Print this article

VapoChill Micro Ultra Low Noise


Date
: 08/10/05 – 01:43:34 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer: Asetek Inc.
Price:
~43 / $53USD (Excluding VAT)

Asetek Inc. is one of the industry leaders in water based and vapor phase cooling systems used in personal computers worldwide. Their WaterChill and VapoChill lines are known throughout the overclocking community for providing the much needed cooling for high stressed systems. With the recent announcement that Asetek would be adding to their already impressive line up with a more conventional CPU cooling solution, a wave of excitement and anticipation flooded forums and news sites alike.

The addition to the Asetek arsenal is more traditional than a phase change or water cooling system, but still cutting edge in its own right. The VapoChill Micro series is powered by Asetek's patented vapor chamber technology and is what I will be examining today. Out of the 3 models offered, the High-End, Extreme Performance, and Ultra Low Noise, I will be putting the Ultra Low Noise through its paces to see how it handles itself.

Page 2 : Package

My VapoChill Micro sample arrived straight from Denmark.

Upon pulling the plastic package from the box, I saw no immediate signs of damage, aside from some slightly crumpled plastic of the package around the fan corners. This was a little surprising as the retail package was just sitting in the shipping box without any additional packing material. This tells me two things. One, Asetek trusts their retail package and two, the package does a good job in protecting the VapoChill Micro.

I have outlined the major points that the VapoChill Micro offers on the front of the package. Asetek does a great job of showing off what you will be getting from the VapoChill Micro. The biggest difference between the other models and the Ultra Low Noise is the inclusion of a fan controller, as shown on the right hand side. At the bottom we see that this model is intended for use with S754 / 939 / 940 processors. That means my AMD 3000+ Winchester processor will be getting this lightweight cooler strapped to its back for testing.

The key features and specifications are listed at the top of the package on the back. Most of the key features have already been mentioned on the front of the package and the specifications list is very complete, giving dimensions, weight and a few other bits of information to potential buyers about the cooler.

These plastic packages have become quite popular over the years in the computer industry, moving away from your traditional cardboard boxes. This reduces cost, weight, and size for manufacturers, but it also provides more of a challenge to display information. Asetek has a well designed retail package with the VapoChill Micro neatly packing all accessories at the base to provide stability and giving us a full view of the unit with the clear plastic. The protection can be hit and miss with this type of packaging, but the VapoChill Micro seems to be very safe in it's case so I think Asetek did their homework and have done well with this offering.

Before cutting into the package, the next page will provide a complete rundown of specifications, and features of the VapoChill Micro Ultra Low Noise.

Page 3 : Specifications

Recently, I have been disappointed with some manufacturers web sites as far as their ability to describe their products. This was not the case when I got to the Asetek site as you will soon find out. I have sifted through the wealth of information provided by Asetek on their web site and will provide the highlights below.

What Asetek has to say about the VapoChill Micro…

Specifications and included features:

• VapoChill Micro Vapor Chamber
• Nickel finish
• Fan duct
• Low noise fan & push pins
• Fan speed regulator
• AMD S754/939/940 socket clip

  Dimensions (H×W×D): 139×98×50 mm can be applied in most ATX midi and tower cases
  Weight: 278 g (355g incl. 92mm fan)

  I can not stress enough that this would be considered a thin cross-section of the information provided about this cooler on the Asetek site. You have to think that when a company is this forthcoming with information there is a reason for it. Maybe it is because their products are so technically advanced and good that they can't stop talking about them? There is only one way to find out, but first we will see exactly what is inside this tidy little package in the contents section.

  
  Page 4 : Contents
  

  I absolutely despise this type of package as far as opening it. I generally end up making more of a mess than I would in breaking a piñata by the time I get it open. Once again Asetek has impressed me and saved me at least 2 minutes of frustration and from the potential of cuts on my hands.

  

  The 3 dots you see lining the package sides are what holds it together. They are snapped together tight and secure enough to prevent the package from coming open but with a little persuasion, they actually pop apart giving access to the interior without a knife and the tense moments that come with using that knife. At the base of the package is the fan controller and above that is the package that contains the rest of the accessories we will be looking at in this section.

