TT Big Typhoon vs. Tuniq Tower

[chizow]

Anyone have first-hand experience or seen any reviews comparing the two? I haven't been able to find any reviews that compare the two HS directly, it seems like the Big Typhoon reviews are older and it was the best HSF available....nearly two years ago. Now the Tower and others like the Infinity are getting all the press reviews, but don't show performance relative to older coolers.

The Tuniq was OOS at Newegg when I built my rig about a month ago, so I got he Big Typhoon instead. I'm now looking to rebuild my old PC so I could move the Typhoon to my old rig if the upgrade is worth it. Otherwise I'd just keep the Typhoon with my C2D and use the stock HSF on my P4 Prescott. Also, anyone know if the Tuniq has problems fitting into a Lian-Li PC60 or CoolerMaster Mystique?

 

[Corporate Thug]

might be worth it.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/tuniq-tower120_8.html

as you can see, there is a 10C difference @ load w/ the x-bit test lab

 

[chizow]

Ah thank you! Just what I was looking for. I did a google search on both but they only gave me specific reviews and cooling without a "round-up" type comparison. Even AT's recent TTower review only compared to the stock cooler I believe.

Anyways, thanks again, I'll probably buy the Tower since its what I wanted originally. Hate removing mobos to install coolers so might as well do both at the same time.

 

[RallyMaster]

I'm going to say it depends on your case's airflow. You may or may not notice a difference. In some cases, you might actually notice an increase in temps.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
I'm going to say it depends on your case's airflow. You may or may not notice a difference. In some cases, you might actually notice an increase in temps.

i second this.

 

[Yourself]

I just went from a Typhoon to the Tuniq and my temps improved by only 1-2 degrees(if any at all...). The downside for me is that the Tuniq is substantially noisier than the fan setup I had on the Typhoon. I plan to remount in the next day or so to look for mounting issues.

Self

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
I'm going to say it depends on your case's airflow. You may or may not notice a difference. In some cases, you might actually notice an increase in temps.

i second this.

Airflow right now isn't great, my Lian-Li PC60+ is an older model with mostly 80mm fans for input/exhaust. I'm also looking at a new case though, so I'll probably have at least 2-3 120mm for input/exhaust along with the 120mm in my TP-Trio 650.

Originally posted by: Yourself
I just went from a Typhoon to the Tuniq and my temps improved by only 1-2 degrees(if at all...). The downside for me is that the Tuniq is substantially noisier than the fan setup I had on the Typhoon. I plan to remount in the next day or so to look for mounting issues.

Self

Ouch :/ Ya the Big Typhoon really impressed me the first I booted up, I thought I forgot to plug in the fan header or something. I guess I can check to make sure the thumbscrews are fully tightened as well, but everything was pretty tight after I checked the installation. How much louder is the Tuniq? I really love the quiet set-up I have now with the GTS and Typhoon, I swear my laptop fan is louder than both of them combined.

How about clearance for removable mobo trays? The Typhoon fit pretty easily, I just needed to clear the PSU with a little pressure but if the Tower is 4-5cm taller, it may hit the top rollcage bar on my case when I try to slide in the motherboard tray.

 

[Yourself]

In my opinion, the Tuniq fan is quite a bit louder than the Typhoon. It is by far the loudest thing in my system and I actually reduced the voltage on the fan to bring it down to what I consider to be tolerable levels. I am planning to try the fan from my Typhoon on the Tuniq to compare apples to apples(fan to fan) and I will also try a remount either today or tomorrow. I don't have high hopes for the peformance of the Tuniq with a quieter/lower flow fan as the fin density design is optomized for higher cfm fans.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Yourself
In my opinion, the Tuniq fan is quite a bit louder than the Typhoon. It is by far the loudest thing in my system and I actually reduced the voltage on the fan to bring it down to what I consider to be tolerable levels. I am planning to try the fan from my Typhoon on the Tuniq to compare apples to apples(fan to fan) and I will also try a remount either today or tomorrow. I don't have high hopes for the peformance of the Tuniq with a quieter/lower flow fan as the fin density design is optomized for higher cfm fans.

