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Thermaltake TT-6025A
Author: Mike Kitchenman
Date Posted: July 26th, 2001
URL: http://www.slcentral.com/reviews/hardware/cooling/thermaltake/60mmkit
Introduction
Fans today have become an integral part of cooling any high-end system. With the most important fan in the box being the one on top of the heat sink. Today the top performer for CPU fans is the delta 60mm unit. This badboy puts out 36 to 38 cfm of cooling power, at an ear piercing 47 dBA. Recently Thermaltake put out a new 60mm kit that has specs that are kinda hard to believe! 31 cfm at a mere 28 dBA, putting it really close to a loud whisper. Impressive numbers, but can the real fan hold up to these claims?
Packaging
When I received the fan I was happily surprised by the simple package. It consisted of a clear plastic box, which held the fan and its accompanying extras, a 3 to 4 pin adapter and a set of long screws to use in case you need them.
Packaging: 2/2
Installation
Installation will vary for some of you. My heatsinks are all designed to use 60x60x25mm fans, or are easy to throw one on; some heatsinks are less friendly to it. So, for me installation of the fan was simply unscrewing the fan and screwing in the new one, pretty much brainless work.
Installation: 3/3
Cooling
Now onto how this lil guy works. I figured the easiest way to test this would be to throw it against 2 other well known and popular fans out there. So I did.
The Candidates:
Thermaltake 60x60x25mm fan kit from So-TrickComputers.com
YS-Tech 60x60x25mm fan
Delta 60x60x25mm fan
The stats on the fans are as follows:
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Going strictly by numbers, the Thermaltake unit is pretty much in the middle for airflow, while coming really close to the YS Tech for RPM, and beating both units in the power use and noise category. This puts it in a VERY comfortable spot for running.
The Test Bed:
- AMD Athlon 800@1GHz 1.85V
- AsusA7V
- Vantec FCE - 62540D Heat sink (reviewed here)
The Test:
Run some tests on the computer, getting both idle temps and Load temps. Removing and reapplying the heat sink after each test, and reapplying the Arctic Silver.
The Numbers:
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Cooling: 4/5
Conclusion
The Delta fan still is the champion of the performance fans so far. No shocker there, as it still pushes more air than any of the fans I tested, however, there are some areas the delta loses in big time.
1) Noise: The biggest downside to the delta is the fact it is one seriously loud mofo. It sounds more like a hair dryer than your normal computer. The Thermaltake fan next to it was silent.
2) Power Requirements: The delta fan with its massive power requirements should not be plugged into a header on your motherboard, as it has burned out many of them for some unhappy users. The Thermaltake fan as well as the YS-Tech fans draw a little over half that much, and run no risk to your motherboard.
Is the Thermaltake the best fan out there if you're after sheer cooling ability? Well, in my book? No. The delta beats it hands down, every day of the week. Not too many people would question that.
However (you all knew this was coming) the delta fan has been rumored to have the innate ability to drive individuals insane thanks to the annoying high-pitched drone it produces. If I weren't absolutely batty already it'd probably have done it to me by now. Still, I like the fact that my computer isn't the loudest thing in my house when I've got the Thermaltake fan on it. I do believe my delta is going in my box of parts and filed in the "to be used for future testing" area.
The conclusion: The Thermaltake fan isn't the best cooling of the bunch, but it gives you the best noise to cooling ratio on the planet so far. It comes close to the Delta, while still being quieter than the YS Tech fan we know as well.
Special thanks to GigaHz at So-Trick Computers for providing an excellent fan to review!
Rating: 9/10 SystemLogistics
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