Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Cooler

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Technology
Supplied by: Thermaltake Technology
Street Price: $40 / Value Accessory Pack TBA

by Dean Barker (7/19/2006)

Introduction

Thermaltake must have hired a comic at some point over the past months. The naming scheme of the new Thermaltake “Mini” Typhoon is from the same ironic vein as the Thermaltake “Mini” Symphony. Neither one of these products is or can accurately be described as “mini”. As far as the “Mini” Typhoon is concerned, it has more than 600 gms of thin copper fins and six heat pipes, all cooled by a 92mm fan in an elevated assembly. That doesn’t sound very ‘mini’ to me. The Tt Mini Typhoon also brings an expansion set to the table with its ‘value pack’ that sports two fully adjustable 50mm blue LED coolers to help cool memory and otherwise hot mainboard components in close proximity to the processor. Today, the good people at Thermaltake have sent over a sample of their newest cooler with its value pack accessories for a look see.

Specifications

• Application: Intel LGA775; AMD K7, AMD socket 754, 939, AM2

• Observed Dimensions: 94mm square top shelf; 45 x 67mm base; total height 120mm

• Observed Weight: 720 gms with twin 50mm fans and mounting plate; 595 gms without

• Construction: Copper

• Fan Size: 92 x 38mm

• Fan Speed: 2200 RPM

• Fan Noise: 18 dBA

• Air Flow: 38.7 CFM

• Single three pin connector

What you get

The Mini Typhoon comes in a clear molded plastic box with mounting hardware for Intel's LGA775 and AMD's K8 and AM2 processors, a blister pack of silicone thermal paste and an instruction sheet.  As we already mentioned, Thermaltake is offering the Mini Typhoon Cooler as a stand alone product as well as part of what they call their 'Value Pack.'  Our review sample today is the value pack which aside from the items we already mentioned, comes with two 50mm blue LED fans, a fan mounting bracket and necessary screws to get it all together.

The "Mini"

Let's focus on the main course first.  The Tt Mini Typhoon is an all copper cooler tipping the scale at an observed 595 gms in standard trim.  Measuring 120mm tall and 94mm square at its peak, this is no "mini" cooler.  The tapered heatpipe design however keeps the surface area to a maximum without creating overt compatibility issues with capacitors that may or may not be around the socket area of an end user's board. 

Thermaltake's Mini Typhoon employs the shelf type design in its construction.  As you can see below, the sink's convection fins are tightly packed on a tier of sorts, elevated above the base by six heatpipes.  Heat is transferred from the base via these heatpipes up to the fin area where it is dissipated by means of convection.  The all copper construction will help maximize the amount of thermal energy the sink can hold in the process.  What is nice about this type of design is that the fan's air, though warm, helps to circulate air over and around many of the mainboard components mounted around and near the socket area.

  

NEXT