-- Thermal Take Crystal Orb Video Cooler
-- 10.10.2001
-- By: GideonX
-- Page: 1
A long time ago when there weren't that many coolers
available for chipsets, you had to mod your own. We did that a
while ago when we wanted to overclock our Voodoo
card. Since then, it has been easier due to manufacturers
producing coolers aimed at chipset cooling.
One of these manufacturers is ThermalTake,
which is responsible for the quite popular Blue
Orb cooler. Cheap and efficient, it's a snap to install
and does a good job of cooling your video card. Since then, TT
has gone and ventured even deeper into making the perfect the
chipset cooler. They have just released the Crystal Orb which
has a major difference than the Blue Orb, the Crystal Orb has a
copper base with nickel plating.
Here are some specs on the unit itself
straight off of TTs website:
-
Fan Dimension: 50x50x15 mm
-
Rated Voltage: 12V
-
Started Voltage: 7V
-
Rated Current: 0.16A(Max.)
-
Power Input: 1.92W
-
FAN Speed: 5500±10% RPM
-
Air Pressure: 4.1mm- H2O
-
Max. Air Flow:
12.4CFM
-
Noise: 26.4dBA Bearing
-
Type: Ball Bearing
-
Lift Time:
50,000 Hours
-
Connector: 3 Pin Base
-
Material: Copper Base with
Nickel Plating
The immediate change from the previous
Blue Orb is the nice new shine and shape of the unit. Included
with the package is 3pin-4pin convertor, a small piece (~1X1in)
strip of thermal tape, blister pack of thermal goop and two (2)
plastic push pins. This is all you need to get lower
temperatures and maybe higher overclocks on your video card.
The unit itself, like the Blue Orb, was
designed mainly for GeForce2 and above cards. With a little
modification, you may be able to use it on different cards.
Please check to make sure it will fit. The base is lapped to a
smooth shine, comparing it again to the Blue Orb, it is definitely a
lot smoother. There is now a fan guard above the fan. I
remember constantly getting pinched by the fan on the Blue Orb when
installing other components. Good thinking TT!
So how exactly does this new cooler
perform? We will be using the same exact setup we had when we
tested our Blue Orb. This should give you a good idea of what
you can expect. Putting them side by side, the Blue Orb and
Crystal Orb are about the same size. The fan speed and the sound
level (dBA) are the same also. Let us see if the copper base
helps out at all.
Here is the same card we will be using with the Blue
Orb still attached. We have been using it since our review and
we were not planning to take it out until now. Our temperature
checks will be done using our CompuNurse temperature probe:
Our trusty old test rig is as follows:
-
IWill KK266 Socket A Motherboard
-
AMD Thunderbird 800Mhz CPU
-
Crucial PC133 CL2 Ram, 128MB
-
evga GeForce 2MX 32mb
The test will consist of an idle
temperature check and a full load temperature check. The full
load will be accomplished by using the 3DMark
2001 for 30 minutes.
|
Models |
evga GeForce2 MX (stock) |
| Ambient
Temp. = 27C |
Idle |
Full
Load |
| Stock
Heatsink |
53.4C |
61.9C |
| Blue
Orb |
46.6C |
50.5C |
| ThermalTake
Crystal Orb |
45C |
49.5C |
Temperatures are very close from these
tests. Our next step was to see if this new orb could help us oc
the card a little bit more. We had originally clocked it at
205/210 using the Blue Orb. We did most of our overclocking
using Power Strip. We tried going higher but distortion was seen
on the card at any speeds higher than what we had before. It
might be our cards ram holding us back and not the actually
heat.
Don't plan on getting this unit and
hoping that it will overclock your card to speeds beyond your
imagination, it doesn't work that way. But definitely do get it
to lower your video cards chipset temperature, lower temperatures is always a good
thing!
At a low cost, this may be the next item
that takes over for the Blue Orb. Cooling at a lower temperature
than before at the same price tag makes it a winner. Just like
the Blue Orb, this will block one PCI slot. Make sure you have
enough to spare before diving in for the buy.
Thanks to Kenny for sending us out a
sample, these guys at TT
rock with their Orbs!
Pros:
- Very sleek looking
- Copper base
- Cools a bit better than the Blue Orb and stock heatsink
- Fan guard (finally!)
- Thermal Tape, goop and 3pin-4pin adapter included
Cons:
- The fan whines a bit after a while, but that's probably
air cutting through the fan guards. Not a big deal if you
have other louder fans going at the same time
- Only fits GeForce2 and above video cards, may need to mod
to get it to fit on others
- Blocks one (1) PCI slot
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