Vantec Aeroflow review and comparison to AX-7

[iZero]

I received my Vantec Aeroflow cooler today. I removed my old AX-7 with Smart Case Fan II on it and tested it out. The first thing I noticed was at full speed (5600 RPMs) the TMD fan on the Aeroflow was actually roughly as loud as the Smart Case Fan was at 2800-2900 RPMs. Earlier, when I had both of them both out of the case, I noticed the Aeroflow was quite a bit smaller than the Thermalright AX-7. I thought this might be a liability. As it turns out, it wasn't.

I began testing the temperatures of the heatsink/fan combos. The ambient temperature was roughly the same. I used SiSoftware Sanda's burn-in wizard, and ran the CPU and CPU Multimedia benchmark 10 times in a row while recording the temperatures (in Celsius). My MoBo is an EPoX 8K3A+.

AX-7 with SCF2 @ 2900 RPMs:
Range: 54.0 - 60.5
Average: 58.9

Aeroflow with TMD @ 5600 RPMs:
Range: 44.0 - 52.0
Average: 49.9

As you can see, the Aeroflow did far better than the AX-7. While I didn't test with the AX-7 with the SCF2 @ 5100 RPMs, the idle temperature of this and the Aeroflow were roughly the same and I'd be surprised if the temperatures under load would have been greatly different. Another item of note; my chipset temperature went from 36 degrees to 29 with the Aeroflow installed. I believe this may be due to the way the Aeroflow directs air over the heatsink on my EPoX.

What do I think? I'm very happy with the Aeroflow, and would recommend it to people looking for an affordable, efficient heatsink. If this is any indication, TMD fans in all types of sizes and speeds can't come to the market fast enough. I'd gladly switch my case fans over to TMDs if given the chance.

 

[iZero]

I should also mention my CPU is an Athlon XP 2100+ Palomino.

 

[Armageddon415]

I find your results with the AX-7 a bit hard to believe. I had an AX-7 with a YS tech adjustable running at about 2000rpm on a Epox 8K3A+, and it kept my XP1600@1750 under 52C under 100% load. If I turned the fan all the way up, it would keep temps under 40C with a full load. All this was done in a chieftec with ONLY 1 exhaust fan at 2500rpm and no intakes whatsoever.

 

[iZero]

Originally posted by: Armageddon415
I find your results with the AX-7 a bit hard to believe. I had an AX-7 with a YS tech adjustable running at about 2000rpm on a Epox 8K3A+, and it kept my XP1600@1750 under 52C under 100% load. If I turned the fan all the way up, it would keep temps under 40C with a full load. All this was done in a chieftec with ONLY 1 exhaust fan at 2500rpm and no intakes whatsoever.

The AX-7 was seated properly and I used Arctic Silver 3 on both heatsinks. If you look at most reviews for the two heatsinks you'll notice the AX-7 barely edges the Aeroflow out only when equipped with a ultra loud 80 CFM Delta fan running at full speed (which seems to be the common fan Thermalright sends with the heatsink to reviewers). Move enough CFMs and almost anything starts to look great. When I first installed the AX-7 I used a Sanyo Denki 2900 RPM 80 mm fan, which was giving me similar idle temperatures (in the 50's). I might have an optimistic (or pessimistic depending on how you see it) temperature sensor on my particular MoBo, but the reading I received for the different heatsinks should be comparable even if they aren't in relation to other people's systems.

 

[iZero]

Another thing, by motherboard reports a fan speed of 0 when the TMD is plugged into it. I tried plugging it directly into the MoBo header and using a three to four pin adapator with tach, and both reported 0.

 

[farmercal]

I also have an AX-7 with an Enermax adjustable fan running at 2657RPMs and my CPU temp rarely gets above 47C with system temp running 30-31C. My point is I am running a fan at lower RPM than you were and getting lower temps. One point I would like to make though is that I pull air off the heat sink by choice to keep dust on the sink to a minimum and it has worked for me. I also have an AMD 1800+ CPU and I don't know if it is runs hotter or cooler than the 2100+. Anyone else?

 

[iZero]

I think it's possible that my CPU temperature sensor is reading a bit too high. I do however have a Palomino Athlon which runs at ~1.7 volts, and generates more heat than later Thoroughbreds.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

depending on your 8k3a+ bios version, you may be reading the internal diode on the palomino, so your tests would be completely accurate.


Mike

 

[iZero]

I have the newest BIOS that was officially released from EPoX, 2B01.