I could deal with a little more noise if it meant 10C lower temps like that review Corporate Thug linked...but not for 2-3C. The temps you took were before or after you reduced the RPMs on the Tuniq's fan? My Conroe isn't OCing as well as others, but it could very well be a mobo/BIOS issue (the 650i still seems a bit immature). This would just be one step in removing any factors that might be limiting the OC, as all the main components I picked up are pretty high quality.

 

[Yourself]

My temps were with the Tuniq fan at full tilt. So my next tests will be with the fan I used on my Typhoon, then a remount with original fan and Typhoon fan. Should be a hoot

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Yourself
My temps were with the Tuniq fan at full tilt. So my next tests will be with the fan I used on my Typhoon, then a remount with original fan and Typhoon fan. Should be a hoot

lol ya, you sound as enthusiastic as I am about having to remove your mobo and install a new HSF I want to get my old rig back up and running to use as a 2nd gaming pc and file server but I've been dragging my feet waiting on a good/affordable case to come along. Then I'd consider using the new case for my new build and moving the old pc into my Lian-Li PC60+, which would be the perfect time to make any HSF changes. I thought the Lian-Li would last me forever but apparently 120mm fans became the standard at some point and seeing how effective they are on the Typhoon and PSU, I don't think I can live with the 80mm fans in my Lian-Li anymore....

But thanks for the input and let me know if you get any better results. I held off on pulling the trigger on a Coolermaster $25 case deal and the Tower for now, so I guess I'll have to wait to get my old rig up and running again.

 

[aigomorla]

well if i remember the big typhoon correctly, the fan is a undervolted TT fan, that spins at 1200RPMs. But its dayam near silent.

Try replacing the fan on the Big Typhoon with a Yate. You should get cooling temps even close to the tower.


The tower i feel is good if u have a clear air channel from the front of the case straight to the tower, then right back out the rear.

 

[Yourself]

Well, I removed and re-installed the Tuniq. It was making very good contact with the CPU, but upon reboot and a 2 minute Orthos Small FFT's run; I hit 68c. I am using Core Temp to monitor temps. 68c is a bit hot but I'm running my e6400 at 3640 using ~1.48v. The funny thing is that those temps are actually worse than my Typhoon with much more noise. I have excellent airflow with a 120mm in the front and 2 80mm and the 120mm on the PSU drawing out the back.

Back to the Typhoon I guess.... :beer:

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Yourself
In my opinion, the Tuniq fan is quite a bit louder than the Typhoon. It is by far the loudest thing in my system and I actually reduced the voltage on the fan to bring it down to what I consider to be tolerable levels. I am planning to try the fan from my Typhoon on the Tuniq to compare apples to apples(fan to fan) and I will also try a remount either today or tomorrow. I don't have high hopes for the peformance of the Tuniq with a quieter/lower flow fan as the fin density design is optomized for higher cfm fans.

I could deal with a little more noise if it meant 10C lower temps like that review Corporate Thug linked...but not for 2-3C. The temps you took were before or after you reduced the RPMs on the Tuniq's fan? My Conroe isn't OCing as well as others, but it could very well be a mobo/BIOS issue (the 650i still seems a bit immature). This would just be one step in removing any factors that might be limiting the OC, as all the main components I picked up are pretty high quality.

Let me explain to you how it is when dealing with top of the line heatsinks....
First of all I am going to say 10c is a huge improvement in temperatures.
But what you essentially have is 2 top of the line heatsinks that compete very favorably with the zalman 9500 and the thermaltake XP120 and XP90 and Ultra 120 and Si120 as well as the Scythe Ninja and a few others.....

