Thermaltake Golden Orb II Cooler

Performance

To test things out we are going to run the Orb against a stock Intel Prescott heatsink.  Each cooler will have the processor run under 100% load with SiSoft Sandra 2005 Pro's Burn In module for 30 minutes.  Temperature readings will be taken at the end of the 30 minutes and the system will be shut down giving it an opportunity to cool off.  Five runs per cooler will be run with the highest and lowest score for each thrown out.  The remaining three will then be averaged and that will be graphed below.  Generic thermal paste was used in all tests and ambient room temperature did not deviate more than one degree from our beginning temperature of 25.5 degrees Celsius.

Test Bed

• Intel P4 2.8GHz Prescott

• Chaintech Zenith V915P mainboard

• HIS Radeon X850XT

• (2) 512 mb DIMM of Corsair XMS4400 DDR

• Western Digital 200gb SATA HDD

• Generic DVD-RW drive

• Silverstone Lascala LC10 HTPC Case

• Windows XP Pro with all service packs installed

Results

Conclusion

The new Golden Orb II has a lot to live up to and compete against.  But it does do a very good job with this in a broad way.  Raw performance was only five degrees better than OEM which was very disappointing.  Let's keep in mind though that the Orb's fan is only spinning at 1600 RPM and moves 35 CFM of air.  If Thermaltake was looking to produce a monster cooling solution aimed at the performance crowd, this specific fan wouldn't even have been considered.  They appear to be aiming the Golden Orb II at those folks looking for good performance but willing to sacrifice a few degrees for a few decibels.  Not only does the Orb II run virtually silent but it does this while providing a nice little flow of air across the memory and other warmer mainboard components. 

On the down side of the second generation Orb was the adhesive rubber goop on the AMD mounting plate.  In a word to Thermaltake - please...  While not permanent, it is sticky enough to make even your mother swear while taking it off.  Nix that stuff and never bring it back.

All in all, the Thermaltake Golden Orb II was a pleasure.  If silence is top on your list of needs, then the Golden Orb II can bring it to you along with the ability to circulate air over your mainboard and components close by the socket.  This in addition to some sharp looks and an LED fan make the Thermaltake Golden Orb II something we can easily recommend.

Update (7/4/2005) - Thermaltake sends word that the Golden Orb II is shipping now and its MSRP is $28.

Pros

• Fits LGA775 and K8 boards.

• Silent

• Blue LED fan

• Provides airflow over memory and board immediately around socket

Cons

• Athlon XP and Intel Northwood processor owners are out of luck.

• Average cooling performance

• Adhesive rubber mounting of mounting plate is a pain in the arse

• Installation requires motherboard removal

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