  
  A small tidy amount of hardware with the connection cables for the fan control, the fan control itself, and the wrapper for the contents that unfold to reveal the instructions.
  

  As we take a closer look at the instructions here, we can see there is not going to be much to the install. The VapoChill Micro is not a universal mount, so this keeps the hardware provided with it to a minimum. I like how the instructions use photos and text, especially for the diagram on how to hook up the fan in-line with the fan controller. It would be almost impossible to get wrong.

  

  These are the contents of the one bag within the base of the packaging. It contains nothing more than the connection cables, the mounting bracket for the cooler and the 'plugs' to secure the fan to the fan shroud. Normally you would see screws for this, but Asetek has designed this cooler with weight in mind and the light fan shroud would not be able to manage screws. I am interested to see how these lightweight plastic pins do in action.

  

  The heart of any CPU cooler is the fan, and it looks like the VapoChill has a leg up on the competition. The fan design is that of a new type. It is hard to see in these photos of the front and back, but the sides surrounding the fan are slotted allowing for air to be sucked in from the sides, as well as the front like a traditional fan design. This design apparently allows the fan to push more air while keeping noise down. I have not seen one of these fans in action and look forward to hearing it once I get the VapoChill Micro installed. There is no part number on the sticker Asetek has put on the back, but that doesn't stop us here at Overclockers Online.

  
  FBL09A12M made by Panasonic / Hydro Wave Bearing / 2450RPM (+/-10%) / 30 dBa / 0.2A / 50,000 hours
  This fan is what sets the Ultra Low Noise model apart from the Extreme Performance model. I am not sure what fan the Extreme Performance model has but it is not the FBL09A12M. With all the information provided by Asetek about this cooler on their web site, I am surprised that the information about the fan used for the various models isn't more complete.
  

  Both the Ultra Low Noise and the Extreme Performance models of the VapoChill Micro come with a fan controller, the High-End model does not. The controller is your basic fan controller that will fit in any PCI slot. I prefer a PCI mount as opposed to using up a drive bay in the front of the case. In testing, I will provide the temperatures at the high and low end of the RPM range that this controller offers.

  

  With all the hardware and accessories covered, it is time to look at the cooler itself. In the photo, it is tough to get an idea of the size as I have nothing for reference, but trust me when I say this cooler is small, when mounted you will begin to see just how small. The height is that of the average aftermarket CPU cooler but the 3 large heat pipes are not surrounded by huge cooling fins. It will be interesting to see how this large heatpipe/small fin design works. Based on the technology behind it, I am confident it will be a competent cooler.

  

  Looking head on from the rear, we see that the fins are offset to one side. I am going to assume this design is to avoid interfering with the RAM slots. When mounted on the motherboard, the orientation would have the side with no overhang above the RAM slots on most motherboards.

  
  The welds on the cooler are neat and clean. The top welds on the 3 heat pipes are shown here.
  

  The base of the cooler is perfectly flat and very thick; it looks to be copper with a nickel finish. The plastic cover, on the left, does a good job in keeping the thermal compound undisturbed during shipping and the cooler is now ready for installation right out of the box. The idea of a pre-applied thermal compound is not new as most stock CPU coolers come with a thermal pad pre-applied. It is, however, unique that a thermal paste has been pre-applied.

  

  I was a little curious to how the pre-applied thermal paste would cover the CPU when mounted so I thought you, the reader, might as well. The photo clearly shows that the entire CPU surface gets covered with a thin layer of thermal paste and the pre-application looks to be right on the money. There is a little bit of excess built up at the edges of the heat spreader but nothing to worry about as far as leaking out onto the socket goes. This was caused, I believe, during the install due to not being able to see the CPU and line it up perfectly, more on that in the installation section.

  

  After testing, I cleaned the base off and took this photo. The finish is perfectly flat, but not as smooth and polished as I would like to see. The lack of any detail in the reflection accentuates this.

