Date: July 25, 2005 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Rob Williams
Do you want a CPU cooler with flair? We are taking a look at the great looking Vanessa L-Type from Titan. Of course, looks are not everything, so let's see how well it cools!
Now, more than ever, it's a requirement to keep your CPU as cool as possible. Sometimes your stock cooler will suffice just fine, but if you wish to lower your overall case/cpu temps, and overclock, then a special cooler helps. We are taking a look at Titan's answer to CPU cooling with style, in the form of the Vanessa L-Type. The L-Type is because of the size, and there is a smaller (S-Type) version available. Before we jump into more details, here's a quick snippet about Titan.
TITAN is headquartered in Taiwan and has its own two factories, total approximate 20,000 square meters. Both are located in Guang Dong- China, China. There are around 1200 employees, which provide combined efforts a production capacity of over 1.2 million units per month. TITAN is also leading manufacturer of various thermal products such as: CPU Coolers, VGA Coolers, H.D.D coolers, System Blowers, D.C fans, Heatsinks in comprehensive solution of cooling systems in different applications of PC systems. We have just launched the newest design; the superior water cooling kit combined water and air-cooling in the world; the performance is excellent to reduce heat problems and operates at minimal noise levels. To keep advance with the fast changing market; new models are launched every 1-2 months to meet your requirements.
One thing to mention right off, is this is not a small cooler by any means. The top of the cooler contains a 120mm fan, and is close to being the same width all the way around. The specific measurements can see seen for both the fan and the cooler, click the image below.
The cooler comes in a huge box, because it has a lot to hold. As already mentioned, a 120mm x 120mm x 25mm fan is included, and is rated between 900RPM at the lowest speed, and 1800RPM at the highest. Airflow at the lowest setting is 33.53CFM, the highest is 71.09CFM.
The cooler itself uses heat pipe technology to distribute the heat, and is 25mm in diameter. The fins to the cooler are a lightweight aluminum, which is good when it comes to a cooler this size. It's definitely hefty to hold, but you don't have to worry about it breaking something.
The actual design of the fins are what makes this cooler so unique. It's shaped as a butterfly creature, which Titan obviously named Vanessa. Seeing a design like this made me skeptical, to say the least. This kit also comes with a fan controller, which can be installed in either a PCI slot, or your front floppy drive bay. I personally used the drive bay, since it's easier to access.
Lastly, included is a star headed screwdriver, with a magnetized end, as well as some Nano Blue thermal grease.
Even though I was worried about the fit of the cooler in the small case, I couldn't wait to cram it in there. It doesn't even matter which CPU you are using, as they include brackets for AMD K7, AMD K8, Intel P4 and Intel LGA775.
Installation was simple, except for one small issue. So that the cooler can be secure, you are to add the included bracket, and use the screws Titan provides. Sadly, the screws they included would not even fit through the bracket holes in order to secure it. The screws have a guard so that you can only screw them in so far, but that held me back. I was forced to use a couple of normal household screws instead, which worked perfectly.
One thing I like, is that they included a screwdriver in the package. The one supplied is a little longer than most, so that you can shoot it through the holes in the cooler to secure it to the bracket. Once everything was secure, I was good to go.
If there was anything to complain about, it would have to be the fact that on this motherboard (DFI LanParty Ultra-D), it's made a little more difficult to cool the memory modules. The cooler will actually cover up the slot 3&4 slots on this particular board, so overclocking your memory may become a problem if you can't fit proper memory cooling in there.
System: AMD64 3200+ Venice @ 2.7GHz, 2 * 512 MB Crucial Ballistix PC4000, DFI LanParty Ultra-D, BFG 6800GT OC, 3 * WD 200GB, Ultra X-Finity 600w.
In order to test the performance of the cooler, I ran a few select benchmarks to really stress the CPU. I used PC Mark 2005's CPU suite to start things off, then played through a few rounds of Counter-Strike: Source. After I was done goofing around there, I ran a 30 minute Small FFT torture test with Prime95.
One thing to note is, that these temps will more likely than not, be higher than temps you will acquire. The ambient temp in my room is always very high, due to it being a small one. Also, we've had a great heat wave over the last week as well, which doesn't usually happen, therefore making the ambient temps even higher.
You'll notice that I have a Low and High sets for the Vanessa. With the included fan controller, low is around 900RPM, while high is 1800RPM. Overall, the Vanessa did a fantastic job on the temperatures. With the stock cooler, the load CPU was a much too high 61ºC. The Vanessa brought that temp to a much more reasonable 49ºC!
With the overall temperature changes over the stock cooler, I definitely recommend this product. Since my ambient temperatures are always high, I expect that if the room is a more comfortable level, then the temps would be substantially lower than what I could manage. I am much happier knowing that my CPU is hitting a high of 49ºC, rather than 61ºC though.
One thing that I immediately give props to Titan for, is the very unique look. While the name may be unusual for this type of product, the look and design is great. Overall, this package was very well put together. So if you are in the market for a great CPU cooler, this would be a great choice.
Do you have something you want to say? Be sure to check out our related forum thread, where you do not have to sign up to post, but it's definitely welcomed. Or, if you wish to flame the editor in private, you can e-mail me at rob [dot] williams [at] techgage [dot] com!
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