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By Wilfred
12/01/99
Hardware
One
Introduction
Oh well, it was after quite some time before I could settle
down to write this review. It wasn't simple as I'd originally thought it'll be because
they were merely active heatsinks to write about. No ordinary heatsinks no doubt.
Mr Vincent Tzeng of TennMax had kindly arranged to send this parcel to me
after he read my review on the Creative
Banshee card where I cursed the tremendous heat produced. He'd really read my mind by
sending, along with the LasagnaX, the StealthV2 also. So here, we let you know what we
think of them.
TennMax LasagnaX Cooler
So much for the crap, I'll begin with the LasagnaX cooler
which we tested on our scorching hot Creative
Banshee AGP card.
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The well-constructed fan (which felt heavy to
my hand) measured 5cm by 5cm by 1cm, with unique slit cuts that allows for air to be blown
out of the metal thermal caging of the fan. Its low profile allowed it to be convenient
enough to squeeze between 2 adjacent cards. |
On the packaging of the fan, it is stated that
the fan performs at 6500 rpm at 2.0V and 5500 rpm at 1.5V, suggesting that it is quite a
sports car of a fan.
Test System
Abit BH6 Motherboard
Intel Celeron 300A o/c 450Mhz
192Mb SDRAM
Creative 3D Blaster Banshee AGP
Installation
Coming with a slip of "instruction sheet" that
easily explained the installation procedure, it must surely be a dreamed PnP device -
Paste & Play.
The first thing to do is to ensure that there
is no visible trace of dust on the chips, then remove the plastic layer off the thermal
conducting adhesive, and paste!!! I suspect that if you have poor dexterity, you WILL have
difficulty slamming the fan square center of the slightly smaller Banshee chip, but the
instruction sheet warned that you shouldn't repeatedly paste and remove the fan or it will
reduce the adhesiveness of the "sticky tape". And that will lead to poor thermal
conductivity and yadda yadda... So do it right THE FIRST TIME! I'm pleased to say that I
achieved it with little trouble. =)
So the next step was to hold
down the fan on the chip for 10 secs (as instructed) to give it that very first push off
for great tackiness. I gave it an extra minute just to be sure.
After which I proceeded to connect the power
cable/splitter and slotted my Banshee card back in. With a low profile of 1cm, the
LasagnaX fitted snugly between the AGP Banshee and Adaptec 2940W SCSI card. Did you just
heave a sigh of relief?
The LasagnaX Fan at Work
Powering up the system, it worked (and this doesn't
surprise no one!) most readily but best of all, quietly. Placing my palm near the fan, I
can definitely feel a sizeable amount of air flow generated between the cards.
Since I'm not equipped with digital
thermometers whatever, I had to perform the really straightforward "finger"
test. To allow me to complete my physical test on the fan, I left the PC running Quake II
demo for about 10 minutes before attempting to touch the card. The card only feels mildly
warm but it is a great difference from the literally HOT card when it was without the
LasagnaX (Read my Creative Banshee Review
to fine out). And best of all, now you will be able to caress the chip without fearing
your flesh cooking off.
I'm very happy so far that there had been
quite a significant/tangible temperature difference from the past. So we proceed to
benchmarking the card with the added "turbo cooler".
Benchmarks
Before the cooler was attached, the card could only complete
the 3DMark benchmarks at up to 115Mhz. Pushing it up till 120Mhz, I will certainly hang
the system (at least in tropical Singapore with room temperatures of 28 deg C and our
average case temperature of 35 deg C). With the LasagnaX attached, we managed to complete
3DMark at 125Mhz, and charted the results as follows:
From the figures, it is obvious that with the aid of the
additional cooling, we were able to push the Banshee closer to the edge. At 125Mhz, it
performs 9.5% faster than default.
But this is not to suggest that you should attempt to run
your card at such a high clock speed. We have to state that there were cases of minor
screen corruption when we ran the card at 115Mhz for an extended period of time. At
125Mhz, we would experience random freezes in Windows.
Conclusion
Overclocking the card will be one minor reason why you should
want the LasagnaX, but the assurance that your Banshee chip does not cook is reason
enough. If you don't believe, a finger "burn" test will convince you. =)
Special Thanks to Mr
Vincent Tzeng of TennMax
for the provision of the LasagnaX & StealthV2 Coolers |
