Asus VR Cooler Review :: Asus VR Cooler

Before we examine the wee cooler itself and the ideas implemented that make it unique, let's take a look at the packaging which keeps it safe on the way to your house and just what's included inside. Just like every other performance heatsink on the market as of late, the VR Cooler comes to us in a re-sealable vacuum package, held together by formed plastic dimples near the top. Looking around the front of the packaging, there really isn't all that much to see apart from the non-replaceable thin 80mm fan and the cooler's name. Yet, as one turns the packaging around, the show really starts, with the heat sink's rear hidden away behind a very informative insert, which, with simple diagrams and graphs demonstrates how the varying parts of the heatsink will help your system, as well as informing you about the heat sink's capabilities (such as the ability to handle 100+ watts of heat with such a small package. Yet, there's no point in examining these rehashed albeit improved ideals just yet, but rather let's leave them to the inspection of the sink itself after a brief tour-de-force of the contents of the package.

Now, to those of you wondering just what's inside the box, prepare to be surprised - it's not a whole lot. Popping the plastic dimples we're greeted by literally four pieces inside - the cooler with pre-applied thermal pad, a form fitting piece of plastic to protect its base, the metal backplate topped with what's likely to be super strong adhesive and a small black and white instruction manual. While this may seem stingy to some people, bear in mind that this heatsink is intended for use with one platform and one platform only, and on top of this, a fan controller is not necessary as the fan spins slowly enough as it is. Along with this, a lack of accessories and plates to fiddle with means that the most difficult part of the installation will be screwing the heatsink down - a definite plus to inexperienced users, albeit one that is countered by the need to remove the motherboard to do so. Perhaps the only thing of real mystery with this heatsink is the question of why Asus chose to make it for exclusive use with the LGA 775 platform - with the beveled rear, this cooler could easily fit their A8N series of motherboards. All Asus would have to do is provide a second set of mounting arms and another backplate, as the two existing mounting clips are simply screwed into the base of the heatsink. Now, if this is an idea left unutilized, it may be left up to an enterprising manufacturer to provide compatible clips, to allow this heatsink to have a life on the Athlon 64 platform, a place where its installation could be just as simple (and with a backplate pre-installed, what wouldn't be to love?).

Potential for growth aside, let's proceed on to the heatsink itself, and the technology which makes it so special. Perhaps the first and most obvious physical characteristic of this heatsink is its relatively low height, a byproduct of Asus using but a single, non replaceable 80mm fan. To perceptive readers, this design will greatly resemble that of Alpha's PEPT66 from way back in the golden days of overclocking. This design allows air to flow through the heatsink and out the beveled back, being fed into the power regulation heatsinks on many Asus motherboards, or better yet, straight out of the case in system's such as Abit's OTES. As we've said before, this heatsink could easily be adapted to feed the same airflow through the heatsinks of Asus' Athlon 64 motherboards, providing effective active cooling.

Yet, to those wondering if the power circuitry next to the socket has been neglected, fear not, as a small portion of the airflow (coming from an 80x15 mm section of the fan) is fed through a fan duct and directed down, blasting across the motherboard itself then rising up and being pulled out by PSU and Exhaust fans. Beyond the fan are the fins of the heatsink themselves, a collection of thin aluminum fins soldered to the sink's base, fed by a trio of heat pipes that sit right over the processor's sweltering IHS. While heat pipes are essentially nothing special in this day and age, their implementation and efficiency on this heatsink is quite a bit above par, allowing this heatsink to dissipate nearly as much heat as beasts twice its size.

Fins and fans aside though, let's proceed onto the base of the sink, an all copper plate marked by a pair of threaded holes that the mounting bracket attaches to and a raised area covered with a thermal pad intended for full and firm contact with the processor. Perhaps the only problem we have with this thermal pad is that it likes the processor a little too much, and often gave us trouble when we try removing it. If one were to move their gaze back to the mounting legs again, the bottoms of the mounting screws can be seen, screws that while essentially providing an easy to use system, also provide excessively difficult to gauge when attempting to remove the sink, often leaving us waiting for a loud click to indicate that the screw was free. With our tour of this small simple sink aside, shall we proceed on to just how it performed?