  

  The fan duct that Asetek has used for this cooler is a little suspect. It is made of a very thin plastic and quite flimsy. The duct is also responsible for having the fan mounted to it with the included push pins. I guess I should not pass judgment before testing, so let's get to the installing the VapoChill Micro and see how it performs.

  
  Page 5 : Installation
  

  On the Asetek web site, they actually claim that it only takes 30 seconds to install the VapoChill Micro across the board, for enthusiast and beginners alike. Now this may just be my wonderful pessimistic demeanor shining through but I have a hard time believing that anyone can install any CPU cooler in 30 seconds. I don't blame Asetek for trying to get the point across that this cooler is easy and quick to install, but 30 seconds, that's a bit far fetched.

  

  Before even getting to the motherboard and mounting the cooler on the CPU the instructions have us first mounting the fan on the fan duct with the 4 included push pins. It's pretty straight forward, put the pin holder in the hole and push the pin through. They give off an audible snap when fully inserted and appear to hold the fan securely in place. This really stiffens up the duct and my thoughts of a flimsy fan duct waving around in the case were un-warranted.

  
  With being a single application, there is only one mounting plate that comes with the VapoChill Micro.
  

  The unfolded instructions clearly show us how to angle the base to get it under the mount plate and you can see here how that looks once accomplished. To secure the mount plate to the motherboard we simply remove the 2 retainer screws and set the plate on the retainer. Then it is just a matter of tightening the retainer screws. There is no need for new screws and we just use the original ones that we took out.

  
  It really is a tight squeeze to try and line up the cooler on the CPU. As you can see, the cooler blocks any angle of view.
  With the large surface area of the mount blocking most of your view of the CPU, I could not tell exactly where I was setting the cooler in relation to the CPU. When mounting a cooler on the CPU, I don't want to be guessing. I want to have the confidence of knowing fore sure that I have the center of the base over the center of the CPU. When you go to secure the mount on the retainer the cooler will inevitably be centered, but this could result in a good portion of the thermal compound being scraped off on the edge of the heatspreader, as the cooler slides to the center. Having the thermal compound pre-applied and no extra thermal material provided, you really only get one shot at it and not everyone will get it right the first time. The other issue came when it was time to secure the screws.
  

  You can see in the photo above that the screwdriver will be on an extreme angle in order to secure the bottom screw. It was not an issue for me, as I have a long shaft phillips head screw driver, but with a universal head screwdriver, like many people have in their homes, this task would have been significantly more difficult. Mounting the fan after securing the cooler to the motherboard will rectify this issue. I took the fan off and remounted it, with the VapoChill Micro still mounted to the CPU inside the case, and noticed it was just as easy as mounting the fan with the cooler outside of the case. The instructions should take this into consideration.

  
  The VapoChill Micros does not take up a lot of space in the case. There is no chance of interfering with the RAM slots
  
  The cooler is fairly tall however. The angle doesn't exactly show it, but the top of the cooler is almost flush with the side of the fan and thus, the side of the case. Any regular size case will easily be able to handle it though.
  The last piece to the puzzle is mounting the fan controller to an available PCI slot. The photo of how to wire that up gives a perfect explanation and was easy enough. The controller does require a power source coming from a 4-pin Molex connection, which would be fine but with the mounting position in a PCI slot, it requires a cable to be strung from the front of the case to the rear. A simple pass through design where the cable from the fan plugs into the controller and a 3 pin connection plugs into the motherboard providing the power would have been more preferable.

  Overall the installation was fairly straight forward and not difficult. The claim of a 30 second install is a bit misleading to potential buyers as it takes that long to mount the fan alone. I understand Asetek is likely referring to the actual mounting of the cooler to the motherboad but at the same time I don't like being mislead as a consumer as the word 'installation' to me, involves far more than the actual mounting of a cooler to the socket. I was able to install the VapoChill Micro without removing the motherboard, as most should be able to do, which does in fact make it a quick install. It does take a bit of guessing and can be a tight squeeze, so unfortunately, it is not the easiest cooler I have installed. It is also not the hardest by any stretch of the imagination. Its time to warm the system up and see what this relatively small cooler can do.