To reasonably expect a 10c difference no matter what any review site tells you is just bogus in my opinion!!
Possible---YES...but probable ---No!! Maybe at best 3-5c......worse case scenario -- no difference!!
I own both those and use niether in my 3 rigg!! I use the Zalman 9500 and the 9700 and the thermaltake XP120!
Why?
Because there really was not that big of a difference in the many heatsinks I have....
Only the Zalman 9700 in my situation did I see a signifant difference in temps to keep the 9700 installed.
Usually I keep my heatsink on a table in my computer room!!

Hope that helped!!

 

[Yourself]

I've been overclocking long enough to know that 10c wasn't possible, but I was thinking that given the fin density and the size advantage, the Tuniq would best the Typhoon by at least a couple of degrees. However, with my setup, the Typhoon performs better than the Tuniq and is noticeably quieter. I wouldn't have believed it, but I've now done 3 remounts and it's the same every time. Look for my Tuniq in the FS/FT forum soon...


Self

 

[chizow]

Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences and updates Yourself. I'm sure others will benefit as well from your first-hand experiences. I knew I wanted a quality cooler for my C2D build, but looking at what else you can buy for $50-60 and premium air-cooling isn't just an afterthought anymore.

To reasonably expect a 10c difference no matter what any review site tells you is just bogus in my opinion!!

As for the 10C difference in that review....how would it be so unbelievable? There's at least that much difference between the stock cooler and the various premium HSFs. The Tower and Typhoon both use heat pipes and high density fins, but the Tuniq has more fins and an embedded 120mm fan vs. the Typhoon's traditional implementation. Also from what Yourself is saying, the Tower's fan also runs at a higher RPM and pushes more air. Granted, I wasn't sure if 10C was realistic or not, which is why I asked for real feedback from those who had tried both. The only other thing I can think of that would cause such a big difference in results from that review and real-world results is the way the heat pipes are integrated into the core plate. I read a few reviews where heat pipe coolers under-performed when they weren't grooved into the plate and were just slightly flattened.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: chizow
Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences and updates Yourself. I'm sure others will benefit as well from your first-hand experiences. I knew I wanted a quality cooler for my C2D build, but looking at what else you can buy for $50-60 and premium air-cooling isn't just an afterthought anymore.

To reasonably expect a 10c difference no matter what any review site tells you is just bogus in my opinion!!

As for the 10C difference in that review....how would it be so unbelievable? There's at least that much difference between the stock cooler and the various premium HSFs. The Tower and Typhoon both use heat pipes and high density fins, but the Tuniq has more fins and an embedded 120mm fan vs. the Typhoon's traditional implementation. Also from what Yourself is saying, the Tower's fan also runs at a higher RPM and pushes more air. Granted, I wasn't sure if 10C was realistic or not, which is why I asked for real feedback from those who had tried both. The only other thing I can think of that would cause such a big difference in results from that review and real-world results is the way the heat pipes are integrated into the core plate. I read a few reviews where heat pipe coolers under-performed when they weren't grooved into the plate and were just slightly flattened.

Now you throw into the equation this statement---As for the 10C difference in that review....how would it be so unbelievable? There's at least that much difference between the stock cooler and the various premium HSFs.

Of course theres easily a 10c difference from stock to custom heatsink....
But you must remember these are 2 top of the line aftermarket heatsinks.
A 10 c difference between the 2 of them is possible but NOT probable!!
I have used both and let me tell you there is no 10c difference at least on my system,
I have never seen a 10c difference between these 2 after market heatsinks done by a legitimate reviewing site such as SPCR....MadShrimp.....etc...

