Introduction

Welcome to the long overdue Part 2 of my P4 HSF roundup, this will be a to the point review, each heatsink will be evaluated on easiness of use and installation, compatibility with different platforms and of course its performance will be thoroughly tested.

My previous roundup from Q4/2004 can be found here.

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 I’ve combined all results in 2 graphs sorted by cooling performance and noise/performance ratio.

I’m including some of the heatsinks from the previous roundup as I’ve moved the test setup to a more enclosed location, which leads to different results as less “fresh” air is provided to the heatsink, so higher temperatures can be seen.


Test Setup


P4 Heatsink Collection

Older “reference” heatsinks:

Thermalright SP-94

Thermalright XP-90

Thermalright XP-120

Zalman CNPS7000B-CU

New ones tested:

Thermalright SB-2

Zalman CNPS7700-Cu

Titan Siberia

Evercool NW11F-CL825

Spire CF450B0 CoolGate

Vantec CopperX CCK-7025

PrimeCooler HyperCool III+

PrimeCooler HyperCool 4+

So let’s get on with the show

Test setup

My trusty P4 2.4 "C" was dusted off (again) and ready for hours of torture testing:

JMke's Test Setup
CPU	Intel P4 2.4 "C" @ 3 Ghz - 1.60v vcore
Mainboard	Asus P4C800
Memory	1 * 256Mb PC3700 OCZ
Other	ATI R9000 Passive Cooling Sharkoon SilentStorm 480W PSU IBM 40GB 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 I got questionable results I restarted the test.

Setup was installed in a case less environment, the location is different from the last time however, making a direct comparison with the results obtained in PART 1 of the P4 roundup impossible, that's why I've re-included some of the previously tested heatsinks

Noise level of each fan was recorded with SmartSensor SL4001A, the sensor was placed ~70cm away from the HSF. The lowest dBA reading in the test room was 35.8 dBA.

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

A stock Intel aluminum P4 default heatsink was included for reference, it features a medium loud 70mm.

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

Most of these heatsink support 80mm fans and some support both 80 and 92mm, one or two were able to fit a massive 120mm fan. Here are the official specs of each fan; the rated noise-level was measured by the manufacturer at an undefined distance.

Delta 80mm AFB0812SH: 4000RPM / 40dBA

Delta 92mm NFB0912L: 1400RPM / 18.5dBA

Panaflo 92mm FBA09A12H: 2850RPM / 35dBA

Papst 120mm 4412 F/2GLL: 1250RPM / 18dBA

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

Thermalright SB-2:
Supplied by: Bacata

Thermalright bas been known for a long time for providing high quality heatsink which deliver extraordinary performance; their latest heatsink features a radial design, unlike any of their previous models.

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



There is also a version available which is compatible with both A64 (S754/S939/S940) and Intel P4 (S478) sockets. I have the P4-only version here.

* A large radial copper heatsink weighing in at 550gr.
* 92mm fan supported
* No fan included (Panaflo FBA09A12M recommended by Thermalright)

Full specifications at product's webpage.

In the Box

The SB-2 comes with a truckload of mounting gear, a Thermalright sticker, a one page manual and a tube of thermal paste




Construction :

This is Thermalright’s first radial heatsink; the design is only a bit different from what one can expect. The center of the heatsink is hallow, the small cup ends in a solid copper base which is machine lapped and quite smooth. Not including a fan leaves the end user with the choice, with support for 92mm noise can be reduced efficiently (as long as you don’t go mounting a Vantec Tornado on top).



Installation :

I was quite disappointed to see a back plate and 1001 screws and springs inside the box of the SB-2, the XP-90/120 were both heatsinks which can be onto the standard P4 bracket. The SB-2 follows the installation of the SP-94, and then some. You need to assemble the back plate using standoffs and screw on fan holders onto the base-plate of the SB-2 before you can begin installation, which, of course, requires motherboard removal.

The whole installation process is easy, but time consuming, once everything is place you can be sure that the 550gr copper block won’t be coming loose, even when carrying your case to LAN parties.




