Chrome Orb
Since
having my Duron 700 Socket A CPU I have been doing what most of us like to do
and have been pushing this CPU to its Mhz limits which,
Chrome ORB Specifications.
Application | AMD S |
Dimensions | 69mm diameter x 45mm high |
Clip Type | TCS09 Clip on Clip |
Fan Size | 43x25mm 3-wire with Rpm Sensor |
Rated Voltage | 12 Volt |
Noise Level | 29 dBA |
Air Volume | 25 CFM |
Rated Speed | 5500 RPM |
Bearing System | Ball Bearing |
Interface Material | Cho |
Fan safety | UL/CE/CSA |
Thermal Resistance | Theta JA=0.81c/w |
Special Feature | Square base plate (Fully covers all 4 CPU rubber feet) |
Here is a picture of the Chrome Orb, showing the base with the wide metal plate which covers the CPU's 4 Pads.
Here is a picture of the Golden orb next to the Chrome one, as you can see the golden orb has a twist fit which will crunch a Duron, but the Chrome orbs sits nicely over the top of the Socket A Cpu and doesn't damage it ;)
As you can see the differences between the Golden orb, left, and the Chrome orb on the right be careful how you fit your orb as this could happen :-
Test
Set-up.
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Global Win 802 case 2 x Sunon 80mm case fans (1 intake, 1 exhaust)
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300watt power supply
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Duron 700
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Abit KT7 Motherboard
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2 x 128Mb Crucial PC133 Cas2 Ram
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IBM GXP34 34.2gig 7,200rpm Hard Drive
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Panasonic 8/4/32 CDRW
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Acer 40x CD-Rom
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Ge-Force 2 GTS 32mb AGP
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SoundBlaster Live X-Gamer
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Microsoft Optical Explorer Mouse
Testing.
Right then first things first I cleaned
off the thermal pad that came with this, this is the pink stuff make sure this
goes! Also remove the pink tab from the cooler. (you don’t have to do this but
I am a Perfectionist!!) and clean the surface with medical alcohol (No this
isn’t my favorite tipple) and apply a thin amount of white heat sink compound
to the CPU and ORB. Mounting of the ORB was very easy even though it does get
very close to the capacitors by the Socket A Housing. I was very impressed that
on one side of the mounting clip there were three eyelets compared to the normal
one on most Socket A heatsinks, this stopped the ORB from moving around whilst
securing the other side of the mounting clip and thus gave me plenty of
confidence that I hadn't spread the heatsink compound everywhere which is the
general feeling I get when fitting me generic heatsink with only one eyelet
either side and which also can rock about too much and chip the edge of your CPU
off which is highly dangerous! To fully test this cooler out I first ran it with
the Duron at default Mhz and Voltage and then at 950mhz and 1.85 VCore. I also
did the same with the generic heatsink and fan combo that came with the CPU to
compare the change in CPU temp. Note: Each time I changed the heatsink I
cleaned off the old HSC and applied new to get consistent results.
Load = 3dmark2000 looped 3 times
Results. - Duron700 at 1.5vcore
Duron700
at 950mhz 1.85vcore
Conclusion...
Pros:
-
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Looks Damn Sexy
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Quiet Running
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Very Good Mounting Clip
Cons:
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Alpha may offer even better cooling, but then very noisy
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You'll want to leave the side of your case so you can see it!!
Update, after playing with the CPU for no more than 20 mins, Ive got it stable at 1000Mhz, with Silver Paste and the Orb here is a picture :-
A Big thank you to Insane Hardware and Tweaktown for there help with images in this review