Thermaltake Fanless103 Heatpipe CPU Cooler

Reviews: Cooling

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Nicholas Hart
Kurtis
SharkaCorp
Jan. 5, 2005

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First Looks

We all hate those plastic packages that you have to cut open with a utility knife and threaten to shred your skin before letting you get to the goodies inside. Thankfully Thermaltake didn't put the Fanless 103 into that kind of package and it was removable with no loss of blood. The heatsink itself is very attractive in my opinion, with a large copper base and a nice anodized blue finish on the aluminum fins. Six heatpipes rise up from the base to transfer heat to the two sets of aluminum fins. Since there is no fan on the heatsink, your case fans will have the responsibility of moving air across the fins. This will require your case to have an appropriately located rear case fan as well as a motherboard with proper socket orientation.

The weight on this bad boy, as stated by Thermaltake, is 752g. This is a good 300g heavier than the rated weight tolerance of the Socket 478 heatsink mounting bracket. The rather tall fin tower doesn't help things as it will serve to significantly raise the center of gravity on the heatsink and stress the mounting bracket even more. Thermaltake certainly isn't the only manufacturer pushing the limits of heatsink weight; indeed there are many that make this cooler look like a lightweight. But, as is the case with any of these sumo-size coolers, make sure to exercise care when moving your case.

In addition to the Thermaltake Fanless 103 heatsink, the package also contains a packet of thermal compound and a replacement mounting bracket for Socket754/939 boards. You also get a short little instruction book, or page rather, with installation instructions.

Installation

For Socket 478 installations, the Fanless 103 uses the standard Pentium 4 mounting bracket. This makes installation a bit smoother, but still not quite painless. The clip mechanism itself is pretty simple but can be tough to maneuver into place when installing inside the case. The heatsink is so big that it blocks my fingers from easily getting the rear clips into place. Once you get the rear clips situated, it is very easy to finish the job and even with a little trouble, you're only looking at about a five minute install.

For Socket 754/939 installations, you have an extra step, but overall things are similar to Socket 478. You will first have to remove the stock heatsink bracket and install the one supplied with the cooler. The included mounting bracket essentially gives your board a Socket 478 style bracket and with only two screws to remove and replace, this should be only a minor addition to the workload.

One very important consideration, that will make or break the cooling performance of this heatsink, is the orientation of your heatsink mounting bracket. For best performance the larger fin assembly will need to face the rear of the case, as close to the case fan as possible. Many boards will have a mounting bracket that will cause the heatsink to sit sideways relative to the rear of the case and will rob the heatsink of much of its airflow. Many Intel motherboards will have this problem although, luckily, the DFI LanParty PRO875B board that I will be testing with does not.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks / Installation
Page 3: Testing / Conclusion

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6 User Comments

1 - Posted by PsychoSnowMan on January 8, 2005 - 1:46 am

I saw that on the front page and thought, "bwaaah??" then I clicked the article, read the first paragraph, skipped to the end to read the conclusion page then came here.
I guess it's... cool? (Haha I made a pun!)
That sure is interesting I've never heard of a fanless cooling device and it seems to me that the need for case fans would negate the benefits of a noiseless cooling device. I suppose if your room was really windy for some reason it would be good?

2 - Posted by Kurtis on January 8, 2005 - 1:50 am

i wouldn't say it is pointless because you need case fans, though i will say that you would definitely be inclined to use some high quality Papst fans or something to get rid of the noise of the case fans. Generally speaking, CPU coolers have loud whirring fans, and using a lower-speed fan will make them much less effective.

3 - Posted by Nick on January 8, 2005 - 12:14 pm

It really comes down to what kind of case you are using already. If it has a side fan, this heatsink will probably work for you.

Also, hopefully not spoiling the surprise, I will be reviewing a case with an 'air tunnel' design that im hoping will allow me to use the fanless cooler full time with only a stock fan setup. I will be recording numbers and let you all know how it works out in the review.

4 - Posted by PsychoSnowMan on January 8, 2005 - 11:29 pm

I hadn't thought about that fact with CPU fans being smaller, it's a good point. It is aesthetically pleastic too and that wind tunnel case sounds like an awesome place for it.

5 - Posted by Rich on January 9, 2005 - 1:24 pm

That case fan looks similar to what is in my new Dell poweredge server. The CPU has no fan and a VERY large heatsink. Air is supplied by a rear large fan which is far quiter. The machine doesn't put out much noise at all.

6 - Posted by Guest on April 7, 2005 - 4:40 pm

thanks for the great review, it certainly helped me.

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