Thermalright’s installation guidelines suggest the fan blowing down onto the heatsink; I flipped the fan to suck hot air away from the SB-2 to see how it would perform.

Performance and Noise :

For comparison I’ve add Thermalright’s own XP-90 and Zalman’s CNPS7000b-CU



The SB-2 ($30) is slightly lower priced then the XP-90 ($40), but more expensive then the Zalman unit ($30) when you add the cost of an 92mm fan, its performance is far from bad, even when using low CFM fans, although the Ultra quiet delta fan @ low speed did not provide enough airflow to keep the system running.

Changing the direction of the fan to suck air away from the heatsinks caused a 2°C temperature drop, fan noise increased very slightly; Thermalright has a very interesting budget friendly orientated product in their line-up, the only downside is the quite elaborate installation method.

Titan Siberia P4 S478:
Supplied by: Titan

Increasing effectiveness of a cooler can be achieved in 2 ways, either increasing the complexity of the heatsink (by use of copper and heatpipes) or by increasing the fan size and speed. The Titan Siberia features a massive 120mm fan with quite a genius mounting method, the heatsink however remains quite small, made out of aluminum with a copper insert it'll be interesting to see how it performs.

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



Other versions are available for Socket 462 and Socket 754/939/940, and a S775 one coming soon.

* Small aluminum heatsink with round copper insert
* 120mm fan support (fan included: 1400-2900rpm @ 27-45dBA)
* FAN controller included (can be mounted in 3.5" bay or spare PCI slot)

Full specifications at product's webpage.

In the Box

Inside you'll find mounting material for the P4 S478, a small tube of thermal compound and a fan controller which can be mounted in a free 3.5" bay or at the back of the PC by using the PCI slot cover. There is no paper manual included; the installation process is explained at the backside of the box on a piece of cardboard.




Construction :

The small aluminum heatsink with a round copper insert looks very plain, not much different from a standard Intel retail HSF, the base of the heatsink is smooth, with visible traces of machine lapping.

The fan cage can be mounted on top facing different direction, only a small section of the 120mm is actually covering the heatsink, the rest will blow cool air onto the motherboard.




Installation :

The Siberia uses the Intel retention bracket making installation a snap, 2 small clips keep the heatsink in its place; the large 120mm fan cage is clamped against the base of the heatsink by a genius system, it's very easy to work with.




As an additional test I swapped out the 120mm fan with a smaller 80mm Delta

Performance and Noise :

For comparison I've added the Thermalright XP-120 which also supports 120mm fans;



Surprisingly it seems that the Siberia performs better with a smaller (less noisy) 80mm fan, then with the stock 120mm fan. This fan makes quite some noise and pushes a lot of air, unfortunately however, turning down its speeds results in overheating of the CPU, passing the stable operating temperature of the CPU. The Papst 120mm pushes less air at High speed then the Siberia at Low speed, this results again in a system crash.

The selling advantage of the Siberia should come from the 120mm fan which can be positioned to hover over a part of the main board, thereby cooling the components beneath and prolonging the life span of the motherboard's capacitors (link), but with performance numbers which are not too comforting and a very high noise level it'll be hard to recommend the unit to any silence loving or high performance seeking user.

Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
7700 Supplied by: TweakFreaks
7000b Supplied by: CrazyCamel

Zalman needs no introduction, they have produced several popular, silent heatsinks in the past and today I have their latest creation on the test bed, a massive 900+gr block of copper with a 120mm fan fitted in the middle.

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



The CNPS7700-Cu drops support for Socket A/462 but is compatible with the new Intel S775.

* A very large radial-fan equipped copper heatsink weighing in at 900+gr
* 120mm included (mounted inside, not easy to swap)
* FAN MATE2; fan controller which allows you to change the supplied fan voltage from 5v to 11v.

Full specifications at product's webpage.

In the Box

A big cooler requires a big box; the 7700 comes packaged with a multitude of mounting gear, a fan controller, a descriptive manual and tube of thermal paste




Construction :

The heatsinks is a souped-up version of its older brother, larger and heavier, the base very smooth.