  
  Page 6 : Testing
  

  To test temperatures, we will be used the following setup…

  Control:
  Asus A8V-E Deluxe
  VIA K8T890 chipset
  AMD 3000+ Winchester @ 266*9 = 2394MHz @ 1.64v
  OCZ PDC 2*512MB PC3200 @ 436MHz @ 2.7v
  Sapphire Hybrid X700PRO 256MB
  Thermaltake Noisetaker 420 Watt
  Dual WD Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM configured in a RAID 0
  Windows XP Pro x64 + Latest updates
  Components were mounted in a generic mid-tower case with the side panel off. The PSU was removed from the case and all case fans were disabled for testing.

  Coolers:

  VapoChill Micro – Ultra Low Noise

  Titan Vanessa L-Type
  AMD64 3000+ Winchester Retail Box HSF

  Thermal Paste:
  Arctic Silver 5 was used for all coolers.

  Normally I would run the test with the components spread out over my desk, but the design of the VapoChill Micro, having its abilities rely on mounting position, required testing to be done with the motherboard in an upright stance. This is how it would be mounted in 95% of the cases it will be used in; it only seemed fitting to run the tests in such a way. With the lack of the ability to test all coolers with the same thermal compound that the VapoChill Micro comes with, I ran all tests with AS5 to keep the control the same. I did run the same set of benchmarks with the VapoChill Micro using the thermal compound that it came applied with and am happy to report that the numbers are almost identical to that of the AS5. This is re-assuring to buyers as you will not have to bother using another thermal compound, the pre-applied thermal paste is top quality. The AS5 test results were recorded for the chart below.

  I used my standard testing method as I have and will with all CPU coolers. Quoted from the Titan Vanessa L-Type review…

  Upon applying the thermal paste and mounting each cooler, the system was booted and let idle for 5 minutes while monitoring temperatures to ensure the cooler was correctly mounted. At the 5 minute mark, Prime95 was run on Torture Test Blend for 3 hours. This would guarantee that heat saturation for each cooler had occurred. At the end of the 3 hours the temperatures for the CPU and MB were recorded with data supplied by Speedfan. I had also taped a temperature probe to the side of the NB cooler on the base and recorded the temperature at the 3 hour mark from that as well. Prime95 was then stopped and closed and the system sat idle for 1 hour with no activity except any normal Windows services and processes alongside Speedfan. It was then that the temperatures were recorded again using the same methods for the chart below. During the testing period, room temperature remained between 23 and 24 degrees Celsius and as stated, there was no additional fans cooling the motherboard in any way.
  

  In addition to the thermal sensor on the North Bridge, I also mounted a thermal sensor to the backside of the closest stick of RAM to the CPU. This will help give us a better idea of the amount of motherboard cooling each cooler provides as any air the coolers direct to the motherboard should flow right over this stick of RAM. The temperatures for the RAM were acquired in the exact same fashion as the North Bridge cooler temperatures.

  

  A very impressive set of numbers put up by the VapoChill Micro. The stock AMD HSF unit is no match for either of the other two coolers and only comes close in the MB numbers as all the coolers results really begin to stack up there indicating case temperature playing a larger role to that sensor than the CPU cooler. When looking at the CPU temperature, we see that the VapoChill Micro can cool almost as well as the much larger Vanessa L-Type. The gap between the high fan setting and the low fan setting is wider on the VapoChill micro with a difference of 4 degrees. This is an indication that the fan plays a significant role in how this cooler works. The CPU temperatures at Idle confirm these findings as the Vanessa opens up the gap by a couple more degrees at the low fan settings. Despite being more heavily reliant on the fan to assist in cooling, the VapoChill Micro still performs admirably with the small 92mm fan turning at only 1150RPM.

