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Cooler Master GeminII


Date
: 04/18/07 – 06:45:04 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Cooler Master

Price:
$50 (MSRP)

Cooler Master is back at Overclockers Online. Recently, I reviewed their CoolViva Pro video card cooler, which was huge! Today, I have such a beast of a CPU cooler that Cooler Master advertises it not as a CPU cooler but as a "complete system cooler"!

Cooler Master's
GeminII
seems to be a cooler of epic proportions, literally!

With six heatpipes, space for mounting two 120mm fans, and more fins than an aquarium, the GeminII dwarfs many other coolers in the market. Hopefully, the size advantage translates to a performance advantage. Let's find out.

Page 2 : Package

We start our tour of the package looking down on the box's top.

Cooler Master has opted for a black theme, a welcome departure from the usual purple-and-white. The top of the rectangular box is relatively empty save for a carrying handle, some compatibility information, and a small picture of the GeminII.

Looking at the front of the box reveals a look at the actual cooler courtesy of a small plastic window. The six heatpipes are clearly visible but that's basically it; I guess we will have to wait to get a better look.

Flanking the window, we find Cooler Master's logo as well as the name of the cooler.

Moving left (clockwise) around the box, we find ourselves looking at the compatibility information. The GeminII supports many modern sockets including AMD 754, 939, and AM2, and Intel LGA775.

Turning the package once again brings us to the features and specifications. We will take a closer look at these in the next section.

One more turn and we can see a basic installation graphic showing how the cooler looks installed on a motherboard and in a case. Also, we have some charts showing thermal performance comparing the GeminII (with one 120mm fan) to a stock cooler. Cooler Master's results show that it outperforms the stock cooler in all cases. We will test it for ourselves soon enough.

Before opening up the package, let us take a closer look at the features and specifications so we know what to expect.

Page 3 : Features and Specifications

Cooler Master's new website has a great deal of information on the GeminII.

The features can be summarized as follows:

The features and specifications look good. However, some minor concerns arise when looking at the huge dimensions of the cooler as well as the weight of 847 grams. Make no mistake, this cooler is heavy and could lead to damage to the CPU, motherboard, or both if one is not careful!

Everything else looks pretty standard; the heatpipes and numerous aluminum fins foreshadow good performance but only testing will tell. Note that the two 120mm fans are not provided and Cooler Master claims that they are optional.

Page 4 : Package Contents

Opening up the box (1) reveals the cooler embedded in a protective plastic cage (2). Beneath it, we find a small white box (3, 4).

The white box contains mounting hardware as well as a highly detailed manual.

Apart from the white box, the plastic cage contains the cooler as well as two detachable rails for attaching the optional 120mm fan(s) (1). The cooler is somewhat asymmetrical. One side features the six heatpipes which extrude from the base and wrap around back to the fins (1). Note that the fins are already connected to the base and that the heatpipes serve as an additional mechanism for heat transfer. A side view shows the intersection of the heatpipes with the fins (2). The heatpipes wrap around one side of the cooler and the ends can be found on the other side (3). Another side view showcases the asymmetric design of the cooler (4). The base and heatpipes are made of copper while the cooling fins are aluminum; the base comes protected by a plastic sticker with a warning label advising the user to remove before installation.

Here are some more views of the cooler to further accentuate the aforementioned description (1, 2, 3, 4):

The short sides are highly reflective and polished as can be seen by the reflection of my camera (2, 4).

A look at the base shows that it does not sport a mirror finish, per se, but is very flat.

Looking down on the cooler from the top, we can see that it is shaped such that two 120mm fans can be fit on top of it. The four screw holes are there to accommodate the mounting rails that we saw earlier.

There isn't much left but to install the cooler and test it.

Page 5 : Installation

To start installation, I first consulted the manual and then rummaged through the contents of the white box with the mounting hardware and found the items I needed for installation on the LGA775 platform. Note that you have to remove the motherboard from the case in order to install the GeminII.

I will be installing the GeminII on an MSI P965 Neo-F motherboard.

These items include a mounting frame, two different sets of four rubber washers, four small screws, four nuts, a keyed lug nut for tightening the nuts, and a tube of Cooler Master's own thermal paste. I also needed to use a screwdriver.

The first step is to attach the mounting frame to the base of the cooler. First, place it such that the four screw holes line up with the holes surrounding the base (1). Then, proceed to use the four small screws to secure it (2). Then, using the bigger set of rubber washers, remove the sticker from them and place one around each mounting post such that the sticky side attaches to the metal of the frame (3, 4).

