Cooler Xtreme : Coolers
: Cpu Cooler : OCZ Gladiator
OCZ Gladiator
OCZ's
pride and joy, the Gladiator is an all-copper exotic for a remarkably reasonable
price. It's $USD39.99 - and on special at the Overclockerz
Store, as I write this, for $USD29.99.
For your money, you get a plethora
of super-thin copper fins and a high power fan - a 6500RPM "Top Motor" in
the basic Gladiator, or for $USD5 more a slightly higher power Delta that
draws less current than the Y.S. Tech opposition but seems to move just
as much air. And there's a very tidy hinged clip that's pretty much the
best I've seen, beating even Alpha's retention mechanism.
Plus, it's a cute pink-copper colour.
There's a bit of a trick to using
the Gladiator's clip properly. Most of the clip is two vertically aligned
bridge pieces that fit between the super-thin fins of the heat sink. There's
no vertical flex in these pieces.
If the articulated, to-be-attached-second
part of the clip isn't pulled out from the body of the heat sink, there's
no spring in the clip at all and you can't attach the thing. Do it properly
and it's easy, but active-cooling enthusiasts who put a Peltier element
under their cooler - and probably a heat spreader under that - might not
be able to clip the Gladiator on.
I got the top-spec $USD34.99
Gladiator with the Delta fan for review, and it performs as well as it ought
to, considering its high-pose style. At 0.57°C/W, it's the best unmodified
air cooler in this comparison. The only thing it lacks is a finger guard
on the hand-smashing high-speed fan.
This little trucker's noisy - as
is anything with a 6800RPM+ fan on it - but it works very well, and it's
well priced, too.
