3DFXCOOL Alpha 1HO-FAN
These days
there are many different kinds cooling products available on the market, starting
from simple passive heatsinks and graduating up to active thermal cooling, such
as what Kryotech
offers. The most popular and least expensive method to cool your hardware is the
good ol' standard heatsink. It's the standard and generally fills the needs of
the average user. A few years ago as you may noticed, the "overclocking craze"
began. There are 3 kinds of peoples when talking about overcloking, the ones that
do it, the ones that never heard about it, and the ones that arent interested.
It really depends of what kind of person you are. In my case, I want to get the
maximum performance out of my system for the least possible expenditure. This
is when overclocking generally comes to mind. Any CPU can be overclocked, but
there is a catch-well let's call that a requirement, good cooling. That
is why I decided to write a review on the Alpha Cooler from 3dfxcool.
Installation
Installing it wasn't a big challenge although
it took more time than a standard heatsink setup. Everything is ready to assemble
in the kit and they even included step-by-step instructions, which makes the process
even easier. Honestly, not everybody will even need them; it's very simple. Just
by looking at the parts, you are set to go. The first step consists of applying
thermal grease behind the heatsink (little slice). The second step will focus
on mounting the heatsink on the CPU. You will need the 4 silver bolts that screw
into the 4 holes of the magnesium CPU rear or use the adapter that came in the
kit for Celeron users. The third step will consist of mounting the fan support
on the heatsink. You will need 4 screws for that as well. The Fifth and last step
will be mounting the fans on the fan support. Nothing complicated here, just nab
the 8 big screws, 4 for each fan. Screw them into the aluminum fan holder (platform),
and there you go! You should get something similar to this monster.
Technical Information: Choosing A Heat Sink (Alpha.inc)
The values typically used to express heat sink efficiency are "thermal resistance"
and "pressure drop." Thermal resistance is expressed as the rise in temperature
per watt (°C/W)-the lower the value, the higher the thermal performance. Pressure
drop is the resistance to the air moving through the heat sink, expressed
in units of mmH2O, and ideally should be as low as possible. For
example, the heat dissipation requirements for a computer using a 30-watt
CPU can be considered as follows. If the maximum operating temperature of
this CPU is 75 °C, and the airflow in the case is 1.5m/s, and the temperature
of the air is 45 °C, then a heat sink with thermal resistance of 1 °C/W or
less is required. The reason for this is that in order to keep the CPU within
its maximum operating temperature of 75 °C, the elevation of the CPU's temperature
must be kept below 30 °C. To hold the temperature rise for 30W to within 30
°C, the heat must be dissipated using a heat sink with thermal resistance
of 1 °C/W (30 °C / 30W) or less. While this offers a rough standard for choosing
a heat sink, in reality other factors must be considered, including heat radiated
to the heat sink from other parts, the amount of pressure drop, and the surface
area of the heat source touching the heat sink.
Will The Heat Sink Work Without The Fans?
The cooling capacity of a heat sink varies depending on the condition of the
air surrounding it (in the machine). The speed of the airflow and the force
with which it flows at the heat sink are important points in determining heat
sink performance. In selecting a heat sink, various factors such as space
limitations and airflow need to be considered.
About Alpha
Alpha Company Ltd. was founded in 1972 and they have produced cold-forged
parts in a wide range of fields, including electronics components and automobile
parts. In the process, they have constantly striven to develop new concepts
for original technology and techniques, which have earned their well-deserved
reputation. In 1989, they began to apply their technology to heat sinks. Since
then, they have developed high performance heat sinks, previously thought
impossible to make and at the same time developed MicroForging, a new technology
surpassing any other forging techniques. Their customers include SUN Microsystems,
Silicon Graphics, Toshiba, Fujitsu and NEC. They also serve many domestic
and overseas electronics manufacturers.
What We Have To Say
The
technical support they have is pretty nice. I had some questions to ask them and
received a reply in a few minutes. The other day I had something to say, and received
a reply in the next few minutes again. I was amazed that those guys are sitting
in front of their PCs 24 hours a day, which is a nice feature :-). The shipping
was pretty fast too, as the order was placed on November the 6th and the unit
arrived on the 10th, which is 4 days, from US to Canada.
The Competition
Since
1996, 3dfxcool was and still is selling the highest quality PC cooling products
available. Since that time, many companies started making similar products and
selling them for similar or in some cases lower prices. Those companies are probably
selling products as good as 3dfxcool but here again, I would rather pay the extra
buck for the optional services and deal with a company that has been in the business
for a longer time. But that will be up to you. They are also the largest distributor
of Alpha heatsinks in the US and the second biggest reseller of GlobalWin products
in the US. Many of their products come from one of these two fine manufacturers.
The Overclocking
Results
System used:
Pentium II 400MHz ( SL2S7 )
Asus P3B-F
2 x 64Mb (PC100)
3D Blaster
Banshee 3DFX
Quantum Fireball EL 7.6GB ( UDMA33/ON )
WINDOWS 2000 PRO
RC2
The Results
I tried 2.0, 2.05, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and even 2.4 volts
on some bus speeds but I still didn’t have much luck. The stability was always
hovering around 433 to 480 MHz. I’ll try to get a peltier element on it and re-test
the unit again. I'm confident it could do better.
The results weren't that bad for a Pentium
II, but as we already know the Pentium II isn't the perfect CPU to overclock because
of it's hot L2 cache. The max it could go (stable) was 448 MHz (112 x4.0) using
a cheap AAVID Heatsink. And with that, we got a nice 480 MHz (stable) using 120x4.0.
It's really not bad for a P2, but if you are a Celeron user then you're in luck,
because it's the perfect companion! Many people have obtained similarly impressive
results. Check out some of the testimonials here.
Shots
Conclusion
This is the most powerful and most competitive cooler available in today's
market. It takes two hands to hold this sucker and be careful because it will
bust your glass coffee table top if you drop it. You can always use it as a boat
anchor in the future! This cooler really kicks butt, the price is 50.00/USD, wich
is pretty high for a cooler, but it’s really the top, I couldn’t give you a good
reason to buy this unit if you are not a overclocker, but if you are, don’t look
further. *Special thanks to Alpha.ltd and William
Yaple here at Target PC.