CNPS7000b-CU on the left – CNPS7700-CU on the right

Installation :

Installation on S478 is the same as with the 7000b and uses the default Intel bracket; the whole process takes less then 5 minutes. However consider removing the heatsink when moving the case around as there is almost 1kg of copper sitting on your CPU.




Performance and Noise :

For comparison I’ve add Thermalright’s XP-120 and Zalman’s own CNPS7000b-CU



The extra-large Zalman offers excellent performance at low sound levels, bettering the CNPS-7000b-Cu in both High/Low speed occasions, it's not able to beat the heat pipe equipped XP-120 though and trails behind ~3°C. Zalman's advantage is its price point of $40 while the XP-120 costs $50+ without fan!

Evercool NW11F-CL825:
Supplied by: Evercool

This is one of Evercool's more compact units, featuring a combination of copper and aluminum it's a low cost heatsink with an 80mm LED-fan fitted on top; it surely has the looks, but does it perform?

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



* aluminum heatsink with large fins with round copper insert in the middle
* 80mm fan support (LED-fan included: 3850@ <37dBA)
* FAN controller included (can be in spare PCI slot)

Full specifications at product's webpage.

In the Box

In the box I found the heatsink, FAN & mounting bracket and a small amount of thermal paste. According to the product’s specs page there should be a fan controller, but I did not find one.




Construction :

A full copper center is surrounded by a series of aluminum fins, it made me think of a Dr. Thermal heatsink. The base of the Evercool is smooth with only a few machine lapping traces.


Top-view ----- Bottom-view ----- Top-View

Installation :

The 80mm fan is installed onto a separate plastic bracket which then needs to be pushed onto the heatsink and the clips on each side hook onto the Intel retention bracket, plug and play; The LED fan gives of a nice bright light and with the finger guard on top displays quite a beautiful pattern.



I did run into a small problem with the heatsink itself, the retention bracket I’m using is fixed in its place by 4 plastic pushpins, the Evercool HSF rested on those, instead of the CPU, making insufficient contact; after cutting the mini-push pins in half I was able to make the heatsink fit without issue. Making a small (2-3mm) indent on the heatsink itself at each side will prevent possible compatibility problems.




Performance and Noise :

The Evercool unit meets some stiff competition in the 80mm fan “league” , XP-90 and SP-94 from Thermalright are included in the comparison:



With the stock fan the unit performs identical to the Intel retail HSF at a slightly higher noise level; not too impressive; With the 80mm Delta fan it does a bit better, even at “Low” fan speed it keeps the CPU “cool” enough to keep running and is barely audible. At “High” fan speed it trails the XP-90 by ~3°C which can hardly be called bad, but the generated noise is much higher!

Where the unit does shine is in the price department, I’ve seen it for sale for less then $20, making it a very low budget friendly solution, however it’s hard to recommend due to the below par performance.

Spire CF450B0 CoolGate:
Supplied by: Spire

Spire has been adding heat-pipe equipped products to their line-up lately, this one is their latest for the P4 S478 platform, a light weight unit with a rather small fan included.

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



* Aluminum heatsink with 2 copper heat pipes running through it
* 70mm fan support (fan included does 3700RPM @ 29.7dBA)

Full specifications at product's webpage (the specs sheet show a “copper base” tag, but this does not seem to be true).

In the Box

The heatsink comes almost pre-assembled; you need to attach the included mounting clips to each side. You also get a tube of thermal paste and a very small and cryptic manual which refers you the main website for a more detailed instructions guide.




Construction :

If you look at the 2nd picture from the left you can clearly see how this heatsink is constructed; 2 aluminum blocks with fins are pasted on top of each other, with 2 copper heat pipes running the base and top. A small 70mm fan is attached on the side of the unit; only a low profile fan will fit here, limiting your “fan” options. The base is very smooth and I had a hard time detecting any traces of machine lapping.



Installation :

One of the easiest methods of installation I’ve used, pushing the metal clips over retention bracket snaps the unit in its place and you’re done. I encountered no problems and the units is very compact allowing it be installed on practically any motherboard out there.



