Fans used

Aerocool Extreme 80mm : 34CFM

Vantec Tornado 80mm TD8038H: 84.1CFM

Panaflo 92mm FBA09A12H: 56.8CFM

Papst 92mm 3412 N/2GL: 36CFM

Vantec Tornado 92mm: 119CFM

Papst 120mm 4412 F/2GLL: 40CFM

Titan 120mm (included with Siberia): 115CFM

With all the details explained it is time to meet our first new contestant ->

Scythe Kamaboko & KamabokoZ:
Supplied by: Bacata

Scythe has been very busy lately producing a wide variety of heatsinks to meet the demands of the ever changing industry. These 2 products, named after a Japanese fish meal, are aimed at those who want good performance at a reasonable price. The Kamaboko comes at $30, the “Z” version is $5 more expensive.

Specifications Kamaboko :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Fan included: 92x92x25mm
Fan Speed: 1900rpm±10%
Fan Noise Level: 22.9dBA
Air Flow: 47.3CFM

Heatsink + Fan Dimensions: 96x94x92mm
Weight: 555gram

Specifications KamabokoZ :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Fan included: 92x92x25mm
Fan Speed: 1000-3800rpm
Fan Noise Level: 14-46dBA
Air Flow: 18-73.6CFM

Heatsink + Fan Dimensions: 96x94x92mm
Weight: 700gram


In the Box :

The Kamaboko comes with everything needed for installation:



The KamabokoZ adds a fan controller to the mix:




Construction :

Made out of aluminum for the most part, the Kamaboko is quite a light weight, the copper insert at the bottom is very smooth.




The KamabokoZ is also a mix of copper and aluminum; however Scythe decided to add 2 heat pipes to this design, as you can see the heat pipes transfer the heat from the base to the copper fins at the top. It’s quite a unique design, interesting to see how it peforms.




Installation :

Both heatsinks use the same mounting gear; you simply replace the default A64 bracket with the Scythe’s version, which uses a metal back plate for extra support. 4 clips are pushed down over the mounting bracket, motherboard removal is required, but the overall installation goes very smoothly.





Performance and Noise :

The Kamaboko with its own fan performs on par with the Athlon 64 stock cooler, swapping the fan with the 92mm Panaflo offers better performance but noise level goes up. If you want silent operation and you’re not into overclocking, you’ll find that the Kamaboko does fairly well with the fan’s speed reduced to 50%.

The KamabokoZ delivers quite impressive numbers; the heat pipes seem to do their job very well, if you look closely at the chart below you’ll see that the KamabokoZ when combined with the 92mm Panaflo at 50% obtains the same temperature under load as the Kamaboko with the Panaflo at full speed. This translates into a drop of ~18dBA without sacrificing in the performance department. The fan Scythe included with the KamabokoZ seems to offer a better performance/noise ratio then the Panaflo when both the fans are running at 50%, at full speed both fans become quite loud, but turn the “Z” into a high performance heatsink.

TTIC NPH K8-1:
Supplied by: TTIC

When TTIC first send us their P4 and AXP heatsinks we were impressed by the performance they delivered; let’s see how their A64 solutions performs. At ~$40 it falls out of the budget category.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Fan included: 92x92x25mm
Fan Speed: 4200rpm
Fan Noise Level: 49dBA
Air Flow: 76CFM

Heatsink Dimensions: Tube: 25.4x100mm / 39 fins 62x76mm
Weight (without fan): 623gram


In the Box :

Our sample was shipped without an official box; the one pictured below is what you can expect. The heatsink includes a custom back plate and thermal paste, the installation manual is clear with descriptive pictures guiding you through the process of the installation.




Construction :

First thing you might notice is the oddly shaped fan, it uses the 80mm mounting holes but it’s a 92mm fan, it has a 4-pin power connector, this should come in handy when AMD one day decides to implement the same feature as Intel, when plugged in the correct motherboard the BIOS can change the fan size gradually instead of the steps like it is the case now.

The heatsink itself is made entirely out of copper except for the aluminum mounting piece which seems to fit S775 also. A large copper heat pipe in the center transfers heat from the CPU to the numerous fins.




