-- Thermal Integrations Dr. Thermal TI-V77L Cooler
-- 11.08.2001
-- By: GideonX
-- Page: 1 We have another new comer on the cooling
scene by the name of
Thermal
Integration or TI for short. They have released a unit label
the TI-V77L cooler, which kind of resembles the
ThermoEngine we reviewed a while back. Although similar, the
use of the unit is not the same. Let us take a look at what we
are up against.
The first impression is the bright box,
nice packaging for once. Thank god they decided to use something
other than white!
The TI-V77 measures at 94X74.5X47.2mm, not
exactly the biggest heatsink out there but nicely sized. This
should fit fine on most boards. The ball bearing fan runs at
5000rpms pumping out 38CFMs at a noise level of 42.5dBA. The
70X70X15 fan can be replaced and if used with a 60mm adapter, 60mm
fans can be used to cool the unit. There are two more models (K
and N) versions of the heatsink, only difference being the height of
the fan (10 and 25 respectively). It is "Designed for
Overclocking" for all Intel PIII 1.13Ghz+ and AMD Athlon 1.5Ghz+ CPUs
as stated on the box.
The first item that stands
out is the bar on the side of the unit. Upon lifting it, it
releases the clips so you can slide them onto your socket tabs.
Pushing them back down locks it down. Extremely easy
installation, no tools needed at all! Here is a side shot of the clip, no
screwdriver notch finally! They call this the "E-System Attachment" portion
of the heatsink.
The base of the unit has that nasty phase
changing thermal pad, we removed that of course and applied ASII
thermal grease. The core of the heatsink is made entirely of
copper. Not the first time we've seen this design, the
ThermoEngine was the first unit I saw which had this on their product.
TI calls this the "Radi-Gear" Form design.
The above two pictures show the basic
workings of the lever. There is a raised notch in the middle of
the one piece lever and when it is raised, the notch lies flat
releasing the clips. Once pushed down, the clips are lifted up
due to the notches. Easy concept put to good use.
Our trusty old test rig is as follows:
-
IWill KK266 Socket A Motherboard
-
AMD Thunderbird 800Mhz CPU
-
Crucial PC133 CL2 Ram, 128MB
The test will consist of an idle
temperature check and a full load temperature check. The full
load will be accomplished by using the RC5
program and running 3DMark
2001 for 30 minutes. Arctic Silver II Thermal Paste used
without a doubt.
Here are some results:
|
Models |
AMD Tbird 800 Stock |
AMD Tbird 800 @ 1003
(1.85V) |
| Ambient
Temp. ~ 27C |
Idle |
Full
Load |
Idle |
Full
Load |
| ThermalRight
SK-6 |
31C |
34C |
36C |
40C |
| GlobalWin
CAK38 |
34C |
37C |
38C |
42C |
| ThermalTake
Dragon Orb 3 |
35C |
37C |
38C |
43C |
| Vantec
CCK-6035D |
32.5C |
35.5C |
36C |
42C |
| Swiftech
MCX370-0A |
31.3C |
33.7C |
34.3C |
38.5C |
| SVC
Golden Gate 40 |
33.5C |
36C |
39.5C |
43.5C |
| Thermal
Take Volcano 5 |
35.9C |
37.5C |
39C |
43.8C |
| Thermal
Take Volcano 6Cu |
35.6C |
37.4C |
38.6C |
43.3C |
| Thermal
Take Volcano 6Cu+ |
35.2C |
37C |
38.2C |
43C |
| Bits
Power NP60D |
31.3C |
35.2C |
36.7C |
42.4C |
| Bits
Power NP80D |
31C |
34.8C |
36.5C |
42.4C |
| Dynatron
DC1206BM0 |
31C |
33.5C |
37.2C |
40.6C |
| Vantec CCk-6027D |
31.8C |
34.9C |
35.7C |
41.5C |
|
Alpha PAL8045 |
31.5C |
32.8C |
34.8C |
38.1C |
|
Dynatron DC1206BML |
35.8C |
38.4C |
40C |
44.2C |
|
Dr. Thermal TI-V77L |
35.9C |
39C |
40.4C |
44.5C |
|
w/ 70X70X25mm TI Fan (N) |
34.7C |
37.2C |
39.5C |
42.7C |
Even with its super cool lever, this unit
does not exactly surpass the big boys. The unit is
adequate, don't get us wrong. Pit this against a regular OEM
cooler and we'll take this one 10 times out of 10. Add the
70X70X25mm to the unit does help it a bit with its 46CFMs. If
you add the faster fan, you'll be creating the TI-V77N version of the
unit. They designated different model numbers due to fan speeds,
N being the fastest.
The temperatures shown are at overclocked
speeds, normal stock CPUs should work nicely with this. One
thing I did notice at the end, was when removing the unit the thermal
paste was slightly off centered on the copper middle. Not all of
the CPU core was in the copper center, a tiny portion was off.
Not a big deal as I am going to assume such a small area would only
cause miniscule changes in the temperature at best.
Thanks to
Thermal
Integration for sending us this test sample. Always a
pleasure to check out new units. Keep an eye out for this model,
it should be around the $20-$25 range at your favorite local e-tailer.
Pros:
- Awesome clip design
- Copper center
- Quiet but powerful fan (YS Tech)
- Nice packaging
- Does better with the faster fan
Cons:
- Only adequate cooling
- Copper core not totally centered on the CPU, a tiny portion
off the mark
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