Premium Socket 939 Heatsink Round-Up

Reviews: Cooling

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Max Slowik
Kurtis
Sharka Corp
Aug. 29, 2006

Specifications

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Thermaltake Mini Typhoon

First Looks

Thermaltake's Mini Typhoon is very good-looking, with its many thin, closely-packed copper fins supported by six heatpipes. The fan has an open frame and heavy blades that make it look like a propeller. It's very similar to Arctic Cooling's products, which are very popular among quiet computing enthusiasts, though it lacks the soft rubber mounts.

Both the design and specifications indicate that it should be one of if not the most silent heatsink.

Specifications

Dimensions (L X W X H): 112 X 94 X 125mm
Material: Pure copper
Weight: 605g
Fan Speed: 2,200rpm
Fan Voltage: 6-12v
Max. Power: 2.88w
Air Flow: 38.7cfm
Air Pressure: 2.69mm H2O
Noise: 18dB (at 6v, estimated 45dB or greater at 12v)
Connector: 3-Pin

Taking a Closer Look

The Mini Typhoon has a very compact heatsink that is well-removed from the base, with a lot of room to maneuver around the mass of the cooler and a good space for air to flow around.

Because the Mini Typhoon cools from the top down, it makes no difference how the motherboard's retention bracket is oriented.

The base is one of the best, with a good polish and a visibly flat surface.

The cooler comes with two install clips (one for AMD 754/940/939/AM2 and one for LGA775), thermal paste, and instructions. No screws, no three extra backplates, no very small replicas of the MIR space station. It's kind of nice.

It is interesting that the Mini Typhoon is rated to dissipate 130 watts of heat; with the processor set to generate 136 watts, this test is going to push it past its limits.

Install

The Mini Typhoon matches the Scythe Mine and Zalman CNPS9500AM2 for ease of installation. The "K8 Clip" pops over the hooks on the retention bracket and then the latch gets flipped into its locked position. The latch is pretty big, which is necessary because it takes a lot of pressure to flip it over, even more than the Mine.

This raises a concern: be sure that the area under the locked side of the latch is free of electrolytics; it could come down and damage tall capacitors.

In Use

Surprisingly, the Mini Typhoon held its own with the much larger heatsinks, when the fan was running at full. In a case with a vented door, it cools even better.

The only real disappointment is that it's not as silent as it claims to be, unless it's run at five volts. Without an included rheostat like the Zalman heatsinks, the only way to keep the noise level down is by using the motherboard's thermal throttling or some other kind of fan controller.

Still, even though the fan is louder at full speed, easily as loud as the Zalman CNPS9500, it's low-pitched noise, which blends in well with other noises. The solid design prevents any noticeable fin vibration noise.

In the end, it was just fine to maintain the 20% overclock without introducing instability.

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Page 10 of 12

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: An Overclocking Primer
Page 3: The Contenders & Testing Methodology
Page 4: Zalman CNPS9500
Page 5: Zalman CNPS9500AM2
Page 6: Scythe Ninja Plus+
Page 7: Scythe Mine
Page 8: Noctua NH-U12
Page 9: Thermaltake Sonic Tower
Page 10: Thermaltake Mini Typhoon
Page 11: Overclocking & Temperatures
Page 12: Conclusions & Final Recommendations

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