Now prepare the CPU for installation by cleaning it off of any old thermal compound using an appropriate method. Proceed to put an appropriate amount of thermal compound on the CPU. Then, select an orientation for the cooler and carefully place it such that the mounting pins line up with the mounting holes in the motherboard. Note that the cooler is not attached yet!

At this point, flip the motherboard over carefully making sure to hold the cooler in place (1). Place one of the remaining rubber washers over each mounting post (2). Place one nut on top of each mounting post (3). Secure them using the included keyed lug nut (4).

The cooler is now installed.

Here are some different views around the motherboard showing how it looks with the cooler installed:

It covers almost half of the board! In fact, the overhang reaches over the memory and even the motherboard's power connectors. It almost reaches the PCI-Express x16 slot!

At this point, you can attach the 120mm mount railings to the top of the cooler if desired by using four more small screws which are included. You may then attach up to two 120mm fans to the railings.

I decided to see whether I could install the motherboard in the cramped Thermaltake Mozart Media LAB case. It was a tight fit but it is possible. However, there is no way I could attach the mounting rails so fans are unfortunately out of the question.

Overall, installation was relatively straightforward but still a pain as I had to remove the motherboard from the case.

Page 6 : Performance and Testing

I will be testing the GeminII against the Intel stock cooler that came with my Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU. To make things interesting, the GeminII will be tested with and without fans. A slight problem with one of my 120mm fans caused me to resort to using just one so the contestants today will be the Intel stock cooler, the GeminII without fans, and the GeminII with 1 generic 80CFM, 2000RPM, 38dBA (loud!) 120mm fan.

Here is the test setup:

Cooler Master's thermal compound was used for all tests and the test was conducted with the motherboard not installed in a case. I installed each setup and left the computer on for two days while running SP2004 Orthos, shut it down for 2 hours, and then let it idle at the desktop for 6 hours before taking the idle temperature measurement. Then, I ran Orthos loops for 6 hours and took the maximum load temperature during the run. Temperatures were measured using Everest Home Edition and it was made sure that they agreed with the temperatures reported by MSI CoreCenter. Room temperature was kept constant at around 24°C (75°F).

The results were alarming to say the least. A word of warning: do not run this cooler without any fans! The load temperatures for the passive setup reached a blistering 72°C. However, just adding one 120mm fan reduced the temperatures drastically. In fact, with the one fan, the GeminII bested the Intel stock cooler consistently.

In terms of overclockability, I did not try overclocking the passive setup lest I killed my CPU. However, the other two setups allowed me to reach my motherboard's maximum FSB of 333 for an overall CPU speed of 2331MHz at stock voltage without any problems whatsoever.

Overclocked temperatures were slightly higher than at stock speeds but not too much higher.

Given the budget-oriented design of my motherboard, I was unable to empirically measure the temperatures of the chipset to evaluate the GeminII's effectiveness. However, a subjective test I performed by touching the chipset heatsink confirmed my suspicions that the cooler does indeed help cool surrounding components but only when using a fan.

All in all, the GeminII was a great improvement over the stock cooler provided that a fan was used. This is not meant to be a passive cooler even though Cooler Master denotes the fans as optional.

Page 7 : Conclusion

To be frank, I was not fully satisfied with the GeminII. First of all, the cooler is far too big; make sure you have room in your case. Also, installation was a challenge as I had to remove the motherboard; this makes it impractical for enthusiasts who frequently take their computers apart.

Based on my experience, the use of at least one fan makes the GeminII a top performer. The cooler should not be used passively on any modern processor. It easily beat the Intel stock cooler and also helped cool down the surrounding components on the motherboard due to its ability to accommodate 120mm fans. If two fans were used, performance is likely to be even better, at the expense of your hearing of course; however, if appropriate fans with a good air flow to noise ratio are used, there is no reason why the GeminII can't be a winner.

Cooler Master has been known for their innovative and top performing products and the GeminII reflects that but not to the extent that I would recommend the GeminII to the average user; if some refinements are made, I am sure the GeminII will be able to join the ranks of high performance CPU coolers competing in the market today.

Advantages

Good fan-assisted performance
Well-built
Fans cool motherboard components

Disadvantages

Passive cooling not recommended
Installation is a pain

Thanks to Cooler Master for providing the GeminII for this review.