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Cooler Master CoolViva Pro


Date
: 03/28/07 – 08:19:02 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Cooler Master

Price:
$35 (MSRP)

Cooler Master is a major player in the cooling market so no introduction is necessary. They have produced video card coolers in the past under the CoolViva series but they have never been very popular with enthusiasts. Cooler Master has recently added a new member to the CoolViva line in the hopes of reentering the video card cooler market.

Highly reminiscent of the Arctic Cooling Accelero series, Cooler Master's latest
CoolViva Pro
is a beast at first sight.

Outfitted with heatpipes, numerous fins, and a radial fan, the CoolViva Pro looks like a performer so let's put it to the test!

Page 2 : Package and Specifications

I got the retail package of the CoolViva Pro so this will be more or less what you see in the store.

Cooler Master's purple and white theme is immediately evident upon looking at the package. The cooler is showcased through the plastic package. Some marketing terms are scattered around the front which we will take a closer look at in a little bit.

Turning the package over reveals a great deal of information including features and specifications. There are also small graphics describing various aspects of the cooler, such as its copper base, three heatpipes, included memory heatsinks, and perforated PCI bracket.

Cooler Master's website was very helpful in providing me with a list of features, same as those found on the back of the package:

The feature list on the package also includes compatibility information. It seems that most modern video cards are supported.

A specifications table is also found on the back of the package.

Here is the version found on Cooler Master's website:

Note that the rated noise level is a mere 20 dBA which is very quiet. Cooler Master advertises this on the front of the package as well. Looking at the weight, 320 grams is quite high for a video card cooler. This should be no cause for concern however if installed carefully.

The design seems to utilize three heatpipes to complement the copper base's transfer of heat to the aluminum fins. The radial fan allows the airflow to be directed out of the case.

On paper, everything looks good.

For a full overview of the features and specifications, refer to this PDF.

Now that we know about the cooler, let's unleash it from its plastic cage.

Page 3 : Package Contents

Flip open the molded plastic case and the cooler can be accessed.

The sheer size of the cooler is accentuated by the huge plastic shroud that covers the fins and the fan. The shiny "CoolViva Pro" sticker is a nice touch; no LEDs or other fancy business to be seen however.

Removing the cooler reveals a hidden manual as well as mounting hardware.

The contents include 8 self-adhesive memory heatsinks, a perforated PCI bracket, two extra mounting clips, four spring-mounted screws, four mounting posts, four insulating plastic stickers, a foam spacer cutout, power adaptor cable, and a tube of Cooler Master thermal paste.

Here's a closer look at the top of the cooler, showing the shiny stickers:

The radial fan blows air directionally and the shroud directs the airflow over the fins and out through the left side and out of the case.

The following image shows different views around the cooler. They are numbered as follows: top (1), from the bottom (2), from the left side (3), from the top (4).

The base of the cooler consists of a huge aluminum column with a copper base for contact with the core. It is covered by a plastic film for protection. The base is very flat from the looks of it and is slightly raised from the aluminum block.

Everything looks promising so far so let's go ahead and install the CoolViva Pro and put it to the test.

Page 4 : Installation

I'll be installing the CoolViva Pro on my eVGA e-GeForce 7600GT KO PCI-Express video card.

The included manual was very helpful with installation.

To prepare for installation, remove the old cooler and clean the core of any old thermal compound.

Make sure the core is clean before continuing.

At this point, I originally installed the memory heatsinks by peeling off the adhesive backing and pressing them down on the memory chips. However, I realized that this would impede installation of the cooler. They were easy to remove as the adhesive probably takes a day or so to set. My video card does not have any memory chips on the backside so I'm afraid the memory heatsinks won't be seeing any action.

The next step in installation is to apply the foam spacer around the core's raised platform. This step may be optional depending on if your video card already has a spacer around that area. Also, apply a thin layer of the thermal compound on the core using an appropriate method.

For the next step, I referred to the manual. The following image shows the four final steps which are numbered. For the 7600GT, I needed to insert the mounting posts into the four furthest holes on the cooler (1); they need to be manually screwed in tightly. Then, remove the plastic film from the cooler's base. Proceeding to the next step, place the video card upside down over the cooler such that the holes in the card align with the mounting posts (2). The mounting holes will protrude only slightly through the holes so don't worry. At this point, I placed a plastic insulating sticker around each of the mounting holes and used a screwdriver to install the spring-mounted screws onto the protruding mounting posts (3). Finally, flip the card over and the cooler should be securely attached (4). The built-in power cable was not compatible with the header on my video card so I used the included power adaptor to power the cooler through a Molex connector from my power supply.

Finally, install the video card onto your motherboard, connect the power to the cooler and you are all set. You can install the perforated PCI bracket if you want but I left it off.

As this image shows, the cooler is very large and can be regarded as a dual-slot cooler. It will probably cause problems if you try to use another card in SLI on certain motherboards.

Go on to the next section where we will find out how the CoolViva Pro performs.

Page 5 : Testing and Performance

First, I will be putting the CoolViva Pro against the Zalman VF900-Cu and the 7600GT KO's stock cooler in an idle and load temperature measurement. Then, I will be evaluating the overclockability of the core with each cooler.

Here is the test setup:

I used the tube of thermal paste that Cooler Master has included with the CoolViva Pro for all the tests with all the coolers. Enthusiasts will probably opt to use a better compound such as Arctic Silver 5. I installed each cooler and left the computer on for a day while running 3DMark06 loops, shut it down for 2 hours, and then let it idle at the desktop for 2 hours before taking the idle temperature measurement. Then, I ran 3DMark06 loops for 2 hours and took the maximum load temperature during the run. Temperatures were measured using ATITool as well as the NVIDIA Control Panel to make sure the results agreed. Room temperature was kept constant at around 24°C (75°F).

Based on the results, we can see that the CoolViva Pro performs as well as, or even better than, the Zalman VF900-Cu. Both coolers are vastly better than the stock cooler when put under load.

Also, the CoolViva Pro has an advantage in that it was much quieter than the VF900-Cu. I could barely hear it over the two case fans.

The overclockability test was done, after the temperature measurements, by using ATITool's automatic overclocking feature which overclocks the core and memory until artifacts start to appear.

The results show that the memory hits a peak of 1610MHz regardless of what cooler was used. The story is the same with the core which hit a maximum of around 620MHz. This is interesting but makes sense in that none of the coolers is so inefficient as to cause any overheating problems. The core is merely limited by factors not related to temperature. For reference, the stock frequencies for the core and memory were 580MHz and 1500MHz respectively.

All things considered, the CoolViva Pro performed admirably.

Page 6 : Conclusion

As expected, Cooler Master has come out with a good product that does what it is supposed to do.

The CoolViva Pro's three heatpipes, aluminum fins, copper base, and radial fan design come together to form one great cooler.

Performance was impeccable and the noise level was basically nonexistent. Installation was a breeze and the included manual was a boon. Cooler Master has even included memory heatsinks, even though they were a waste as the cooler covered the memory chips on which I was planning on installing them.

If I could find one fault with the CoolViva Pro, it would have to be its enormous size and weight. It takes up a lot of room as compared to the stock cooler which is a single-slot cooler. Also, the weight is somewhat

All in all, I think the CoolViva Pro is a great cooler for the price. I am excited to see what Cooler Master has in store for us in the future.

Advantages

• Good performance
• Almost silent
• Universal compatibility, easy installation

  Disadvantages

• Huge!

  Thanks to Cooler Master for providing the CoolViva Pro for this review.