Our friends over at Sidewinder Computers sent us the newly released Global Win WBK38 socket cooler to put thru the paces, so that's what we're going to do for ya here. I have been running what has been disputably the best socket cooler to date. The WBK's little brother, the FOP38. We never sobered up long enough to put a review out of the FOP-38, so we decided to pit the WBk38 against the FOP38 and FOP32 in this review to show ya what each can offer.

Manufacturer:  Global Win
Price:  $26.00 (Sidewinder Computers)

 

There was a day, not too long ago, that if you said anybody other than Alpha made the best coolers you'd be laughed out of the geek circles.  Global Win and a few other manufactures have been busting their ass to disprove that.  

Our friends over at Sidewinder Computers sent us the newly released Global Win WBK38 socket cooler to put thru the paces, so that's what we're going to do for ya here.  I have been running what has been disputably the best socket cooler to date.  The WBK's little brother, the FOP38.  We never sobered up long enough to put a review out of the FOP-38, so we decided to  pit the WBk38 against the FOP38 and FOP32 in this review to show ya what each can offer. 

Pic's of the WBK38:

         

 
As you can see, this is one big piece of metal!  As apparent below, there is a lot more meat to this cooler than on it's little brother the FOP38:

 

       
(Global Win FOP38 on the left, and WBK38 on the right)

 

So yes, we can definitely see the Global Win set out to make a monster, but contrary to what the woman in our life try to make us believe, size isn't always everything.  Does the WBK with its extra mass perform better than it's FOP brethen?

Let's take a quick look at the specs of the WBK38:

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, lets head over to page 2 and install this beast and see what kind of performance it can give us.

 

Bear in mind when looking at the temperature difference's between the FOP32 and the FOP38, these are the exact same heat sink, the only difference is the fan mounted on top.  The FOP32 comes stock with a 4200RPM fan while the FOP38 comes with the same fan as the WBK38, a 6800RPM screamer.  I say screamer in the very literal sense, these things are LOUD!!  You may be thinking to yourself that it's no big deal, but until you hear one of these things in person, there is simply no way to describe it.

On with the results:

 

 

(Temps listed as Fahrenheit/Celsius)

**Note, our temperatures were taken on the CPU IN THE CASE!  Please don't try to compare these results to other reviews where they used an open air motherboard for the benchmarking.  While you will see ultimate temperatures different, the comparative results should closely align with yours and other webmasters if taken accurately and with a stable ambient temperature.** 

What we see here is pretty clear, while the FOP32 does a fair job under this stressful situatuion, the FOP38 and WBK38 kick major llama ass. (kinda like Winamp I suppose.)

For those of you that are used to the Intel temperatures you may be shocked to see a 30degree difference between idle and load, but this illustrates just how hot these AMD CPU's get.

 

Cum on Feel the Noize:

While it's clear that the Heat sinks with the Delta 6800RPM fan are major players in the cooling game, it comes at a price, and I ain't talking about how much it'll cost ya in USD$.  The price of the cooling is noise, and lots of it!  If you haven't heard one of these bad boys, there are simply no words to accurately describe how much racket they make.  I run four blowholes and a total of seven 80mm fans in my box, thats not to mention the chipset cooler and the video card cooler.  That said, the 60mm fan on the WBK and the FOP38 is still by FAR the prominent noise I hear from my case.  That little mofo simply drowns out the noise of all the other fans.  Since there's no way you're gonna believe me, I'll simply let it go at that and reserve the right to say "I told you so" at a later date.

 

Conclusions:

What can I say, as you can see from the results, this WBK38 boasts performance that we have simply not seen before from a socket cooler, or slot for that matter.  Before you run out and buy one based on that sentence, keep three things in mind.  1.  The clip on all three of these units (same clip) sucks mooseballs, and there ain't no nice way to say it.  2.  Make DAMN sure the noise of the fan isn't going to drive you crazy.  What good does it do ya to have a stable CPU if it's on the sidewalk outside because you threw it out the window?  3.  There are new heat sinks on the market now, and about be released that could possibly come close to this performance level without the noise and bad retaining clip.

