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Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX


Date
: 02/26/07 – 03:10:04 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Rosewill Inc.

Price:
$65 MSRP / $25 USD (Newegg.com)

For the avid readers of Overclockers Online, you will recognize this brand as it was only a short week or two ago that I reviewed one of their CPU coolers. For the rest of you that missed the previous review, let me introduce you to Rosewill Inc. Rosewill is a computer hardware manufacturer that specializes in high quality computer accessories and professional service to back those components up.

Rosewill opened for business in 2004 and immediately went to work in building the Rosewill brand into one of the most recognized computer accessory manufacturers around. Their product line-up has expanded drastically over the short period of time that they have been around and includes a vast landscape of products ranging from enclosures, to USB peripherals, to input devices. They also offer a number of processor coolers, one of which we will be looking at today.

The Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX is similar to the last Rosewill CPU cooler I reviewed yet so very different. Again, heatpipes play a starring role in how this cooler functions but the design is not of an upright type. Instead, the RCX-Z2-EX has its heatpipes sandwiched on top of each other with a mountain of aluminum cooling fins in-between. The included 92mm fan then brushes away the heat generated by the processor at the same time circulating air down toward the motherboard aiding in the cooling of those components. With all CPU cooler reviews, there are plenty of photos to look at and discuss so we will jump right into it with a quick glance at the package that the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX comes in.

Page 2 : Package

With this being the second Rosewill package I have received in as many weeks, I fully expected to see the same type of clean and simple design of an all black package, I was not disappointed.

Rosewill doesn't go to the lengths of having a scantily clad female on the box that really has nothing to do with the product inside. Instead, Rosewill simply marks the package with their logo in the top right and a large Z in the middle on the front. This indicates that the package contains a CPU cooler from their Z line of coolers.

The pleasing design carries on around the package with images of the product inside on the all black background. I am not sure if it is simply the fact that I am a fan of simple designs and happen to be partial to black, but I honestly think the Rosewill packages for the two CPU coolers I have looked at are the best packages I have seen.

The backside is very simple yet quite informative. The features list here provides all the information prospective buyers would want to see if they were looking at this product in a brick & mortar store. Most purchases these days are going to be on-line so a package is almost becoming obsolete but there are still many computer stores out there in your city and people still shop at them so specifications on the package are always welcome.

A quick look at the last side panel of the package before venturing inside reveals another view of the CPU cooler without the included fan attached. Even from this photo, we can see that the design is quite intricate and the craftsmanship is going to be top notch.

Getting inside the box produces a very neat and clean interior. The top portion contains the two different CPU mounting brackets along with a small instruction sheet and some thermal paste. The cooler then sits below and is nicely protected. The package style Rosewill uses is very good at protecting the coolers inside and shipping these shouldn't be a problem at all.

Page 3 : Specifications

In the last section we looked at the package that the RCX-Z2-EX comes in and on the back panel there is a fairly complete list of specifications printed there. A complete list of specifications can be found at the wonderful Rosewill web site and I have reproduced that chart here:

The obvious standouts on this specifications sheet is the fact that the RCX-Z2-EX is compatible with near every processor mount that has been used in recent years. Everything from AMDs Socket 754 to the newest Intel C2D are compatible. Rosewill doesn't list the AMD Socket AM2 on this here but it will definitely work because the AMD mount on the RCX-Z2-EX uses the center clip on the retention bracket which is still present on AM2 motherboards. The fan that comes mounted on the RCX-Z2-EX is also of interest because it supports PWM fan control which allows fan controllers or compatible motherboard headers to adjust fan speed from 800RPM up to 2400RPM. This is a very nice feature giving complete control to the user to balance performance and noise.

The fan that is used on this cooler is a 4-wire design as you can see and this is what enables that fan speed control. It is manufactured by Y.S.Tech with a part number YD129025LB. Google turned up no information about this model number so we will have to rely on the Rosewill specifications page for the only source of information. Let's now take a look at the rest of the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX CPU cooler.

Page 4 : Package Contents

The accessories that come with the RCX-Z2-EX are all that we will need for mounting this cooler on all of the compatible sockets. I have taken them from the package and spread them out here.

As I mentioned on the previous page, the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX comes with two different mounting brackets. One is for the various AMD mounts and one is for Intel LGA775 mounting. The little bag contains the 4 screws that are necessary to secure the two different mounts to the cooler base. We also receive a decent portion of thermal paste. The instructions that come with the RCX-Z2-EX are very easy to follow and with plenty of pictures making the installation process fairly easy to do for any level of user.

The cooler comes out of the package with the 92m fan already attached and basically ready for action. We see the 4 heatpipes coming from the base of the cooler fan out and curve back into the stack of cooling fins. The overall height of this cooler is quite small and I would venture to say not a whole lot taller than a stock cooler from either AMD or Intel.

