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Ultra Products Ultra Fire


Date
: 06/29/05 – 12:40:49 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Ultra Products

Price
: 39.99

Ultra Products is notoriously well known for its X-Connect power supply. Ultra Products has also made a number of other products including memory modules, cases and other various enclosures. However, many haven't heard of their small CPU cooler line. Included in this series is the
Ultra Fire CPU Cooler
that we'll be looking at today.

Like all of the previous CPU coolers I've reviewed, this one also incorporates copper and heatpipes. Let's get a closer look at what we have for you today.

Page 2 : Package

The Ultra Fire comes sealed in a plastic enclosure. This option, while less protective than a complete box, shows the entire CPU cooler as the back side is also clearly visible.

This type of packaging is best for those who visit retail stores and want to see all sides of a product before buying it. Simply by looking at the package we can see that Ultra Products has opted for slightly smaller fans than many of its competitors, at the same time we can also note that this is the first cooler to use a dual fan push-pull system.

The package is pretty simple; the front displays the cooler as well as some graphics for aesthetics and the back lists some of the key features and specifications.

Page 3 : Specification

The following page has been quoted from Ultra Products.

Page 4 : Setup and Installation

Using a pair of scissors we can cut open the package to reveal all the contents.

A fairly simple package with not much more than the cooler, thermal paste, installation guide and a K8 mount.

The cooler itself doesn't scream performance like the NT02 or Hyper 6+ but for those looking to match the X-Connect finish, the fan shroud has the same type of glow.

While I'm not too interested in aesthetics, I prefer that the product works flawlessly before looking good.

The two 80mm fans share a single power source and the cable is wrapped to reduce clutter and minimize the chance of the cable getting caught in the blades of the fans.

Looking at the base, we see that Ultra Products took the time to give it a very nice shine.

Even of the individual parts not in contact with the CPU have a nice shine.

The Ultra Fire comes ready for Socket A machines, but if you need to move over to a K8 it only takes about five minutes. You'll need to peel off the protective sticker from the base of the CPU and unscrew two screws that hold the retention clip support block, pictured above. Afterwards, you need to screw back in the retention block without the retention clip. The second to last step is taking the K8 retention clip and removing one of the handles so you can slide it through the heatsink. The last step is to reattach the handle. The whole process isn't very hard and is documented in the installation guide.

Once you're done putting the K8 clip on, it should look something like this:

If you do decide to remove the fan and shroud, you get a good idea of the hardware that's keeping your system cool.

The bare cooler doesn't look very impressive. The density of the fins is particularly low.

The mounting process of the Ultra Fire has definitely been the easiest. The motherboard does not have to be removed and no fancy hardware is required. Simply remove your existing cooler, clean off the CPU with some rubbing alcohol and apply a new layer of thermal paste. The paste Ultra Products provided is a gold color, and who knows what that'll do. Once the paste is applied, rest the cooler onto the CPU and push down on the clips to secure the cooler to the frame.

Unlike the Hyper 6+ and the NT02, you'll notice that the Ultra Fire has the fans positioned on the other sides. With the K8 machines, this doesn't help with cooling the other components on the motherboard, referrring to the memory modules and the video card. However, the advantage of this layout is that it doesn't obstruct the chipset or get in the way of large coolers on some video cards.

Let's move on to the performance of the Ultra Fire. I would hope it doesn't catch on fire while cooling my 3000+ Venice!

Page 5 : Performance

Just like the rest of our coolers we'll put it through the same test. The components used:

The room temperature during testing was approximately 27 degrees Celcius!

While the Ultra Fire doesn't cool as well as the NT02 or the Hyper 6+, it outperforms them in noise. This cooler isn't very loud compared to some other enthusiast equipment. I found it to be slightly quieter than the stock HSF AMD provides.

Just as I had expected, the temperature over the system has increased. The direction of the low profile fan located above many of the components that cross its path doesn't help in keeping the system cool.

Page 6 : Conclusion

While companies like Zalman still have an edge over the Ultra Fire when it comes to low noise solutions, the Ultra Fire has an edge over some of the other heat pipe coolers with its simple installation procedure that doesn't obstruct any of the other components. It also costs significantly less than many top coolers.

Ultra Products still has a bit of refinement left for the Ultra Fire; more fins would definitely be an advantage. The push-pull fan system will surely be able to capitalize on such an improvement. If Ultra Products used 80*80*25mm fans, we could expect more air flow, lower dBa's and an overall increased performance. As it stands, the Ultra Fire is a basic stock cooler replacement with potential to be much more.

Advantages

Simple installation
Polished base
Quieter than other coolers in its league

Disadvantages

Average performance
Supports only AMD platforms

Overclockers Online would like to thank Ultra Products for their kind support.