Performance

Our comparison cooler for testing is our regular Tt MaxOrb with its fan speed set to low.  By our using the same comparison cooler in all our heatsink reviews you can extrapolate one cooler review to another here at the OC Cafe'.  Both coolers will be installed and run five times by placing our Core 2 Duo processor cores at 100% load by way of SiSoft Sandra's XI Burn In Module for 30 minutes with a final temperature reading taken at the end.  The highest and lowest results will be thrown out and the remaining three will be averaged and graphed.  ThermalRight Chill Factor Thermal Paste will be used in all tests.   Ambient room temperature at time of testing remained within one half a degree of 22.5 degrees C.  For our testing graphed below, the Gigabyte G-Power 2 Pro's fan is operating at its max speed of an observed 1680 RPM.

Results

Our graph shows the Gigabyte cooler operating at full speed, 1680 RPM.  We tested the unit with the Fan Speed Control Cable as well which brought the RPM's down to 1500 (12 volt) with no change in temperature.  Kicking the fan speed down to 740 RPM with the 5v line brought our temperatures up two degrees making a dead heat between the Thermaltake and the Gigabyte. 

The reason we graphed the faster Gigabyte speed against the Tt's low speed was that at this level both cooler's fans were equal in sound levels.  The ONLY reason for decreasing a fan's speed is because of unwanted noise.  Since there wasn't any, we compared the two as they were.

Conclusion

The G-Power 2 Pro cooler is big on a lot of things; size, raw cooling power, innovation and pain involved with mounting.  What it is not big on is sound.  The Gigabyte cooler gave us outstanding performance with a minimal sound print.  I can only attribute the 120mm fan being encased in the oversized chrome looking shroud as a possible reason for the cooler's incredible sound performance.  This sound dampening shroud around the 120mm fan comes at a cost unfortunately.  The large size and 600gms of the G-Power 2 Pro require mainboard removal for installation.  There are two sides to argue for and against screw points being on the back side of the mainboard as we mentioned.  For me, I'll take the traditional way and avoid cursing while fishing my fat fingers around the G-Power to plug in power cables and the like once it is all mounted up in my case.  The other possible issue, I have to say possible since I didn't see it here myself, is a likely suspicion that a smaller case may be incompatible with the G-Power 2 Pro. 

What it comes down to is the pros and cons of large size coolers.  They have benefits but challenges too.  The Gigabyte G-Power 2 Pro in a fine cooler for the right user and use.  Barring installation woes some users may have, the supersized Gigabyte is a silent brute force cooler.  In searching the Internet, I was surprised to not be able to find it available retail or online yet.  So street price and availability are two large unknowns here.  This could make or break this cooler for some.  For that we'll have to wait and see.