Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/371



Introduction
Cooling computer components has lately been becoming quite a "sport". With several conventional cooling methods, and a few not so conventional, the choice for a CPU cooler has become quite challenging.

I have seen quite a few cooling devices in my computer career, and I would say 80% of them are useless. You really get what you pay for, and finding something worth paying for is not easy. Here is where the Alpha1HO-P3 cooler from 3DfxCool comes in. The cooler is almost as large as the MC1000 Peltier Cooler I reviewed a few weeks ago. The cooler uses the Alpha 3125 heatsink kit, which is quite a nice design. The Alpha series of heatsinks have spread like wildfire since their introduction from the Japanese market.

Specifications
The Alpha1HO-P3 cooler comes with the necessary mounting hardware to mount a SLOT-1 Celeron, SECC-2 Pentium 2, and SECC-2 Pentium 3 CPU. 3DfxCool also includes a tube of heatsink compound. The heatsink itself is just massive. It sticks out about 62mm from your slot; so make sure you have room on the motherboard for this fan.

Mounted to the heatsink are two large fans, which push 26CFM each. You will notice some added noise in the case, but that's the price you pay for having a small wind tunnel in your case :)


Performance
For the review, I used an average P3-450, which ran stable at 558Mhz, albeit the CPU temperature was 52.4 °C/126.4 F. Mounting the unit to the P3 was a piece of cake -- apply some heat sink goop and then mount the CPU to the cooler. For the tests, I used two different motherboards, since lately, I have had better success with the AOpen AX6BC Pro Gold board. The ABIT BX6R2 showed some instabilities in other tests I was performing, so I thought it was better to give the cooler a fair chance on a board that is just rock solid.

For the tests, I used the same method that I did for the MC1000 coolers. I tested the CPU at all common overclock points. First, I did it just booting into Windows; then, for each speed, I ran Quake 2 Crusher for 15 minutes to see if it was reasonably stable. To make the tests more meaningful, I compared the Alpha cooler to a common P3 cooler, "Crystal Cooler". To measure CPU temperature, I used a flat thermistor attached to a digital thermometer, which is just as accurate as a thermal header. It retails up here in Canada for $15.00.

Testing Hardware:
Intel Pentium 3 450Mhz
- Serial: Philippines 19210739R-0195
- Cache: SEC 4
64 Corsair PC-133 RAM
Aopen AX6BC Pro Gold Mainboard / Abit BX6R2 Mainboard
Quantum 7.2 EL Hard drive
Voodoo3 3000 Video Card
Diamond MX300 Sound Card

Booting Windows 5 Minutes at Idle

CPU SpeedCrystal Cooler3DfxCool Alpha1HO-P3CPU Voltage
450Mhz50 °C / 122 F 38.6 °C / 101.5 F 2.00v
558Mhz52 °C / 125.6 F 39.7 °C / 103.5 F 2.00v
580Mhz55.7 °C / 132.3 F 41 °C / 105.8 F 2.10v
600MhzUnstable 44 °C / 112 F 2.30v



Quake 2 Crusher Demo 15 Minutes

CPU SpeedCrystal Cooler3DfxCool Alpha1HO-P3CPU Voltage
450Mhz50.5 °C / 122.9 F 41 °C / 105.8 F 2.00v
558Mhz52.4 °C / 126.4 F 42.7 °C / 108.9 F 2.00v
580MhzUnstable 43.9 °C / 111.1 F 2.10v
600MhzUnstable 45.6 °C / 114.1 F 2.30v

Conclusion
This cooler was quite impressive. To reach 600Mhz air-cooled on an average P3 is not bad at all. Will this cooler do this for everyone? No. There are many factors in achieving these kinds of results: quality of the CPU core, RAM, Motherboard, etc. The cooler retails for about $55 USD, which I think is worth it for those of you who have a cooler that couldn't blow out a candle. If you already have a quality cooler, like a GlobalWin or something of that nature, then this is not really worth the investment in my opinion.

The construction of this unit is solid and it does exactly what it is supposed to do. 3DfxCool has put together a quality unit, one that took an average P3 to 600Mhz stable. With all of the coolers available in the market, I would put my money here if I was in need of a cooler for a Pentium 3.

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