Orb style Coolers good or bad?

[Walrusim]

I see lots of those ORB style CPU coolers out there, i was just wondering how the stacked up against the regular coolers with the fan sitting on top of the heatsink??

And i only see ORB style coolers on the GeForce graphics cards, is this because they are supperior to the other types of coolers? If not is there anyplace where i can replace my GPU cooler from an orb to something else?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Most will tell you ORB'S suck, and for the CPU I dont reccomend them. As for the GPU I use one and dont get any major heat issues from it, but my card isnt overclcoked anymore. I got an ORB for my card simply for the reduction in noise, and I also lapped the chip to make sure I have good heat transfer to the ORB. As for a GPU cooler 2cooltek.com has a nice all copper cooler, but its rated at 30 dba which is pretty loud.

 

[Walrusim]

what does "lapped the chip" mean?? lapping? whats that?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Its when you sand the chip with 2000 grit sandpaper to make sure you have a flat surface. It gives you a uniform surface area which in turn causes better heat transfer due to less air pockets created by the surface being uneven.

 

[hokahknow]

The orbs do not cool the higher CPUs as well as like the Alpha, GlobalWin or Taisol.

 

[dorkface]

I bought 2 Blue Orbs a while back, thinking to replace the gfx and chipset coolers. I was quite disappointed with the Orbs. There were just as noisy, if not worse, as the stock coolers. And I was not at all impressed with the overall quality. The metal is very flimsy and bends really easy. The bottoms of both my Orbs were warped, quite wonderful. Also one of the screws that attach the fan to the sink actually protruded PAST the bottom. Geez. Needless to say, I did not proceed with installing this junk.

 

[mstudd]

Orbs suck!

They look good, but that's where it ends, mine ran at 46deg at idle.
I put my old Globalwin FOP38 heatsink(lapped) on with a cheap Coolermaster fan (the original one was way to loud) and it came down to 40deg.
Not many people say good things about Orbs.

 

[techfuzz]

Orbs are usually cheap compared to other HSF combos. Orbs do cool within 2-4 degrees of most other high end HSF combos. And lastly, Orbs do the job they were designed to do (at least with Intel chips).

Orbs DO NOT handle overclocking well. The increased heat cannot be dispelled fast enough when bumping up processor's voltage.

If you want a cheap but decent cooler, an Orb might be the way to go. If you plan on doing more than mild overclocking, better to get yourself a different HSF.

 

[Walrusim]

How do ORBs stack up against Coolermaster HSF??

 

[LordThing]

Even the superorb is barely enough to do the job. Hell, you have to get a mini-super orb just to fit on most athlon MOBOs. Don't bother. If you want something from thermaltake that probably will let you OC a little bit, go with something like the Volcano 2.

 

[mstudd]

Well Techfuzz, you might say that Orbs are cheap, but here in Australia, a Super Orb and a Fop 38, cost about $50. A Coolermaster can be bought for $15.
I haven't used the Coolermaster heatsink (only the fan), but it looks pretty damn similar to the Fop38 one. I wouldn't mind betting it works really well.
It would be worth a try!