Performance and Noise :

I’m again including the SP-94 and XP-90 from Thermalright as they also use heat pipes to help remove the heat quickly, both are equipped with an 80mm delta fan, versus Spire’s smaller 70mm one:



Well, the Coolgate is the “little engine that could”, with the fans set “High” the unit only trails the competition by 1-5°C at a lower noise level! At “Low” fan speed we see the Coolgate in the lead by 3-4°C, pretty impressive overall. At a low price of $20-25 it won’t burn a whole in your pocket, and you get a high performance, yet silent (if a fan controller is used) HSF solution. Recommended!

Do note that the XP-90/SP-94 have the advantage of being able to support 92mm fans, when these are used the scale tips in their favor, but when smaller fans are used the Coolgate does a tremendous job.

Vantec CopperX CCK-7025:
Supplied by: Vantec

Vantec has a wide array of cooling products, like the popular Tornado fan series; today I have a full copper low profile heatsink on the test bench, fitted with a 70mm fan let’s see what it can do.

Specifications :

This heatsink can be installed on:



* Full copper heatsink
* Low profile
* 70mm fan support (fan included does 4000RPM @ 34.4dBA)

Full specifications at product's webpage

In the Box

This heatsink comes with the bare essentials, thermal paste and a small install manual



Construction :

A low profile copper block with small fins soldered onto it, the CCK-7025 has been around for a while now (review from 2002) but has seen some improvements in finishing. The base is very flat and smooth with almost no visible marks of machine laps; Quite an improvement when compared with the shot from the base in 2002.



Installation :

Installation is very straightforward and it does not take much time, I encountered no possible issues.



Performance and Noise :

For comparison, I am including the well-known Zalman CNPS7000-Cu:



The 70mm fan makes a lot of noise, much more then the one on the Intel Stock heatsink, its performance at “High” fan speed is far from bad, only trailing the Zalman unit a few degrees, however at “Low” fan speed the system crashed due to overheating.

The CopperX has been around for quite some time and prices have dropped considerably, one shops even sells them at $13! That is quite a bargain for a full copper heatsink. It’s a shame that the included 70mm ruins the party a bit, being way too noisy to be considered for a silent setup.

PrimeCooler HyperCool III+&4+:
Supplied by: Primecooler

PrimeCooler is a fairly young company, in the last year then have been adding quite a few products; two of their latest cooling products feature 120mm fans and come in a familiar design.

Specifications :

HyperCool III+ CU can be installed on:



* Full copper round design heatsink with relatively small base
* 120mm fan integrated in the center of the unit ( 2500rpm @ 30dBA)
* FAN controller included (5v->12v).
* 645gr

Full specifications at product's webpage.

HyperCool 4+ CU can be installed on:



* Full copper round design heatsink with large base
* 120mm fan integrated in the center of the unit ( 2500rpm @ 30dBA)
* FAN controller included (5v->12v).
* 700gr

Full specifications at product's webpage.


In the Box

Each one of the heatsinks comes with a collection of mounting gear, a fan controller, manual and thermal paste. The 4+ adds S775 mounting gear.


Boxed ----- Hypercool 4+ ---- Hypercool III+


Construction :

The HyperCool series looks very similar to Zalman's CNPS heatsinks, there are however a few differences noticeable: the amount of copper (amount of fins), the size of the base, and the make of the fan. The 4+ has more, yet slightly smaller fins (compared to the III+), but its base is sufficiently large to cover the whole P4 IHS. The III+ has less fins and a smaller base, reducing weight and production cost. Both units still weigh less then Zalman's massive CNPS7700-Cu (900gr).


4+ vs III+ ---- base of III+ ---- 4+ vs III+


Base: Top=4+ , Bottom=Zalman CNPS7700-Cu


Installation :

The installation method is identical to the previous versions (and the Zalman series), 2 aluminum bars pass through the Intel retention bracket and the HyperCool unit is screwed tight in them. Motherboards which have capacitors or other large elements around the socket might have problems fitting the massive 120mm fan-equipped heatsinks.