Installation :

Motherboard removal is required to install the custom back plate, and then you simply screw the NPH K8 in tight. With the large 92mm fan it can be a challenge to get the heatsink installed, as you can see it makes the 1st DIMM on the DFI NF3 unusable.




Performance and Noise :

The 92mm fan at full speed is insanely loud, but turns the K8-1 into a true performer, reducing the fan speed to 50% only increases temperature by 4°C but drops noise by an impressive ~25dBA. Still, at 41dBA this HSF combo is far from silent. Using a silent Aerocool 80mm fan at 50% offers a very good performance/noise ratio.

Arctic Cooling Freezer64:
Supplied by: Arctic Cooling

Arctic Cooling has become famous with their excellent VGA coolers, while they also had a wide variety of CPU coolers in the product gamma, these heatsinks did not score very well in the performance area, although they were very quiet. The Freezer64 is Arctic Cooling solutions for those people looking for better performance and at a price of ~$35 it’s not too expensive either. Let’s see how it does.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

AMD: Athlon64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Fan included: 77x77x42mm
Fan Speed: 2200rpm
Fan Noise Level: 1.0 Sone
Air Flow: 32CFM

Heatsink + Fan Dimensions: 92x114x120mm
Weight: 460gram


In the Box :

A clear manual, custom back plate, thermal paste and a case badge come packed with the heatsink.




Construction :

If you though the fan on the TTIC looked odd, well take a look at what Arctic Cooling came up with; a custom designed fan which does away with the housing and only keeps the fan blades and the motor, of course. The Freezer64 is a combination of copper and aluminum, 2 copper heat pipes pass through the base and dissipate heat through a series of aluminum fins. The base is fairly smooth, but small traces machine lapping are noticeable.




Installation :

Although the Freezer64 comes with its own back plate, it works perfectly well with the default A64 one also, installation is very simple, clip it on, flip a switch, done.

In the documentation Arctic Cooling provided with the Freezer64 they mentioned that the heatsinks performs best when it sits vertical, so we’ve included results with the heatsinks orientated like that.




Performance and Noise :

The Freezer64’s performance is very impressive, the fan is very silent, even at full speed, and as you can see in the graph below, placing the heatsink vertically improves performance even further; especially at lower fan speeds the difference is very noticeable.

ThermalTake Sonic Tower:
Supplied by: Thermaltake

Thermaltake has been in the CPU cooler business for quite some time now, their latest design is geared towards extremely silent operation, as the Sonic Tower does not come with a fan, and neither is one required to use this heatsinks, they do specify that you need a case fan active though. In today’s roundup we only test actively cooled heatsinks so we’ll equip the Sonic Tower with a few 120mm fans we’ve got lying around.

This large construction is not cheap, at ~$50 it sits comfortable in the “high” end section, let’s see if its performance is any good.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket462/754/940/939

Heatsink Dimensions: 112x112x150mm
Weight: 692gram


In the Box :

Next to the very clear manual and mounting gear you also get a mounting bracket for a CPU fan, sadly, theirs is only one pair of these, so if you want 2x120mm fan’s you will have to improvise a bit.




Construction :

The idea behind the Sonic Tower is nothing new; a series of U shaped heat pipes joined at the base, which dissipate heat through aluminum fins, Thermaltake does it bigger and have found a way to make it most systems without problem. Last year we were all impressed by the size and weight of the Coolermaster Hyper6, take a look at the last picture on the right.




Installation :

The Sonic Tower uses the default back plate to secure itself, using a clip and 2 screws the whole heatsink is held into its place. Not as plug and play as the Freezer64 but far from bad; installation took less then 5 minutes.




Performance and Noise :

The performance of the Sonic Tower is quite amazing, even with the Papst at 50% it stays well ahead of the Stock A64 cooler, while remaining whisper quiet. When you pair the Sonic Tower with a high speed 120mm fan you get extreme performance, but the increase in performance does not justify the increased noise.

