Thanks to the ratcheting clip, this installation was the simplest we've done in a while. In a procedure dangerously simple to the stock heatsink, just apply some thermal grease, lower the sink into the retention bracket, watching the grooves in the sides of the mounting feet run alongside the plastic dimples protecting the screws, guiding the sink into place, then just slide in the clip, flip the lever and connect your wiring for a simple and effective installation. With such simple methodology, let's proceed on to the testing methodology and the results.
Our testing methodology is as follows – we take four separate measurements to show different load levels for the processor: We have a no load 15 minute period as our idle, 30 minutes of Folding @ Home to show a low priority load, 10 Loops of SiSoft Sandra's Burn in wizard to demonstrate a high priority load, and a standard S&M processor test loop to demonstrate a critical load. At this time, we utilize a less popular method of the motherboard's inbuilt sensors. Yes, we know this is less accurate to some respect, but it does however prevent misrepresentation of data due to a jarred thermal probe or strangely mounted heatsink. On top of this, we run two sets of tests – one for Stock (200*9, 1.45V) performance, with the processor generating a paltry 49W of heat, as well as an Overclocked (280*9, 1.65V) test where our processor puts out just shy of 100W of heat.
Test Bed
- 3000+ Winchester Chip
- DFI NF4-DAGF
- 1.0 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR500
- NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT
- Ultra 600W Power Supply
- Open Air Test Bench
Stock Clock Results
Overclocked Results
Even with its innovative design, Gigabyte's offering falls behind the pack, even when fan speeds are ramped up to the skies. While this is indeed unfortunate, the point must be made that Gigabyte provided the simplest and most effective mounting system of the recently tested sinks, improving upon already revolutionary design rather than re-writing the books. Perhaps the most devastating differences at this point are the ones between ThermalTake's Big Typhoon and the 3D Cooler – differences which, oddly enough, dissipate when the LGA testing begins.
