Thermodynamic
05-24-01, 04:52 PM
I got the new cooler today from the site overclockers.com recommended. $10.82 for 2 day delivery from Fed-ex was reasonable, as was the $29.99 price for the unit itself.
The device is 100% copper and weighs surprisingly light (400 grams, not terribly heavier than my old Coolermaster 6H51).
There is thermal tape on the back of the unit. I opted to just use that; and not replace it in favor of thermal goo compound.
Installation was easy, the unit's clip easily attaches to the protrusions on the ZIF socket. The part that you have to push down on extends considerably outward; I had to bent it up in order to replace my third SDRAM module (hey, would *you* live without that extra 256Mb of RAM? :) on my Asus A7V133 motherboard.)
One minor complaint and mostly because I'm used to the Coolermaster's attachment method, the Gladiator's heatsink almost feels 'loose' when attached to the socket. The coolermaster device was very solidly attached. Of course, with the coolermaster it'd be very easy to crack the core with the amount of pressure its retention mechanism places on the assembly.
Still, the clip holds the heatsink sufficiently well, though when getting the coolermaster HSF off of the socket I had inadvertantly scraped away a small amount of the protrusion's edge - making the bracket's mounting that much more precarious. So, question 1 is: Anybody have any recommendations to glue the bracket into place?
Anyway, considering that it's thermal tape and what I believe is not a tight fit onto the CPU, this thing cools very nicely.
Graph: Room temperature is 78 degrees F, 25 degrees C.
CPU used is an AXIA Athlon T-Bird 1.333Ghz (10x133fsb)
CPU Standing temp: / Unreal Tournament(1) temp:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
52 degrees / 60 degrees
(Coolermaster)
47 degrees / 53 degrees
(Gladiator)
(1) Unreal Tournament: 1024x768, 32-bit color, setting all 3D/rendering parameters in preferences to "True" (volumetric lighting, high detail textures, rounded edges, etc., etc.) This config also slows down a Pentium III 700mhz CPU, but doesn't flinch much under the Athlon (even at 1.0Ghz!)
The Coolermaster's heatsink was very warm to the touch; whereas the Gladiator was barely warm at all.
For $40 net price, the Gladiator is worth every copper penny put toward it. :) :) :)
Question 2: What would happen if I removed the HSF and put thermal compound onto the Athlon's die, then replace the HSF, keeping in mind I would not remove any of the thermal tape element from HSF or CPU? Would this negatively or positively improve performance?
The device is 100% copper and weighs surprisingly light (400 grams, not terribly heavier than my old Coolermaster 6H51).
There is thermal tape on the back of the unit. I opted to just use that; and not replace it in favor of thermal goo compound.
Installation was easy, the unit's clip easily attaches to the protrusions on the ZIF socket. The part that you have to push down on extends considerably outward; I had to bent it up in order to replace my third SDRAM module (hey, would *you* live without that extra 256Mb of RAM? :) on my Asus A7V133 motherboard.)
One minor complaint and mostly because I'm used to the Coolermaster's attachment method, the Gladiator's heatsink almost feels 'loose' when attached to the socket. The coolermaster device was very solidly attached. Of course, with the coolermaster it'd be very easy to crack the core with the amount of pressure its retention mechanism places on the assembly.
Still, the clip holds the heatsink sufficiently well, though when getting the coolermaster HSF off of the socket I had inadvertantly scraped away a small amount of the protrusion's edge - making the bracket's mounting that much more precarious. So, question 1 is: Anybody have any recommendations to glue the bracket into place?
Anyway, considering that it's thermal tape and what I believe is not a tight fit onto the CPU, this thing cools very nicely.
Graph: Room temperature is 78 degrees F, 25 degrees C.
CPU used is an AXIA Athlon T-Bird 1.333Ghz (10x133fsb)
CPU Standing temp: / Unreal Tournament(1) temp:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
52 degrees / 60 degrees
(Coolermaster)
47 degrees / 53 degrees
(Gladiator)
(1) Unreal Tournament: 1024x768, 32-bit color, setting all 3D/rendering parameters in preferences to "True" (volumetric lighting, high detail textures, rounded edges, etc., etc.) This config also slows down a Pentium III 700mhz CPU, but doesn't flinch much under the Athlon (even at 1.0Ghz!)
The Coolermaster's heatsink was very warm to the touch; whereas the Gladiator was barely warm at all.
For $40 net price, the Gladiator is worth every copper penny put toward it. :) :) :)
Question 2: What would happen if I removed the HSF and put thermal compound onto the Athlon's die, then replace the HSF, keeping in mind I would not remove any of the thermal tape element from HSF or CPU? Would this negatively or positively improve performance?