Thermaltake GF-VGA

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ThermalTake has long been a respected manufacturer of PC cooling products. Based in Taiwan, ThermalTake was founded in 1998. ThermalTake is perhaps best known for its line of Orb coolers which brought style and performance to the Overclocker's world. Although the performance of the Orb lines have sunk below the horizons of the truly hardcore among us, their looks still make them a much sought after component. Replacing the Orbs for ThermalTake's performance HSFs is a plethora of more traditionally styled units. Today, I'm not reviewing a CPU heatsink, but the high performance cooler to follow in the footsteps of the Blue Orb, Orange Orb, and Crystal Orb of fame, the G4-VGA Copper Cooler.

Manufacturer:	ThermalTake
Product:	G4-VGA Copper Cooler
Price:	$17.95
Reviewed By:	Holy Roman Empire
Edited By:	Mack (SPeeD)

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Introduction
ThermalTake has long been a respected manufacturer of PC cooling products. Based in Taiwan, ThermalTake was founded in 1998. ThermalTake is perhaps best known for its line of Orb coolers which brought style and performance to the Overclocker's world. Although the performance of the Orb lines have sunk below the horizons of the truly hardcore among us, their looks still make them a much sought after component. Replacing the Orbs for ThermalTake's performance HSFs is a plethora of more traditionally styled units. Today, I'm not reviewing a CPU heatsink, but the high performance cooler to follow in the footsteps of the Blue Orb, Orange Orb, and Crystal Orb of fame, the G4-VGA Copper Cooler.

 

Specs

 Ripped straight from the back of the package:

• Fan Dimensions: 50x50x10mm 
• Rated Voltage: 12VDC 
• Rated Current: 0.28AMP 
• Power Input 3.36W 
• Fan Speed: 5500RPM±10% 
• Air Pressure: 3.3mmH2O 
• Max Air Flow: 10.6 CFM 
• Noise: 29 dBA 
• Bearing Type: One Ball & One Sleeve Bearing 
• Life Time: 50,000 Hours 
• Connector: 3 pin 
• Material: Copper 
• Weight: 123g 

First appearances
It came in the standard package you are used to seeing hanging on a store shelf. Its not an unattractive design once you get past the "Tt boy" I honestly don't know what ThermalTake was thinking putting a little cartoon boy holding a fire hose on their products. Hey, I'm not the huge company with many business and marketing degrees, so what do I know? I'm surprised such a blatant phallic symbol hasn't raised every eye brow from here to the Southern Baptist's Convention. Oh well. Despite the questionability of the packaging, I open it up.

The HSF itself seems of solid construction. It's very heavy and made of all copper with the exception of the fan and the clear plastic cover. The copper is machined into a pin arrangement much like the Swiftech and Alpha heatsinks for the CPU. The base wasn't quite perfectly smooth. A good lapping would make it smoother, but that is another project in and of itself.

 

 See.. Pins. Not quite smooth

I was disappointed with the ramsinks. They are aluminum that has been colored to appear copper. I'm sorry Tt, but if you think I'm about to pry off my all copper Tweakmonster Ramsinks to put these things on, you are sadly, sadly mistaken. But on the same token, the Tt package has an extremely competitive price, so who are we to complain?

Included with the HSF is a blister pack of the original Dow Corning T-340 thermal grease. This is the very same silicon goop you can buy at RadioShack for 3 bucks a lifetime sized tube. For those of you who consider yourself "l337," this may not be adequate, but I don't go for the exotic pastes. I used the paste, and it worked quite well. Also include is frag tape meant for the application of the ramsinks. If you do decide to use the ramsinks, don't use the frag tape. If it does anything it will only hold in heat more efficiently. I recommend you invest in Artic Silver Adhesive. If nothing else, you'd be better off superglue-ing the ramsinks on than using the frag tape.

Next: Installation page 2 >>
 

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