Introduction

Ok, if you have a processor, you have a heat sink. No "if"s, "and"s or "but"s. The problem is, how do you get adequate cooling at a decent price without blowing out your ears from the whirling of those giant fans? Vantec's Aeroflow claims to do just that.

The Product

What you get when you purchase the Aeroflow is the heat sink/ fan itself, a little instruction booklet with installation instructions, and a little tube of thermal paste. One thing to note with the thermal paste is that it is in a syringe instead of a little packet. They also provide enough paste for several applications.


The Heatsink

The first thing I noticed about this heat sink is that it is mostly aluminum. Aluminum is good at releasing heat, but what about taking heat from the CPU? Copper is better at absorbing heat, thus the Aeroflow has a copper core inserted into its base. The copper core makes a direct contact with the CPU core, and pulls the heat away from the CPU. The heat is then transferred from the copper core to the aluminum fins, and dispersed into the air with the help of the fan.


The copper core itself is very flat and reflective. It has been machine lapped very well, and I found no need to lap it myself. If you are interested in lapping your heat sink though, I suggest you check out Dave Brown's Heat sink lapping kit.


A problem with most heat sink/ fans is that the fan blows air into the heat sink fins, but it has nowhere to go once it hits the bottom of the heat sink. The air scatters and creates turbulence while trying to escape through the sides. This turbulence doesn't help cooling at all. Vantec has realized this, and figured that if there is no bottom of the heat sink to cause turbulence, then there will be better airflow through the fins, thus better heat transfer from the fins to the air, and away from the heat sink. So, besides the contact area with the CPU core, there is no "bottom" to this heat sink.


One thing you will notice is that there is nothing between the copper core and the fan. There are no fins in the middle of the heat sink. This allows the fan to blow air directly onto the core. Now you may be thinking, "Well, isn't there a dead spot beneath the center of the fan where there is no airflow?" This is a problem that most fans have, but Vantec has solved this problem. They use a Tip-Magnetic Driving Fan. What the hell is that? Read on, as we have information straight from Vantec.

About The Fan (courtesy of Vantec) What is The Tip-Magnetic Driving Fan (T.M.D. Fan)? T.M.D. motor structure requires only simple tool for single-direction winding. It not only substantially increases in the speed of production, but also avoids the defectiveness. The magnetic line of induction of T.M.D. motor is vertically directed to the permanent magnet. This optimized magnetic line of induction presents low magnetic hysteresis and results in increased torque. The assembly of T.M.D. motor to the housing applies the method of gomphosis, no need of sophisticated tools. Assembly is convenient and fast. The design of deflection ring around the tips of blades smoothly directs the airflow at straight direction. It avoids the turbulence and therefore significantly reduces the source of noise. Why Use The Tip-Magnetic Driving Fan (T.M.D. Fan)? Tip-Magnetic Driving Fan (T.M.D. FAN) relocates motor from traditional location of central hub to the 4 corners. COOLING POWER It reduces 75% of traditional motor hub area. This revolutionary breakthrough not only increases 30% of airflow and static pressure, but also brings air stream directly to the centralized heat source. As a result, T.M.D. FAN improves the efficiency of heat dissipation at least 15%. POWER CONSUMPTION / TORQUE Locating motor at 4 corners substantially expands the room for winding. Thus, lower power consumption can be easily attained. At the same time, the torque of motor becomes even much more powerful than ever. ACOUSTIC NOISE / BALANCE The tips of fan blades are the main source of noise when a fan is rotating. The magnet of T.M.D. FAN surrounds along the tips of fan blades. This "tip-magnetic" design eliminates the major noise source of an impeller and provides the suspended balancing force when impeller is rotating.

Our Thoughts on The Fan

This fan is very interesting, as you may have noticed from the Vantec specs above. Vantec is using a hefty 70mm fan. This, however, is no ordinary fan. The motor is actually on the outside of the fan. There is no bulky motor in the middle of it to cause a dead spot where there is no airflow. This helps get air directly onto the heat sink core, while working quieter, faster, and with less power.

One thing to note about this fan, is that when you turn off your computer, the fan takes quite a while longer to stop turning. This is due to the motor being on the outside of the fan instead of in the center. This is good, because it provides airflow to the heat sink after the computer is off, to cool the CPU core down. A possible negative effect of this is that it sounds like an airplane stopping.


Mounting The Fan

Unlike most other heat sink/ fans for Athlon processors, the Aeroflow utilizes all 3 prongs on each side of the socket to secure the heat sink onto the CPU. Even though this heat sink is lighter than others, it doesn't place all the stress onto 1 prong on each side. To secure the heat sink onto the socket, it seems tool-less. Pushing the clip down to the prongs isn't much of a problem, but I had to use a screwdriver to angle it over the prongs. Thankfully, there is a screwdriver slot to use, which makes installation extremely easy.


The Test

To test the Aeroflow, we are going to put it up against a basic Cooler Master heat sink/ fan, the DP5 6I31C-A1. Here is the test system:

Test Computer Specifics:

AMD Athlon 1.4 GHZ CPU
BIOSTAR M7VIG Motherboard
512 pc2100 DDR RAM
Geforce 3 Ti200
5 Thermaltake case fans @ 7 volts

Cooling Performance
(Show All Graphs) (Collapse Graphs)

Idle

Load

Vantec Aeroflow

Cooler Master DP5 6l31C-A1

39

44

0

Temperature ( °C )

77

 

 

Idle

Load

Vantec Aeroflow

Cooler Master DP5 6l31C-A1

44

48

0

Temperature ( °C )

77

 

 

As you can see, the Aeroflow has a 4-5 degree drop from the DP5 6I31C-A1. Not only are the temps better, but the Aeroflow also produces much less noise than the Cooler Master. I wouldn't recommend the Aeroflow to the overclocking crowd, as it probably wouldn't hold up as well as some other coolers.

Conclusion

All in all, the Vantec Aeroflow is a great heat sink/ fan. It cools much better than the Cooler Master, with a lot less noise, and a pretty cheap price tag. The funny thing is that my Crystal Orb on my Geforce 3 is louder than the Aeroflow. Also, you can get the Aeroflow over at Jacol Technologies for a measly 25 bucks ($25 USD). I feel that Vantec has created a good product that bridges the gap between having a quiet system and having great cooling. I don't think any CPU cooler can do that (Besides our beloved water cooling), but the Aeroflow has made it pretty close.

Pros

Looks great
Great noise to cooling power ratio
Very well machine lapped
Good price

Cons

Not ideal for overclockers