While the overclocking community grows, newer designs for heat sinks are made to fight off heat. Such is the situation with the Molex Thermal Acoustic Products. Molex has been an OEM heat sink manufacturer for quite a while. They mass produce heat sinks at very low costs and supply OEM computer companies as heat solutions. We recently received word from Molex that they have confidence in their new product and asked us to sample a review. How will it perform? Will it be able to ease the pain of heat? We shall see.
Manufacturers: | Molex |
| Product: | Molex 37256-005 Heat Sink Review |
Price: | Unknown |
Availability: | Unknown |
Reviewed By: | Poiuy223 |
Review Date: | January 2003 |
Molex 37256-005 Heat Sink Review


Introduction:
While the overclocking community grows, newer designs for heat sinks are made to fight off heat. Such is the situation with the Molex Thermal Acoustic Products. Molex has been an OEM heat sink manufacturer for quite a while. They mass produce heat sinks at very low costs and supply OEM computer companies as heat solutions. We recently received word from Molex that they have confidence in their new product and asked us to sample a review. How will it perform? Will it be able to ease the pain of heat? We shall see.
Molex 37256-005:
Molex has a variety of the 37256-00x series of heat sinks. The 37256-005 we received classifies as the high performing heat sink with a more powerful fan. Basically, the last three digits "00x" comes with a different fan equipped--the lower the number, the less powerful and quieter the fan. The heat sink is made of a copper base with aluminum fins enclosed in an aluminum shroud. It looks like most of the heat sinks out there. The quality and build of the heat sink is only sub standard. The shroud is soldered to the bottom of the base but in a very poor fashion. It's rather loose. The 37256 uses the traditional mounting clip. It's good that it grabs onto all three teeth of the socket instead of just one. Installation was easy. The clip was not hard to push down and yet still managed to give excellent contact.

A good thing I would like to point out is the protection of the copper base. Molex enclosed the bottom surface with a clear plastic to keep it from getting scratched.

Another thing to note is that Molex has some pre-applied thermal interface material (TIM) included. It's not the usual Silicone grease. Upon some reading through the included information sheets, the pre-applied TIM known as Shin Etsu G751. My first intention was to test the heat sink with the pre-applied TIM but I figured that overclockers should know not to use anything pre-applied and go with Arctic Silver or some other good TIM like Nanotherm. So I wiped off the Shin Etsu and applied my Arctic Silver for further testings.

The picture here shows that the copper base is fairly shiny and well lapped. One downside I have to point out is that it is not very clean. There were smudges of fingerprints all over the bottom. It can be cleaned off with some Nafta and paper towels but consumers shouldn't have to worry about this--Molex should.

The aluminum fins are neatly spaced out for air to flow through to the bottom and in between the fins. One unique thing about the fins is the folding at the very bottom where it's soldered to the base. This creates more surface area for better heat dissipation.
The Competition:
Today's competition is the Coolermaster HHC-001 Heatpipe. The heatpipe proved itself to be an excellent cooler during our Socket A budget roundup.

The Fan:
The included fan is made by the infamous Delta. The fan specs are as follows:
60mm x 60mm x 15mm
5400 RPM
27.72 CFM
38 dBA
The fan is slim and small. Although spinning at 5400 RPM and producing 38 dBA, the fan is not that loud. The loudness is bearable and should not drive anyone insane.

Note that there are only two screws that hold the fan in place. This I certainly did not like. Using only two screws instead of the usual four does not hold the fan down completely. Rattling occurs and loss of some airflow often occurs. Molex should definitely fix this and use four screws. Screws are cheap aren't they?
Testing:
As always, I test my heat sinks with no case fans to aid in cooling. A temperature probe was used and was placed close enough to touch the CPU core and not cause any interference between the heat sink and the core. A fresh layer of Arctic Silver III was applied. The room temperature was consistent at 20C throughout the entire testing procedures.
Test System (AMD):
AMD Athlon T-Bred XP1700+ @ XP2000+ (10x166) @ 1.70v
Asus A7V8X
Kingmax 256mb PC3200
Maxtor ATA100 30gb 7200rpm
XFX MX440-8x
Generic 52x CDRom
Antec SX830
Raidmax 400watt power supply
Test Fans:
Test Burn-Ins:
Results:


Concerns:
There were much concerns in the Molex heat sink. The first is the number of screws to hold the fan in place. Using only two is definitely not good enough. It makes the fan rattle. The other concern was the rattling of the shroud. Although this only happened the first time I installed the heat sink, rattling is something that should not happen at all. A firmer hold of the shroud will resolve this problem.
Conclusion:
Should Molex introduce the 37256 series of heat sinks to the overclocking community? My personal opinion would be NO. They are not ready to let their heat sinks go retail when they have a few issues that need to be resolved. Having a heat sink rattle inside a case does not sound good at all. The performance is quite decent as it is rated to cool up to an Athlon XP2100+. The use of the fan is a good choice because it balances out the performance and noise. It's not too loud and doesn't perform too shabby.

Pros/Cons:
Pros:
Cons:
Rating: 6/10
If you'd like to discuss this look at the Molex offering feel free to head into the forum. Otherwise head back to the front page to check out other GooSH!™ from OCAddiction.com.
| 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 Poiuy223
developerWorks - FREE Tools! |
You'll get answers to many questions and more from David Barnes, Lead Evangelist for IBM Emerging Internet Technologies. David will discuss aspects of Web 2.0 that bring value to corporations, academia, and government. He'll also discuss IBM's vision around Web 2.0, including the importance of remixability and consumability. The discussion will culminate with examples of various IBM Software Group solutions you can use to get ahead of the Web 2.0 adoption curve. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to download IBM DB2 Express-C 9.5, a no-charge version of DB2 Express 9 database server. DB2 Express-C offers the same core data server base features as other DB2 Express editions and provides a solid base to build and deploy applications developed using C/C++, Java, .NET, PHP, and other programming languages. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join us for this web seminar to learn how you can defend your web applications from attack. Learn about the 3 most common web application attacks, including how they occur and what can be done to prevent them. We’ll also discuss manual versus automated approaches for scanning and identifying web application vulnerabilities and how IBM Rational AppScan, an automated vulnerability scanner, can help you automate more of what you are doing manually today. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Secure your Web applications with IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition V7.7, previously known as Watchfire AppScan. This Web application security testing tool automates vulnerability assessments and scans and tests for common Web application vulnerabilities. Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial of IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition V7.7. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Learn the basics of the IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS). With a hands-on exercise, learn how to get your first CICS application up and running on your desktop using TXSeries V6.1 for Windows. The tutorial shows you how to download and install a free trial version of TXSeries V6.1. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
You can now evaluate IBM Rational Asset Manager V7.0 online without installing or configuring it on your own system! Rational Asset Manager helps create, modify, govern, find, and reuse any type of development assets, including SOA and systems development assets. Rational Asset Manager helps you reduce software development costs and improve quality by facilitating the reuse of all types of software development-related assets. Visit developerWorks to learn more about this product and register to explore its capabilities online. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
User communities play an important role in communication and collaboration around products, solutions and other areas of special interest to members. Successful communities are able to provide the right mix of content and services to deliver a value proposition that resonates with each audience. Join Tom Inman, VP of Marketing for Information and Platform Solutions as he introduces the new LeverageINFORMATION community. During this webcast, learn about the value provided by the community and how customers and partners derive value from the community in addressing their own technical and business challenges. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools! |