Performance and Noise :

For comparison I've included Zalman's CNPS7000b-Cu and CNPS7700-Cu:



First thing what struck me was the noise difference between the two HyperCool units, I let them run side by side to verify this, and found the fan on the III+ to be considerably louder. Looking at the cooling performance you can see that 200gr less copper translates into 3-4°C higher temperatures, the 4+ offers a good noise/temperature balance. The lightweight III+ has troubles keeping up with the competition but does a good job when the fan speed is set to "Low".

PrimeCooler is expanding their reseller base, but as of now are still much confined to Eastern Europe, hopefully with some International shops sporting their products these heatsinks can become widely available. Priced slightly lower then the competition they offer the end user a budget friendly, yet performing HSF solution.

Results: Pure Performance :

The first results graph has all the results (HSF config where the PC crashed excluded) sorted by cooling performance:



The Thermalright heatsinks all score very good when combined with high output fans, Zalman's CNPS7700-CU is the first none-Thermalright unit to show up in the ranking, trailing the XP-120 (equipped with the rather silent Papst 120mm fan) by only 3 degrees.

The Spire Coolgate makes a good showing for such a compact heatsink beating the larger PrimeCooler units.

When the fan speed is cut in half temperatures rise quite a bit for some units, the larger heatsinks take the lead here, the XP-90/120 and Zalman CNPS7700-Cu offer excellent performance.

Results: Noise vs. Performance :

The second results graph has all the results (0/crash excluded) sorted by noise+temperature, providing a better way to find the most successful fan/heatsink combo:



The Intel stock HSF sets the baseline for the performance/noise ratio; any heatsink scoring well below that one can be considered as a good 3rd party solution.

The Titan Siberia suffers from having a very small alu-copper heatsink, not able to keep the P4 cool enough at a reasonable noise level.

Although you will see quite a lot of dBA results at 35.8, there is still a difference among them; unfortunately I was unable to correctly capture noise levels below that measurement as the ambient noise was causing interference.

Take the Papst 120mm for example, at High fan speed (12v) its noise level is already at/below 35.8dBA, lowering the fan speed still gives enough airflow for the XP-120 to score near the top.

The temperature differences are overshadowed by the large margins in noise generation by some HSF combo's, but mostly you can see the same ranking as on the previous page, with some interesting results here and there.

Zalman CNPS7700-CU @ Low scores better then the CNPS7000b-CU @ High

Spire's Coolgate (with 70mm fan) @ Low offers similar results as the Thermalright SB-2 with Delta @ High

The XP-90 from Thermalright and CNPS7700-Cu are closely matched near the top of the graph.

The best performance/noise ratio can be had from a large heatsink with a slower spinning fan, which sounds very logic indeed :-).

Feature Overview :



Conclusion :

In this roundup we’ve seen a wide range of new interesting products from known manufactures, improving on their previous product generations, offering better performance at lower noise levels. Most offer plug and play installation making it possible for even the most novice of users to swap out their current retail heatsink.

Those looking for the ultimate cooling should consider Thermalright’s XP/SP line-up, each one delivers impressive performance when combined with high output fans. The Zalman CNPS series improves further and equipped with 120mm fan it will cool even the hottest CPU’s while remaining whisper quiet.

For the more budget minded users out there, you can not go wrong with the Spire Coolgate, despite the fact that it only uses a small 70mm fan, when combined with a fan controller it offers a very competitive noise/performance ratio. The Primecooler Hypercool HSF solutions are interesting due to their wide compatibility with different sockets, its lower price and above average performance.

The Vantec CopperX offers decent performance but is just too noisy to be a worthy upgrade from stock cooling. The Evercool NW11F-CLB and Titan Siberia would be more suited with lower clocked P4 CPU’s, as with current top of the line models they just get overwhelmed by the generated heat.

I would like to thank the companies who participated in the round-up and hope to see you again for our next heatsink stressing endeavor.

Question/Comments: Forum thread