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Thermaltake Blue Orb II


Date
: 01/12/06 – 05:05:30 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Thermaltake

Price:
$55

By now Thermaltake does not exactly need an introduction, as they have been at the forefronts of the performance cooling, power supplies and accessories market for quite some time. Thus, it is a name we all know very, very well.

The renowned orb style cooler has had quite a history, beginning in 1999 when Hewlett Packard released the Polar Logic Orb. Since then, it has been redone and revamped by countless manufacturers and more prominently, by Zalman. Today, the orb style cooler is used to cool chipsets, video cards and obviously CPUs. Throughout this, Thermaltake stands humbly behind the original Golden Orb which brought the orb cooler design to mainstream consumers.

Today we will be taking at look at the new Thermaltake Orb II predecessor of the original Blue Orb. This heatsink maximizes cooling with its solid copper core, radian crotched fins and massive 120mm blue LED fan.

Page 2 : Package

The Blue Orb II is packaged within a clear clamshell package which shows off the heatsink, features and sports various pictures of the heatsink.

Opening the package reveals the Blue Orb II and small box with The Original Design of Ultra- Silent Cooling Performance printed on it.

Inside the box we find various mounting hardware for LGA775 and K8, color instructions, a K8 backplate and thermal paste.

Though this type of packaging does a poor job protecting the product, it does display it well.

Page 3 : Specifications

The following information was taken from Thermaltake's Blue Orb II webpage.

And some more important features:

Essentially, the Blue Orb II is a basic heatsink… a massive one that weighs in at 869g. This heatsink does not use any heatpipes like most coolers today, it relies solely on fins for effective cooling. Because of its shear weight, clips will not be enough. Thankfully, Thermaltake has implemented screws for mounting.

Page 4 : Package Contents

It's time now for a closer look at the Blue Orb II.

As you can see, this heatsink is not small by any means. It measures 140mm by 66mm, but compatibility is not a factor with the small base. The fins are raised high enough for RAM to fit underneath and are small enough for the first PCI Express slot to be utilized with headroom.

Removing three screws allows the fan to be removed for cleaning. Replacing the fan will be near impossible without some major modding.

Currently Everflow's website does not have this fan listed, so determining what type of bearing this fan uses is quite difficult, but I sure hope it is ball bearing because sleeve bearing fans are known for their remarkably short life span and replacing the fan will be a big challenge.

Under the fan is the copper core, the hollowed out center helps reduce the amount of heat trapped under the dead spot of the fan and more efficiently spreads the heat to the fins.

Flipping the heatsink over gives us a very clear view of Thermaltakes 'crotched fin' design. It is intended to maximize surface area and ultimately increase performance. The base is extremely well done with absolutely no visible machine marks and is polished to a mirror finished to enhance thermal conductivity.

Now, we focus our attention to the mounting device. As mentioned earlier in the review, Thermaltake has opted to use screws instead of clips because the screws are more secure and will be able to support the weight of the Blue Orb II.

Page 5 : Installation

Installing the Blue Orb II is relatively easy to do, but may require more work depending on the motherboard. The Blue Orb II is built to fit on AMD K8 and Intel LGA775 motherboards only. I will walk through the alternative K8 installation, exchanging the stock backplate for the Thermaltake backplate, which will lead to the standard K8 installation.

In order to determine which K8 installation method suites your motherboard, remove the retention module/bracket and check the mounting holes underneath it. If it is metal then you have a good chance of having the backplate sporting taller mounting holes, if it is plastic, the back plate will need to be exchanged. Another method to check this is to check if the included standoffs fit in the mounting holes. In the case of a shorter mounting hole, the backplate will need to be replaced.

Removing the back plate involves removing the motherboard, so make sure you have your anti-static wristband and a set of screwdrivers ready! With the retention module/ bracket removed, turn the motherboard over and remove the backplate, then fit Thermaltake's backplate on the motherboard.

The hardest part is now done and this leads us into the standard K8 installation process!

Thermaltake suggests applying the thermal paste before installing the standoffs, but the order does not make a difference. I chose to secure the standoffs first; simply because I would rather not accidentally put my hand into the thermal paste!

Next, place the Blue Orb II on top of the CPU and align the mounting screws with the standoff.

Now with the heatsink securely installed, its time to assemble the system!

Even though the Blue Orb II hovers above two memory slots, it is still possible to install the memory due to the heatsink's height – but it is a tad tricky! In order to install the memory, slip the module under the fins then secure it into place.

Now, with that done, onto the testing!

Page 6 : Performance

To test the Blue Orb II's performance, we will pit it against an AMD Opteron stock heatsink and the Thermalright XP-120 – one of today's best performing heatsink. Each heatsink will be tested with it's included thermal paste and Arctic Silver 5. Load conditions are achieved by running Prime 95, OCCT Torture Test and Folding @ Home for 45 minutes. Idle conditions are achieved by letting the system idle on the Window's desktop for 45 minutes. All temps are read with a CompuNurse digital Thermometer.

Let us start off with the system's specifications:

All tests were conducted in a room temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.

The results!

These numbers speak for itself quite impressive! The Blue Orb II managed to hold its ground against the XP-120 and even out performed it under stock conditions.

From an acoustic point of view, the Blue Orb II is certainly not quiet and not 17 dBA, in fact it sounded only slightly quieter than the 30 dBA Panaflo used on the XP-120!

Page 7 : Conclusion

We are now approaching the end of the Blue Orb II review and it is time to wrap things up. The Blue Orb II is a spectacular heatsink, has an excellent build quality, has an extremely secure mounting, and performs extraordinarily well. This heatsink managed to give the Thermalright XP-120 some tough competition and, in some cases, even performed better! Though the heatsink is not exactly quiet, it is bearable and most of the noise is the swooshing of air. Not only does this heatsink perform well, it also looks great! It is the Blue fins, and not obtrusive LED fan that makes the heatsink stand out! Overall, this heatsink is truly remarkable and is priced much lower than its competitors.

Advantages

• Superb performance
• Good instructions
• Exellent mounting
• Well finished base
• Aesthetically appealing
• Low cost

  Disadvantages

• Definitely not 17 dBA

  Overclockers Online would like to thank Thermaltake for making this review possible.