Has anyone seen the Copper Orb cooler review at HardOCP?

[ErikaeanLogic]

HardOCP totally dissed the Copper Orb cooler here

This contradicts the marketing pitch, here.

My experience with this merchant is that they are very reliable, a stand-up operation. Kyle and his crew showed, though, under like testing conditions that the Gorb kicks its ass, and that the mounting mechanism can easily damage a CPU. But then again, those guys drink alot!

Who do we believe? And, more importantly, does anyone here on the Forum have one of these Copper Orb coolers to confirm/dispute the review at HardOCP? Obviously, I am awaiting shipment and want the skinny before I crack/melt my P3. What do you folks think?

 

[peemo]

You will note that Kyle's article states:



<< Well we do know for a fact that this HSF is NOT manufactured by the same folks that make the original Gold Orb. >>



Could this be the reason that

<< The Copper Orb pretty much sucked. >>

?

 

[DaddyG]

I'm not into Orbage of any kind, real or fake. Lots of flash, little performance on TBIRDS. (even the new Chrome is only average and doesn't fit on some mobos). TAISOL CEK733092 for me, swap the fan if you need anything more powerful. For about $11, can't go wrong.

 

[frastini]

i doubt very much that either kyle or randy (cpu4less) are wrong.

The testbed Randy stated as a p3 700 overclocked to 933, now i dont
know how much heat the p3 puts out, but im damn sure it isnt
in the upwards of 50-60W of a 1+ghz tbird.

While i was searching for a heatsink and fan randy suggested i might try the copper orb, but with only 17CFM being moved by that fan
i knew no matter how efficient the heatsink was.. it wasnt going to do the job.

I'd say the minimum airflow over any fan for a really highly clocked duron or tbird should be around 22cfm at LEAST.

I dont really think its fair for kyle to put that cooler under that kind of testing enviroment, with the speed of that fan, i highly doubt it was engineered for that kind of heat.

the copper orb is probably a cooler for your overclocked celeron2's
or p3's.. not your 50-60W tbird and durons..

u gotta leave that task up to the big fat heatsinks + yps tech fans

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

So, I sent 2 e-mails, one to Kyle at HardOCP and one to Rodney Wang at CPUsforless(they sell the Copper Orb). From Kyle I haven't heard anything yet, whereas Rodney and I have corresponded twice already. This is an excerpt from his reply to my first e-mail:

>>I tested it with a P3 700 FC-PGA running 933Mhz. With an output of 35watts
or so, this processor was kept cooler with the copper orb. If you are trying
to run an AMD duron at 1.1G 1.85V, the power output may be higher than the
capacity of the heatsink, thus rendering it completly useless. Whereas it
has a lower thermal resistance than the golden orb, it uses a low speed 17CFM
fan which may not dissipate as much heat from a 60watt+ source as the 20CFM
model on the golden orb. However, neither cooler would be sufficiently safe
for a 1.1G running 1.85V. . .There is a mounting issue with socket A processors if
you remove the TIM (which he did). The cooler does not touch the four feet,
so the only cushioning for the fragile AMD die material is the TIM. Without
that, all of the pressure of the clip is applied to the corner of the chip.
Admittedly, this is a much safer cooler when used on intel chips. I have yet
to duplicate his results on a hot chip. I have a 650 cB0 running
1007.5/155Mhz 1.80v which still stays cooler with the copper orb.

Best Regards,
Rodney Wang
cpusforless.com<<

Rodney's reference to the Orb material's thermal capacity is interesting. I'm going to be running a few tests of my own with a Gorb, Copper Orb, FOP32, and PEP66, just to cut through all of the BS here(some of which I may have created myself!).

 

[HecDTec]

I had a Gold Orb which cracked part of the epoxy from around the die. I wrote thermaltake and they send me a new Chrome Orb with the squarish bottom plate that sits on the rubber pads on Duron/TBird. It cooled a whole 3-5C better. Gold Orb 700@900Mhz Max. Chrome Orb 700@997Mhz(1Ghz)Max. The chrome orb was easy to install and the fan moves at 5500+. I give props to the Chrome Orb and Thermaltake for taking care of business.