  

  Another impressive feat that the Asetek cooler attained was it's cooling of the North Bridge in conjunction with the Zalman passive heat sink. In my review of the Vanessa L-Type, you will recall how amazingly well the cooler was able to keep the North Bridge temperatures down due to the tight proximity and convenient design. At the high fan speed the VapoChill Micro was almost equal to the task, and at the low fan speed still held its own. Even with the fan sitting above the Zalman cooler and the 92mm fan pushing far less air than the large 120mm on the Vanessa L-Type at that RPM. The fan duct no doubt did its job here to get the air down to the surrounding components on the motherboard.

  As stated earlier I thought it would be interesting to put a probe on the inside RAM heatsink to see if that fan duct really did help the surrounding components and it was a wise choice that I did. The RAM numbers show a decent advantage over the other two coolers at the high and low fan settings. It only shows up as a two or three degree victory but it does indicate that there is a lot more air moving around that area on the motherboard. This will definitely be assisting in cooling not only the RAM, but the capacitors in and around that area as well. The fan itself was great but has one draw back.

  

  At the low fan setting right up to 1600RPM you can not hear it. I mean, you really do not know it is on until you bend down to have a look. This is in a completely silent room with nothing more than the cooler and PSU running, and the Noisetaker PSU is non existent in its operation. Once you do begin to hear it, you start to hear the single drawback of this design. A quiet, but noticeable, off-pitch whirring sound that seems to stand out from the other fan noise. On high the fan is quieter than the Vanessa L-Type for overall noise by a decent margin. You can, however, hear that whirring sound over top of both coolers when they are running together at their high speeds. It's not loud, as it is just easier to pick up by the ear being a different pitch than the rest of the noise. With the rest of the case fans turned on, it is almost drowned out completely but fans that emit a noise in that pitch range just seem to stick in your ear forever. Most people will not even notice it with a couple case fans and the side panels on but it is something I heard right away and needed to mention.

  It really was a good battle between the two Heat Pipe coolers and I will give my final thoughts on the following page.

  
  Page 7 : Conclusion
  

  The VapoChill Micro lived up to its name, it is definitely micro when compared to the rest of the CPU cooling market. For the last year or so, bigger was better it seemed. Asetek has certainly challenged that thought process with the micro version of its VapoChill line. This cooler will fit anyone's case, and do an incredible job once there. The advanced technology behind the design gives this little cooler the big cooler performance we have come to expect from an Asetek product. The installation is easy, but still not quite perfect. Removing the motherboard is not necessary but would aid in giving you the angle of view to better see the CPU for mounting. The included fan controller works really well in giving you a wide range of available fan speeds but the extra power cable that it uses does add to the cables that will need to be strung through the case.

  The Ultra Low Noise model that I tested was in fact very quiet. Even at the highest fan speed, the noise generated was minimal aside from the 'whirring' sound that was being omitted. It really is a shame that there was this off-pitched noise that stood out from the other fan noise that the case generated. Had there not been this sound, I would have to say the VapoChill Micro – Ultra Low Noise should be labeled Ultra Silent as it really is. The thermal compound that comes pre-applied is very user friendly feature and is as solid a performing thermal compound you could expect from any other on the market. The fan duct does an excellent job in cooling the motherboard in conjunction with the fan and is one big benefit that more coolers will be focusing on as components continue to run faster on our motherboards generating more heat.

  There are not a lot of negative things to say about the performance of the Vapo Chill Micro Ultra Low Noise and, because of this, it is hard to not recommend this for any user. For those running systems that are not stressed due to overclocking this is an ideal solution as you would easily be able to run the cooler on the lowest of fan settings and be forced to look in the case every now and then just to make sure the fan was still turning because it is impossible to hear it at that speed. For the enthusiast or someone with a very hot environment causing their case to be very warm, the VapoChill Micro will relieve you of the heat. The cooler had no problem handling the great amount of heat that my system generated even without the help of case cooling fans. The noise of the fan is still less than most due to it's design at full speed it will not even come close to causing a noise issue for gaming.

  

  Advantages:

• Definitely micro
• Fan controller included
• Motherboard component cooling
• Very good cooling ability

  Disadvantages:

• Un-pleasant fan noise
• Single socket mount
• Where's the 120mm model?

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