Titan Vanessa-S:
Supplied by: Titan

Titan’s new “Vanessa” series heatsink combines heat pipes with large fans, the “S” version features a 92mm fan, the “L” series a 120mm fan. For the “S” you’ll pay ~$40 which it not too expensive if you look at all the goodies you receive. Let’s see how it performs

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket462/754/940/939

Fan included: 92x92x25mm
Fan Speed: 1200-2400rpm
Fan Noise Level: 20-29dBA
Air Flow: 22-46CFM

Heatsink + Fan Dimensions: 92x116x144mm

In the Box :

A big box filled with mounting hardware, thermal paste, manual and nicely finished fan controller.




Construction :

If you look at the Vanessa-S from the top you’ll see a butterfly design, 3 heat pipes pass through the very smoothly finished base and those heat pipes are nicely decorated at the top. The Fan can be clipped on either side of the heatsink.




Installation :

The DFI NF3 A64 bracket seems to use custom size screws and back plate, this made installation tricky at first, but after verifying the dimensions I use one of Scythe mounting bracket’s which use the correct A64 “default” size. The Vanessa-S installs easily, a metal clip is screwed tight over the base.




Performance and Noise :

The stock fan falls behind the Panaflo quite a bit, both in performance and generated noise; nonetheless the Vanessa-S heatsink delivers very respectable numbers. Performance is on par with the TTIC NPH and Freezer64.

Titan Vanessa-L:
Supplied by: Titan

The Vanessa-L is the big brother of the “S” version, it costs $10 more (~$50) and comes with fan controller and 120mm fan, is it any good? Let’s find out.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket462/754/940/939

Fan included: 120x120x25mm
Fan Speed: 900-1800rpm
Fan Noise Level: 20-34dBA
Air Flow: 33.5-71CFM

In the Box :

An even bigger box holds a fan controller, mounting gear and thermal paste, and you even get a screw driver in the package.




Construction :

The design of the Vanessa-L resemblances a butterfly also, but instead of using several heat pipes, the “L” has one large copper thermal “pipe” in the middle; The base is fairly smooth but lapping traces are visible.




Installation :

Installation does not require motherboard removal, but it will take a bit of effort to get the Vanessa-L installed. First you install a metal mounting bracket onto the A64 mounting, and then you use the very large screwdriver to secure the heatsink. Installation time ~7 minutes.




Performance and Noise :

Performance with the stock 120mm fan is quite good; when you run it 50% you’ll have a very silent and cool system. The 120mm Papst drops noise even more without sacrificing temps. The 115CFM fan from Titan blasts the Vanessa-L into the top performer realms.

Scythe SHOGUN Heatlane:
Supplied by: Bacata

Scythe sends us their latest creations, they feel confident that the SHOGUN will take top place in our roundup, at a price of ~$50 it better be good!

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket462/754/940/939

Fan included: 120x120x25mm
Fan Speed: 700-1600rpm
Fan Noise Level: 20-32dBA
Air Flow: 28-62CFM

Heatsink + Fan Dimensions: 123x98x147mm
Weight: 790gram


In the Box :

You get a ton of mounting gear; the fan has a fan controller “build-in” so you can’t use it for another fan unfortunately.




Construction :

A large heat lane (Scythe’s heat pipe “a-like” heat transfer construction) is present throughout the constructions, a copper base passes the heat to these heat lanes which in turn make the heat dissipate through aluminum fins. The base is very smooth with only small traces of machine lapping.




Installation :

The mounting bracket is attached to the base, depending on the orientation of your CPU socket you need to use either a screwdriver of a wrench to install this heatsink. Unfortunately, with the DFI we had to use the wrench, which made the whole installation take up ~10 minutes.




Performance and Noise :

Phenomenal! That’s how you can sum up the performance of this heatsink, this can not be said of the included fan however, at 50% speed it barely produces enough airflow, and CPU temperatures go way up. The Papst 120mm fan offers very impressive performance/noise ratio’s, while the 115CFM Titan doesn’t care about noise, it’s all about the performance with this fan.

Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja:
Supplied by: Bacata

Scythe’s Ninja (~$50) is made for low noise AND high performance (much like the Thermaltake Sonic Tower), depending on your needs you can run it fan less and get a very silent system (although there is a limit on the CPU speed here, otherwise it will overheat), there are mounting clips for a 120mm fan which increase the overall performance tenfold, we'll be testing the heatsink with a series of 120mm fans and see how it does.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket462/754/940/939

Heatsink Dimensions: 110x110x150mm
Weight (without fan): 665gram


In the Box :

Heatsink, manual, mounting gear, no more, no less.




