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OWT VSC-158


Date
: 05/7/07 – 08:11:08 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer:
Over Way Technology, Inc.

Price:
MSRP$35

Today I will be looking at a CPU cooler from Over Way Technology, Inc. Before I was asked to review this cooler, I had never heard of OWT. Even a search didn't land me much information and as of the time of writing this review I could not locate any online retailers carrying the cooler. According to their website they seem to be a somewhat new player coming into the PC and laptop cooling market in 2007. Looking at their site it appears they have some ambitious plans to enter the home and auto cooling markets as well in the near future. They are a company trying to get into the US market for processor cooling so I will take a look at their first cooler to the US market, the VSC-158, and see how it performs.

Page 2 : Package

I wasn't sure what to expect from the package, would it be bright and flashy or a plain brown box. I would say they settled somewhere in the middle, with a light purple box with some simple graphics adorning the outside. There is a clear plastic window, though the view of the inside is very limited. We also see the manufacturer's specs printed on the side.

On the other side we see a picture of the VCS-158 and another spec sheet printed on the side. Altogether its a pretty ordinary package with nothing to make the product stand out.

Here we can see the general specs for the cooler, though compatibility isn't listed. If you saw this product sitting on a shelf in your local electronics store, there really isn't much to let you know if the cooler will work for you. I think the company could really help themselves, and consumers, by listing a little more information about the cooler on the outside of the box.

Opening the top we see the inner plastic shell that houses the heat sink and all the accessories.

Page 3 : Contents

After opening the plastic shell, we see the heat sink and fan and the included instructions. Underneath the instructions is the mounting clip for AMD processors. The Intel mounting hardware is stored underneath the heat sink body

Taking a look at the accessories we have the mounting clip for AMD processors, mounting brackets and screws for Intel processors, instructions and a small pack of thermal paste. While the mounting instructions lack any words, I think the pictures do more than a good enough job to walk you through the installation process. While the AMD mounting looks rather straightforward and shouldn't pose any issues, I would like to comment on a potential bump in the road for the Intel mounting.

Here we get our first good look at the VSC-158. We can see the side view of the total of 48 aluminum fins that will dissipate the heat carried by the 4 heatpipes. The design is very similar to some heat sinks by other manufacturers like Thermaltake and Thermalright, but how the OWT cooler stacks up is yet to be seen. Also of note are the fan clips, which at first glance would seem to limit you to only using fans with a height of 25mm. Thankfully as you will see in the next picture, they thought of that scenario.

Taking a closer look at the heatpipes, you can see that they don't have the smoothest finish, which seems to be an area of improvement for the VSC-158. Here also we can see the four holes that are used to mount the fan with the clips. The top holes on the heat sink are used in conjunction with the top holes for the stock fan with a height of 25mm, but if you happen to have a certain 38mm tall screamer you want to use, this OWT cooler can accommodate it, as seen in the next picture.

You just simply attach the fan clips using the bottom holes on the heat sink and bottom holes on the fan. The fan is very secure when attached, though it can take a little work to get the clips pushed all the way into the heat sink body as they catch on each aluminum fin within the holes.

Here we have the included fan. I was not able to come up with any information based on the model number, and a search of the manufacturers website didn't turn up any info on the model number either. So in light of this, I will have to rely on the specs listed on the box for the fan.

Taking a closer look at the base, again it is very rough and could use a bit more finishing to at least make it pleasing to the eye. It really looks like it missed a finishing step in manufacturing. As you can see the heat pipes are molded into the base, so heat transfer from the CPU to the heat pipes should be rather efficient.

The finish on the bottom is not quite mirror like though it isn't as rough as that on the bottom of most stock heat sinks. It is flat though so contact should not be an issue. This picture makes it look far worse than it does in person to be honest though.

Page 4 : Installation

Just looking at the VSC-158, I didn't anticipate any compatibility problems with my DFI UT Lan Party Ultra-D or any AMD motherboard, but I see a potential issue with Intel motherboards.

While I don't have an Intel motherboard to try it out, I do see a potential problem spot with mounting the heat sink on an Intel processor. I took a picture of a step in the included instructions to illustrate this. In order to install the VSC-158 on an Intel processor you will have to remove the motherboard and install the back and top plates. After installing these you have to lift up the top plate and slide the base of the VCS-158 in between the top plate and the CPU as seen in the photo. While I can't test this myself, depending on the amount of clearance you have it could potentially be difficult to get the heat sink seated properly without scraping off the thermal grease in the process.

As you can see here, I quickly discovered a very large flaw with the layout of the heat sink. The heatpipes swing out too wide before angling upwards to clear the heat sink mounting frame of the motherboard. The VSC-158 would not even come close to sitting flush turned the other direction as the pipes hit the memory.

In order to get the heat sink to properly sit on the CPU, I had to gouge out some grooves in the frame. While this wouldn't be a major issue for enthusiasts, this just would not be ok for the typical person looking for a replacement heat sink. Also, this wouldn't be an issue on an Intel based motherboard as you would be removing the mounting frame to install the cooler.

After getting the grooves cut, you can see it is extremely close to this capacitor. This would really be an issue if there were more capacitors in this area.

Since it was only myself installing this, I wasn't able to get any pictures of engaging the clip, but it was quite difficult. The clip pushes against the upper body of the heat sink making it somewhat difficult to lock down the lever. The process of applying the clip could have been much easier if there was a lip of sorts to push down on.

Clearance of the memory heat spreaders was quite close in both memory slots closest to the socket. If you were using any of the larger heat spreaders, contact might be an issue if your memory slots are situated next to the CPU socket.

Heat sink installed, now its time to hook things back up and see how the VSC-158 handles some heat.

Page 5 : Testing

I will use the following system for testing:

All of these were tested installed in a Cooler Master Stacker STC-T01 in an inverted ATX form, with stock case fans installed (120mm intake, 120mm exhaust, 80mm blowhole and 120mm in power supply).

For testing I used Folding@Home to run the CPU at 100% and took the average temperature reading over a 1 hour period using Motherboard Monitor 5, recording the temperature every 15 minutes and using the mean temperature recorded over that period of time.

Now its time to have a look at the results with my 3700+ at stock speed and voltage.

While I didn't expect the VSC-158 to compete with the SI-128, I expected more from it against the stock AMD Opteron cooler. It really is no match for the Thermalright cooler and just matches the stock Opteron cooler. While the Opteron cooler is a decent cooler, it surprised me that the VSC-158 does not perform better than it at stock speeds. Now to see how it handles a little more heat.

Here the VSC-158 fairs a little better than the stock AMD Opteron heat sink, beating it by 2 degrees C. Still at 48 C under load, its a little high for my liking. I did not have another 92mm fan to see if an increase in airflow would improve the results.

Page 6 : Conclusion

Over Way Technology is a new company with big aspirations for cooling products in several markets, judging by this cooler they really need to be putting more effort into the PC cooling department if they want to succeed in the US market. The CPU cooling market is crowded to say the least, and the VSC-158 just doesn't stand out. It would be hard for me to recommend this cooler with its mounting clearance issues and mediocre performance. If the mounting issue was fixed, this would make a good replacement to a stock heat sink.

Advantages

Quiet
Fan included
Cross platform compatible

Disadvantages

Lack of heatsink base finish
Heatpipe clearance issues

Overclockers Online would like to thank Over Way Technology for supplying the VSC-158 for review.