The fan has a pair of tabs at both ends that screw into the cooling fins to hold the fan in place. The fan is very well secured to the cooler and there is zero possibility of any type of creaking or rattling noises once in operation.

The cooling fins start right from the base of the cooler and work their way up in an architectural fashion to the fan. There appears to be various layers and angles to the fins to ensure they clear low lying capacitors and other components on the motherboard. Every fin is near perfect holding its position and the build quality of this cooler is very good. None of the fins feel loose or appear to be damaged in any way, a testament to not only the quality of manufacturing but also the security of the package it was shipped in.

Each heatpipe almost appears to have its own section of cooling fins with the middle two sharing the largest portion of the aluminum fins. The heatpipes then fold under the cooling fins and interact as the meat of a sandwich between the thick copper base and the cooling fins. The base of the RCX-Z2-EX is listed as copper but obviously plated in another material, most likely nickel, based on the color.

The heatpipes stretch the length of the base and proceed for a full centimeter past the base. The base itself is a bit thicker than I would have thought and the heatpipes sit rather high up not getting really close to the processor. As we can see from this underside photo, the cooler is quite a symphony of heatpipes and cooling fins finishing strong with a near perfect mounting surface.

The base that mounts to the CPU is certainly something to be impressed with. It is not only extremely flat, but also polished to a near mirror finish. Being flat is more important for a CPU coolers mounting surface than the ability to see your reflection, but this one has both of those features.

We have already seen the photo of the cooler without the fan attached on the package but I just couldn't help but take a photo myself. The details of this cooler are almost like a work of art and I can't say it enough, this cooler is masterfully produced. The quality of the work is really quite impressive for such a small and relatively cheap component.

Page 5 : Installation

Based on the dimensions, I perceived some minor mounting issues on certain motherboards. The design of this heatsink in my eyes was going to lead to interference of chipset heatsinks and even the possibility of memory modules.

Before test fitting anything though, the mounting tabs have to be installed. I am showing an image of the AMD mounting hardware because that is what I will test fit first, but the Intel mounting hardware secures the same way. The four small screws simply hold the mounting tab in place and the cooler is now ready for action.

The first test fit is on a Socket 939 board, the DFI Ultra-D. We can see in this image that the cooler does fit but if you look at the back where the heatpipes curve down into the base, that single heatsink on the motherboard almost doesn't let this happen. Turning the cooler in the other orientation has the orange memory slots blocked right off and actually pushes up against the memory in the first yellow slot. The above orientation is the only useable method of mounting the RCX-Z2-EX on this motherboard and is a bit of a compromise with the loss of orange memory slots.

The next motherboard is again a DFI LanParty series motherboard but this time a Socket AM2 board, the NF590 SLI-M2R/G. Again, concentrate on the heatpipes and we see that the digital PWM heatsink doesn't allow the cooler to even secure to the retention bracket. The only possible way for this cooler to mount is going to be the other way.

Unfortunately, turning the RCX-Z2-EX around doesn't solve the problem. Instead, the memory is now interfering with the heatpipes. I was able to secure the memory module and the cooler at the same time but as you can see, the heatpipes are in contact with the memory heatspreaders and the module itself is actually being pushed to the side. I am definitely not willing to run a setup like this so it appears that the RCX-Z2-EX is not going to be un-useable on this platform.

Switching gears now to the Intel side of things, I start off with a quick test fit of the RCX-Z2-EX on my Asus P5B-Dlx. Obviously the stock northbridge cooling has been removed and with the Noctua NC-U6 in its place, the Rosewill cooler fits like a glove in this orientation. The heatpipes don't come anywhere near the memory modules and the narrow width of the RCX-Z2-EX would fit nicely even with the stock heatpipe cooling solution in place.

If I turn the RCX-Z2-EX around the cooler fits fine on my motherboard, but with the stock MOSFET heatsink in place, I don't think the heatpipes would allow mounting in this orientation. With the perfect snug fitting cooler in the opposite orientation, turning the cooler around in this manner would serve no purpose.

I have a few more Intel motherboards lying around so I will continue on with more test fitting to give a better idea of how this cooler tends to mount. Next up is the Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H and right away, it was evident that only one of the four possible orientations was going to work on this motherboard. In the image above, the digital PWM heatsink interferes with the CPU coolers heatpipes, much like on the DFI AM2 board.

This is realistically the only mounting method that would work on this motherboard. The memory slots don't interfere and everything clips in with ease. The chipset cooler on the opposite side of the cooler in this photo prevents any other orientations for possible mounting. Really, the important thing to remember is that the cooler will mount in at least one direction and not that it can't mount in the other three.