Construction :

The more the merrier as they say? 6 heat pipes joined in a copper base, they dissipate heat through a large series of aluminum fins.




Installation :

Installation was a real breeze, the heatsink is huge, but does not seem to have problems to be installed into tight spots. The 120mm fan can be clipped on any of the four sides.




Performance and Noise :

The Ninja offers excellent performance, combined with the 120mm Papst the noise/performance ratio will be hard to beat.

Thermalright XP-90C:
Supplied by: Thermalright XP-90c

When Thermalright released their XP-90 a lot of people where wondering what its performance would be, if Thermalright made it out of copper. Well today we have a copper version of the popular XP-90 (~$40), aptly named XP-90C (~$50). Costing quite a bit more then the vanilla XP-90, let’s see how it performs.

Specifications :

Compatibility:

Intel: Socket 478/775

AMD: AthlonXP/64/64+ Socket754/940/939

Heatsink Dimensions: 116x96x75mm
Weight (without fan): 690gram


In the Box :

A short but descriptive manual is included, mounting gear for Intel and AMD, thermal paste and a Thermalright sticker.




Construction :

Construction is identical to the XP-90, four heat pipes are joined at the base (which is very smooth) and they transfer heat to the copper fins at the top.





Installation :

After installing the custom mounting bracket you simply clip the XP-90C in its place, installation does not take more then 5 minutes.




Performance and Noise :

As we were able to mount the Vantec Tornado onto this heatsink, it’s no surprise that performance goes through the roof. But even with the more modest Panaflo and Papst fans performance is very good!




Thermalright interclub

The real question of course is whether or not the Copper XP-90 is any different from it’s aluminum brothers, here’s a comparison with the XP-90 and XP-120



As you can see, with high speed fans the XP-90C offers only a small improvement over the XP-90, however when we use slower fans like the Panaflo and Papst the difference becomes bigger. To sum it up:

Difference: XP-90 vs XP-90C

High Speed: ~2°C

Medium Speed: ~3°C

Slow Speed: ~4°C


Let’s compare all our results with our reference heatsinks ->

We tested a series of heatsinks which have proved to be popular:

Coolermaster Hyper6

Coolermaster Hyper48

Thermalright XP-120

Thermalright XP-90

Zalman CNPS7000CU

Zalman CNPS7700CU

Stock A64 Cooler

The following graphs can be read in two ways:

you can either look at the red bars only and go for the “highest performance”

Or you can take the generated noise into account and look at the total size of both bars, if the combined value drops below “100” then that particular heatsink offers a better performance/noise balance then the stock A64 heatsink.




All heatsinks tested with the Panaflo 92mm:




All heatsinks tested with the Papst 120mm:




All the heatsinks tested with the Titan 115CFM 120mm:

Now that we’ve discussed all the contestants in detail it’s time to finish this roundup, below you can see all the results sorted by performance; on the next page you can see the same data, but sorted by noise/performance ratio.

17 heatsinks and 68 hours later we have finished our data collection, the new heatsinks proved to be quite competitive, and offering excellent performance at low noise levels.

The difference between the top 5 heatsinks is less then 5°C, which will make it hard to decide a true “winner” as availability and price will play a very large part. Last year’s low noise champion, the Thermalright XP-120, has quite a lot of competition this year, of which many surpass the XP-120 in both performance and generated noise.

The table below lists the price and best performance/noise ratio per heatsink (lower value = better), prices may differ (by a lot) depending on where you live.

attention: the following table is ordered by price! it's not a ranking of the reviewed heatsinks, look at the performance/noise ratio and price, then be sure to check out the detailed review page to check out details on installation and compatibilities. Naming one winner in this roundup is impossible



We hope this roundup was useful; we would like to thank all the companies which send in samples for inclusion in the roundup.

We are working on a follow up article which will focus attention on passive cooling, until the next round!

Questions/Comments: forum thread