Cooler Xtreme : Coolers
: Cpu Cooler : Tiger Cooler
Tiger Cooler
First, and most obviously, this
cooler's got an 80mm fan instead of the usual 60mm unit. The dimensions
of the base of the cooler aren't that ridiculous, though; it's only 61mm
wide and 80mm deep. If it were any wider, the clip would need a cut-out
in the base, but there are coolers with 60mm fans that have a similar footprint.
The Tiger's all-aluminium heat
sink flares out to fit the fan on the top, so it may be a bit harder to
fit on a motherboard than other coolers with the same baseplate dimensions.
If you've got any tall capacitors around your CPU socket, you'll need to
do some measuring to see if a Tiger will fit. Generally, though, it should
be OK on any board that doesn't have capacitors directly to either side
of the CPU socket.
The Tiger's second, and less
obvious, unusual feature is that its fan isn't just big. It's got a temperature
sensor.
This temperature probe fits
into...
...this hole in the side of
the heat sink, along with some thermal transfer compound so that the sensor
gets to see something resembling the real temperature of the aluminium.
And the hotter the sensor gets, the faster the fan runs. So you don't get
fan noise when your CPU isn't working hard enough to need serious cooling.
So how does this cooler perform?
Not so well.
I first tested it with the temperature
sensing fan, and the sensor stuck in the hole and well gooped up, as per
the instructions. The fan started out at low power and was very pleasingly
quiet; it sped up noticeably as the heater got some temperature into the
heat sink.
But when the temperature reading
stabilised, the Tiger had only managed a thoroughly unexciting 0.82°C/W.
Since the ambient temperature
when I did this test was only ten degrees Centigrade, I suspected the probe
just wasn't getting hot enough for the fan to get to full power. By extracting
the Tiger's temperature probe from its hole and strapping it to a separate
resistor along with another temperature probe of my own, I determined that
the fan gets to full power when its probe hits about 50°C.
With the probe heated up well
past that temperature, the Tiger's fan drew about 3.25 watts, which is pretty
good. The "4.3 watt" Sunon option isn't actually much more powerful; the
4.3 watt rating is what it draws when it's starting up, not when it's running
steadily.
The thermally controlled fan
at full power hauled the Tiger's performance down to 0.71°C/W, which is
a lot less humiliating but still nothing that's going to thrill overclockers.
I wouldn't be at all surprised
if the warmer air inside a real computer case, not to mention the more-than-50-watt
heat output of a genuine CPU, meant that the standard fan would deliver
full power without any problems in real-world use. But full power's still
only 0.71°C/W.
So I swapped on the optional
Sunon fan that Cool PC also provided. Now, the Tiger managed a more impressive
0.63°C/W. Not up there with the better 7000RPM 60mm fan coolers, but not
far away, and considerably quieter. For a given amount of air movement,
an 80mm fan will always be quieter than a 60mm one, and will very probably
also draw less power.
There's a niche for this cooler.
It's considerably better than Just
Cooler's attempt at the same idea. With the thermostatically
controlled fan, the Tiger could be a great choice if you're trying to build
a silent computer. But if you're looking for straight power for your money,
the Tiger's nothing special.
Incidentally, on the subject
of 80mm fans, Cool PC also now stock these exceedingly swish see-through
fan adaptors. They come in green, blue or clear, and they cost $USD11.60
.Which you might think is a bit steep for a highly evolved plastic funnel,
but it's very pretty plastic. And you do get a respectable collection of
mounting hardware thrown in.