There is one thing I would like to point out about the Intel mounting that can't go without mention. The above image tries to display the issue but it's a bit tough to capture. On the right you can see the pin standing almost perfectly vertical in the un-locked position. On the left, the pin is forced to an angle by locking the pin in place. Basically, the Intel mounting system is the same as the stock Intel cooler which is really quite terrible. To make matters worse, the RCX-Z2-EX doesn't allow for enough room for the locking mechanism to work without interfering with the cooling fins and forcing it on an angle. Needless to say I was able to mount the cooler but it didn't come without frustration.

I will now show the last of the test fits on the motherboard that will be used for testing the performance of the RCX-Z2-EX, the Asus P5N32-E SLI. This motherboard has a very similar heatpipe/heatsink setup that the stock P5B-Dlx has and like I suspected, the heatpipes will interfere with the MOSFET heatsink in this orientation.

A simple 90 degree twist of the RCX-Z2-EX solves the issue and the cooler fits in place like it should. Nestled amongst the heatpipe maze that Asus continues to force down our throats, the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX almost looks like it was designed for this setup with just the right amount of clearance around its perimeter.

The last of the photos I will display before moving on to some thermal testing is of the contact patch produced when securing the cooler. I have placed a small drop of the included thermal paste in the middle of the CPU and mounted the RCX-Z2-EX. I then ran the CPU under load for about half an hour and pulled the heatsink to reveal this patch. Coverage is good and this should provide an excellent conduit of heat for the cooler to do its job.

Page 6 : Performance

Installation wasn't without some bumps in the road with only one or two orientations working on each motherboard and the AMD setups not working out at all, but the only one that really counts is the P5N32-E SLI as that is what I will be doing the testing on. The contact patch we saw was about as perfect as it gets so we should have an ideal setup for testing. Here is the complete list of hardware used for the testing setup:

This is an image of what the bench setup looked like throughout testing. Obviously this setup is not mounted in a case and instead on an open bench setup, so keep that in mind when looking at the results.

For the thermal testing, I will be using Orthos Beta to load the CPU and CoreTemp to record temperatures. Orthos Beta will be run for three hours while CoreTemp logs the temperature of both cores individually every 1000ms. The log of over 14000 temperature readings will then be averaged out for the load temperature on the graphs below. I will also add in the highest and lowest recorded temperature for each core.

The idle temperature results will be an average of both cores together for a 1 hour period that the system was left idle, again using CoreTemp to monitor temperatures. This method should paint a very descriptive portrait of how each cooler handles the heat load. Let's look at the results of the E6600 at stock clocks and voltage.

I tend to use the Thermalright Ultra-120 as the gauge for how a CPU cooler does. The Thermalright Ultra-120 continues to be the best I have tested, but the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX does a pretty good job too. The Rosewill cooler easily out performed the stock Intel cooler and was only about 6C warmer under load on average than the Thermalright Ultra-120. With a solid showing at stock clocks, we will now see how this little cooler really handles a heat load.

The first thing I will report is that the stock Intel cooler can't handle this overclock from this processor. By going with a Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX, you will potentially increase your overclock substantially over the stock retail boxed Intel cooler. I have also added in results from another recently reviewed Rosewill cooler, the RCX-Z775-EX. Again, the RCX-Z2-EX really holds it's own, even on this hefty of an overclock. The Ultra-120 really starts to shine with a heavily overclocked system but both the Rosewill coolers show that they can definitely play with the much larger coolers such as the Ultra-120.

The above screenshot is just a shot of the software setup at the end of the three hour load period for the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The quality of the cooler from the first time you hold it in your hands is quite impressive. The performance that the RCX-Z2-EX showed that it was capable of is also something that Rosewill should be proud of. No, it didn't out-perform the other coolers that I compared it to, but the RCX-Z2-EX certainly did handle a hefty overclock on a high strung, overclocked, over-volted E6600.

All of this praise doesn't come without some negatives unfortunately. Both of my DFI AMD based motherboards were not able to accommodate the RCX-Z2-EX in a satisfactory fashion. Other AMD based motherboards will not have the same problems I did but before purchasing this cooler, you will most definitely want to check dimensions and see if it will fit. On the Intel side of things however, the RCX-Z2-EX had no problems at all fitting in at least one direction.

The low profile and downward pointing fan make the Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX an excellent choice for a number of setups as the design will help aid in cooling motherboard components. The PWM adjustable fan that is included with the RCX-Z2-EX is very acceptable at the maximum RPM and also allows for SmartFan control with compatible motherboards for silent operation when it isn't necessary.

Advantages:

Low profile means it will fit with near any case
Included fan is quiet, and allows for PWM control
Performance allowed for the same overclock as much larger coolers

Disadvantages:

This cooler displayed some mounting issues on a few setups
The Intel mounting method is not without its own problems

Overclockers Online would like to thank Rosewill for providing this sample for review.