Very good performance, but noisy, heatsink. — Joe
SUMMARY: A competitive entry from Fortis in the “good performance/high noise” heatsink category.
The guys at Fortis Technology were nice enough to send a sample of their latest, the Fortis A102 Pro. The Pro features a copper base (5mm thick) with 25 aluminum, thin fins mounted on it.
The base
is fairly smooth (no discernable machining marks); the strip you see in the center was from the protective plastic strip – even after cleaning with xylene, you could still see where it was, but there is no difference in the finish.
The fan is a Young Lin Tech, Model # DFC602512H, 36.7 cfm @ 7000 rpm, 7.8 watts. I measured fan noise at 72 dBA (Radio Shack sound meter 8″ from fan intake) – slightly noisier than the Delta 38.
One thing I thought was lacking was an adapter – high current fans such as this may burn out a motherboard’s fan header – it’s much better to run them directly on a four pin plug.
The clip does not require a screwdriver to mount; it is easily grasped and snaps on the socket lug no problem. Mounting and dismounting should not be a problem, as long as you have clearance in the case.
Overall, construction, fit and finish looked good.
The A102 Pro was first tested on the CPU Die Simulator which gives results that are unaffected by motherboard influences. Tests then were conducted on a variety of motherboards as examples of what users might see on their systems.
| Platform | Die Temp | Ambient Temp | Delta | C/W |
| Simulator, 78.0 Watts | 49.4 C | 20.2 C | 29.2 | 0.37 |
| CPU/Motherboard | CPU Die Temp | Ambient Temp | Delta | C/W | CPU Back Temp |
| Palomino 1200/Iwill XP333 (56 watts) | 35.9 C | 20.7 C | 15.2 | 0.27 | 39.8 C |
| XP @ 1467, Shuttle AK31 (64 watts) | 42.7 C | 21.0 C | 21.7 | 0.34 | 37 C¹ |
¹MBM in-socket thermistor temp.
C/W = Delta / CPU Watts
Interpreting C/W: For every watt the CPU radiates, the heatsink will cool the core by the (C/W x watts) plus ambient temp. For example, at an ambient temp of 25 C, a C/W of 0.25 with a CPU radiating 50 watts means that the CPU core temp will be 50 x 0.25 = 12.5 C over ambient temp, or 37.5 C. The lower the C/W, the better.
Die Simulator results place the Fortis A102 Pro in the upper ranks of heatsinks (Heatsink Ranking) tested to date – good performance.
A nice entry, the Fortis A102 PRO performs well, albeit with a fair amount of noise.
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