Date: March 24, 2008 - Author:
OCZ is well known for their memory and power supplies, but we thought we'd see just how well their current fleet of CPU coolers held up. We pit the Vendetta, Vendetta 2, Vanquisher and even the old-school Vindicator against our QX6850 to see what each one is made of.
Heatpipes have sure come a very long way in a very short time. That is what we are seeing in today's heatsink world, and for good reason. It's a wonderful and highly versatile cooling device. How it functions is simple in theory also. A very small amount of proprietary liquid trapped inside a copper pipe transfers all the heat from the base to the top where the fan can do its job in conjunction with either copper or aluminum fins to keep your processor from melting.
Today, we are taking a look at four different CPU coolers from OCZ - a company that is a relatively new, but have already developed themselves into a name that's synonymous with "enthusiast". They have produced some world-leading memory, many top-tier PSUs (especially now that they've acquired PCP&C) and of course, CPU coolers. Since they had more than one CPU cooler available, we thought we'd pit all four of their current models against each other and see which came out on top.
Whether you are looking for silence or that last 10MHz out of your CPU, you will most likely want to run an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock Intel heatsink does work well enough for some people, but I for one am not one of those people. Also, with the availability of OEM processors which do not come with a stock sink, you will be shopping for one along with that CPU purchase.
The coolers we are looking at today are OCZ's Vanquisher, Vendetta, Vendetta 2 and the Vindicator. Each one is geared towards a different part of the market. It was our goal to see how each one could handle our hot Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850.
When placed side by side, it's relatively easy to see differences, and we can see that each one takes a different approach to do the same job. The fan size is the first main difference, with the Vanquisher using an 80mm, the Vendetta a 92mm, the Vendetta 2 a larger 120mm and the Vanquisher also with a silent 120mm fan. The first 3 are PWM 4 wire fans allowing your motherboard to control the speed while the Vindicator sticks to a regular quiet 3-pin fan connector.
There are also striking differences in the mounting surface. The Vanquisher and both Vindicator have a smooth copper mounting surface while the Vendetta models take a unique approach by placing the heat pipes directly on the CPU surface.
Mounting them on our Intel test bed was simple thanks to the OEM-style push-pin mounting brackets. While not pictured, I should mention that they all come with appropriate hardware for AMD AM2 use as well.
Time to put some fire under these guys and see where they stand. Below are the specs for our test-bed used here. Other upcoming CPU cooler roundups will stick to the same test-bed. We chose rather lightweight components, aside from the CPU, in order to keep the motherboard surface area as cool as possible during our stress-tests.
Each heatsink was tested using PRIME95 stress test with CPU-Z and CoreTemp recording all the vital signs. Each test was run for a full 2 hours to build up the heat load and afterwards, the results were recorded. Ambient room temperature was kept to a nearly constant 67°F - 69&def;F, with no other cooling devices located near our PC.
Once done testing with one heatsink, we allowed the CPU to cool down for one hour in order to remove any residual heat. OCZ Freeze thermal compound is our TIM of choice, and was used between all four heatsinks.
I tested all 4 heatsinks with the exact same settings thanks to ASUS' OC Profile's option in the BIOS to ensure that the settings for each level of overclock were identical. The CPU voltage had to be set to 1.4125v in the BIOS for our 3.67GHz settings, but stock voltages were set to Auto for both stock and 3.33GHz. I only changed the CPU multiplier to overclock the CPU so that there were as few variables as possible throughout testing. All fans were run at their maximum RPM at all times.
Each cooler here gave us some interesting results to deal with. I'll discuss the pros and cons of each cooler on the following page.
The biggest thing to take away from the roundup is that all four of the coolers managed to keep our hot QX6850 processor well under the 100°C thermal threshold, even at our 3.67GHz overclocked setting. Overall, I was impressed by both of the Vendetta models and the Vanquisher, but I cannot help to be underwhelmed by the Vindicator.
Looking at the cooler itself, I was stumped. I re-ran all the tests on that particular unit three times, resinking it each time and applying fresh thermal paste. I have a feeling part of the blame was the quiet fan chosen by OCZ to use with this heatsink, plus the fact that it is the oldest of the bunch. It is quite possible it was not designed with the QX6850 in mind. Even with its G0 stepping, this CPU is quite hot.
The Vanquisher was the smallest of the bunch and the 80mm fan mounted to it was the loudest as well. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it did hold its own throughout the testing. Being the least expensive of the bunch, it was no slouch even under heavy load. If you are on a very tight budget, then the Vanquisher deserves a serious look.
I was most impressed by the Vendetta 2. I received this cooler a short time ago and as soon as I took it out of the box I was happy to see that it was larger than the original and that the base was also wider where it meets the CPU. The fan on the original Vendetta was a 92mm unit, and it was a bit on the loud side. The 120mm fan on the Vendetta 2 is much quieter and obviously more efficient. They have definitely moved in the right direction with the newer model and it works well.
Testing these four heatsinks together proved to be a real eye opener. Going by looks alone, you'd pick the Vindicator to be tops and for the rest to fall in line from largest to smallest. With the exact opposite happening, I would not recommend one for your Quad-Core, especially if overclocking is involved. I would firmly recommend the Vendetta 2. It was a solid performer and its fan was quiet at maximum speed, as well. All four used the stock style push pin mounting for Intel CPU's so they were simple to install.
You budget and performance needs will help you decide which of these coolers is best for you. OCZ makes solid products and the performance shows that off. Although I would not overly recommend the Vindicator, you have to remember that it was dead silent during all testing. The Vendetta 2 was the next quietest with the Vendetta and Vindicator bringing being roughly the same noise levels. If you use the PWM feature then you could easily silence those 2 models when your PC is not running 100%.
Lastly, as a quick note, these tests were performed outside a case on a bench. I would expect the actual temperatures you would see with your own use would be different based on your choice of case. If you use a free-flowing case like the Cooler Master Cosmos S or the Antec 900 (just to name a few), I would expect to see the temperatures drop slightly due to the efficiency of the airflow. Inside a case with poor to moderate airflow, I would expect similar results to what I had since there was no external airflow during my tests.
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