 

[chizow]

Of course theres easily a 10c difference from stock to custom heatsink....
But you must remember these are 2 top of the line aftermarket heatsinks.
A 10 c difference between the 2 of them is possible but NOT probable!!
I have used both and let me tell you there is no 10c difference at least on my system,
I have never seen a 10c difference between these 2 after market heatsinks done by a legitimate reviewing site such as SPCR....MadShrimp.....etc...

lol k. What makes them top of the line? Engineering? Design? Materials? The stock cooler isn't exactly junk, but clearly after-market coolers are superior for the above reasons. The Big Typhoon is a great HSF, however, its been out considerably longer than the Tower which introduced an innovative new design that has been copied by many others because of its success. Now, if the Typhoon were a mimic of the Tower (like the Scythe Infinity or Thermalright Ultra-120 etc.), then I might expect no more than 2-3 degrees, however, the design, engineering, and materials used between the two are different enough to expect different levels of performance. You wouldn't know the difference unless you tested both and saw the difference first hand, like you and many others have done.

But hey, that's why I asked if anyone had personal experience or had any review sites directly comparing the two. I'd also consdier Xbit Labs a legit review site, but one does have to wonder if their results in this test are accurate.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Okay I have been through this with a good friend of mine on these forums.
Up to a point there is a hard and fast technical reason including how many heat pipes...the alloy used......the density of the heat sink....how far apart the fins are from each other...etc....
With that said.....
There are heat sinks from a few years ago that are still very good heat sinks. Even with the advent of the Zalman 9500 and 9700 as well as the larger Tuniq and the Ninja and the new CoolerMaster heat sinks.
Such heat sinks would include the Thermaltake XP90 copper....the older Ar tic Cooling heat sinks....and so on and so on.
Yet you also such name brand companies as ASUS that has some monstrous heat sinks yet when stacked up against the big boys such as Zalman...Scythe...Thermaltake and ThermalRight they are a distant 2ND.....as well as some other brand...
The one surprising brand in my opinion has been the Arctic Cooling series.
They are always affordable yet they offer performance that is comparable to what I would call the big boys of the heat sink world!!
Now the kicker is.....the differences are very very minuscule and a lot of times these other brands as in the Arctic Cooling Series are with 1c-3c of the big boys.
Is there a best of the best?
That's a loaded question because what works in a given system depends on proper airflow throughout the system as well as the heat produced by various components.....then you need to take into account how many components a system has...
We all know that 2 video cards produce more heat than 1....and we all know that 4 hard drives produce more heat than 1 would.
Then we take into account The ambient temperature of the room you are in...etc

There is no hard and fats way to give state with certainty such and such heat sink is the best!!!
That's why I would not switch from a top heat sink say i was using the Thermaltake Typhoon...the improvement in temperature of say 1c-3c even though in degrees Fahrenheit its quite a bit still is not IMO worth it!!
I for one think the heat sink market is one of the few where if you like something because it looks cool well then get it...it will definitely work adequately for you. In the heat sink world BLING works and does not diminish the quality!
Now if you are after super low temps then you will be purchasing more than one heat sink and chasing the golden dream.....but that's alright also!!
Have fun!!

 

[Woofmeister]

Originally posted by: Yourself
In my opinion, the Tuniq fan is quite a bit louder than the Typhoon. It is by far the loudest thing in my system and I actually reduced the voltage on the fan to bring it down to what I consider to be tolerable levels. I am planning to try the fan from my Typhoon on the Tuniq to compare apples to apples(fan to fan) and I will also try a remount either today or tomorrow. I don't have high hopes for the peformance of the Tuniq with a quieter/lower flow fan as the fin density design is optomized for higher cfm fans.

I am surprised to hear your complaints about the noise of the Tuniq. Particularly in light of the comparisons run by Anand here. 48db is loud to be sure, but that's with the case open and compares favorably with the Scythe Katana (given the better temps of the Tuniq) at 42.4db which everyone considers a pretty quiet cooler.

 

[imported_browsing]

I haven't read through all these posts but I went from a Zalman 9500 to the Big Typhoon and it dropped my temps about 7c and kept things below 52c at load with a 20% OC on a e6600 but because of the setup of my p180, I'm considering going to the infinity or the Tuniq because the TT BT can't suck as much air as it wants to down into the heatsink because of the low clearance of the p180. I've also been wondering if the upgrade would be worth it. I'd really like to be able to have my cpu idling at mid 30s and not break 45 on load but I don't know if that's possible. Also, can anyone suggest kits for lapping cpus and heatsinks? I'd like to give this a try as well... I'm just tired of spending money on heatsinks to not get a good return.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Whats interesting about heatsinks is we all have our various stories concerning temps and all...