That said, I would still have to say I recommend WBK38 OR the FOP38 full heartedly, but only to the diehard overclockers that absolutely must have the best performance.  Yes, I do realize that includes most of you!  As bad as the clip is, once you get it on it's no longer a concern, and you can bet your beer money that it ain't coming off!  

That about wraps it up, if after reading this you think that one of these units is for you, head over to Sidewinder Computers and pick one up.  They have great prices, cheap shipping, and most importantly, their service rocks.

Agree?  Disagree?  Flames?  Props?  Drop us a line and let us know.

 

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

More PC Cooling Articles
More By Justifier

Recommended by Dev Hardware

 

developerWorks - FREE Tools!

Build Forge Express demo: Enabling software delivery excellence for small and midsized businesses This demonstration gives you an overview of IBM® Rational® Build Forge Express Edition, a global offering that provides a framework to automate and execute software processes. Rational Build Forge provides a software assembly line that can support all of your tools, technologies, and platforms so you can achieve a repeatable, reliable, and traceable build and release process. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Achieving True Agility -- How process can change the behavior of your tools Achieving true agility is a never-ending effort. We will showcase how you can become agile incrementally, a few practices at the time.Which practices should any agile team strive to adopt? What additional practices should you consider based on your needs to scale? Adopting practices are however made much easier with the right tool support. What about if your tools adapt to your practices? We will take a look at how the Jazz technology can be leveraged to make your process change the behavior of your tools. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! BlammoSplat: Build a community Web site of OpenLaszlo animations, Part 3: The community animation Learn to enable users to both rate existing animations and to combine existing animations into new snippets. This is the third in a series of three tutorials that chronicle the building of a site that enables collaborative discussion and animation building using Domino and OpenLaszlo. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Download a free trial of WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6.1.1 Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial version of WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6.1.1, IBM’s premier business process modeling and analysis tool for business users that offers process modeling, simulation, and analysis capabilities. IBM WebSphere Business Modeler helps you visualize, understand, and document business processes for continuous improvement. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Evaluate Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) Toolkit V7.1 Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial of the Rational Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) Toolkit. The HATS toolkit provides a set of plug-ins for the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform to help you easily extend your legacy applications. HATS makes your 3270 and 5250 applications available as HTML through the most popular Web browsers, while converting your host screens to a Web look and feel and it also enables you to develop new Web, portal, and rich-client applications. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Krugle, developerWorks, and code search Ken Krugler, co-founder of code search company Krugle, and Laura Merling, vice president of Marketing and Business Development for Krugle, join to talk about the ins and outs of code search and what it means as a new feature for developerWorks users. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Rational Testing eKits Discover how Rational tools and best practices for testing can make your job easier. The new Rational Testing eKits provide you with valuable resources – including demos, webcasts, tutorials, and articles – that help you address your specific testing needs across the software lifecycle. Five new eKits are available covering the topics of Requirements and Test Management, Functional Testing, Performance Testing, Code Quality and Embedded Systems, and SOA and Web Services Testing. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act: Web accessibility compliance Because access to government information continues to be an area of concern for many U.S. citizens with disabilities, the U.S. government enacted Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in 2001 to ensure that government agencies create accessible Web content, enabling all citizens to access the information they need. A fully accessible Web site makes Web content accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities, who may be accessing Web content via a variety of user agents. Common user agents include standard Web browsers, text-only browsers, assistive devices and mobile devices such as cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Software Change and Configuration Management Solution Guidelines This whitepaper provides areas to consider when evaluating any software configuration management solution. It addresses how the IBM solutions (Rational ClearCase and Rational ClearQuest) meet the needs and requirements of both project leaders and developers to provide successful Software Change and Configuration Management. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Webcast: Eclipse: Empowering the universal platform The Eclipse community is constantly working to extend Eclipse's functionality. In this webcast, learn about some of the most important and feature-rich projects under development. From multi-language support to plug-in development, tune in to see what Eclipse is capable of now. FREE! Go There Now!

All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!