Yet when you ask alot of people they didn`t one day switchg from one heatsink sink to the other.
What happenned is they didn`t like the temps they were getting so they bought a different heatsink and installed the new one ands said wqow look at those great temps.
Without realizing thata lot of the time the old heatsink was clogged with dust and debri that gets caught over time in the fins and bewsides that they also cleaned out there case a bit with say canned air. Not realizizing you need to keep your heatsinks clean.

All is well!!

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Whats interesting about heatsinks is we all have our various stories concerning temps and all...

Yet when you ask alot of people they didn`t one day switchg from one heatsink sink to the other.
What happenned is they didn`t like the temps they were getting so they bought a different heatsink and installed the new one ands said wqow look at those great temps.
Without realizing thata lot of the time the old heatsink was clogged with dust and debri that gets caught over time in the fins and bewsides that they also cleaned out there case a bit with say canned air. Not realizizing you need to keep your heatsinks clean.

All is well!!

ROFLROFLROFL.... i love when noobies do this yoda, this is what makes them think its better then water even!

 

[corsa]

ok kids, enough talk...

SuperCoolers Review @ X-bit labs

XP-120, Ninja, Tuniq Tower & Big Typhoon, various fans,various configurations.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Okay I have been through this with a good friend of mine on these forums.
Up to a point there is a hard and fast technical reason including how many heat pipes...the alloy used......the density of the heat sink....how far apart the fins are from each other...etc....
With that said.....
There are heat sinks from a few years ago that are still very good heat sinks. Even with the advent of the Zalman 9500 and 9700 as well as the larger Tuniq and the Ninja and the new CoolerMaster heat sinks.
Such heat sinks would include the Thermaltake XP90 copper....the older Ar tic Cooling heat sinks....and so on and so on.
Yet you also such name brand companies as ASUS that has some monstrous heat sinks yet when stacked up against the big boys such as Zalman...Scythe...Thermaltake and ThermalRight they are a distant 2ND.....as well as some other brand...
The one surprising brand in my opinion has been the Arctic Cooling series.
They are always affordable yet they offer performance that is comparable to what I would call the big boys of the heat sink world!!
Now the kicker is.....the differences are very very minuscule and a lot of times these other brands as in the Arctic Cooling Series are with 1c-3c of the big boys.
Is there a best of the best?
That's a loaded question because what works in a given system depends on proper airflow throughout the system as well as the heat produced by various components.....then you need to take into account how many components a system has...
We all know that 2 video cards produce more heat than 1....and we all know that 4 hard drives produce more heat than 1 would.
Then we take into account The ambient temperature of the room you are in...etc

There is no hard and fats way to give state with certainty such and such heat sink is the best!!!
That's why I would not switch from a top heat sink say i was using the Thermaltake Typhoon...the improvement in temperature of say 1c-3c even though in degrees Fahrenheit its quite a bit still is not IMO worth it!!
I for one think the heat sink market is one of the few where if you like something because it looks cool well then get it...it will definitely work adequately for you. In the heat sink world BLING works and does not diminish the quality!
Now if you are after super low temps then you will be purchasing more than one heat sink and chasing the golden dream.....but that's alright also!!
Have fun!!

Summary: Different heat sinks have different levels of performance based on design, engineering, and materials used. Over time, certain heat sinks rise above their competition because of the above mentioned attributes. But there's no reason to expect any different performance between them because they're all just expensive heatsinks11onee111!!!!one!

Its funny that you don't see the irony of your comments.

Thanks for the additional links Corsa, I'm sure that guy was just a noobie that didn't think to test them using the same test bed or clean his old HSF though.