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Thermaltake Sonic Tower

By Nathan Davis
10:18 May 18, 2005
Tags: Thermaltake | Sonic | Tower
Thermaltake Sonic Tower
 
95
Verdict:
Thermaltake have taken us by surprise and delivered an effective heatsink that we have no problems recommending for the silent cooling afi cionados. Kudos to Thermaltake.
 
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Thermaltake – developers of Plastinium, the relatively new element made up of a fusion of plastic and aluminium properties – have pushed yet another cooler through the production line.

Thermaltake – developers of Plastinium, the relatively new element made up of a fusion of plastic and aluminium properties – have pushed yet another cooler through the production line. It’s a massively large heatsink measuring 11.2cm squared across and 15cm tall. So it’s big.

 It has 55 aluminium cooling fi ns stacked on each of the two sides, with a total of six copper heatpipes leading out from the copper base up through these fi ns. This is a potentially highly effi cient design. But that copper does make it a weighty unit, heaving in at almost 700 grams.

 Instead of promising passive cooling, they vaguely referenced it by saying ‘fanless & air cooling’. Whatever that means, it’s a tad oxymoronic, yeah?

 There are two options for the use of this unit and one is simply with an exhaust fan. The other is to whack a 120mm fan on the side. We have a hunch which will perform better. For testing we stuck the behemoth on Chernobyl which, as usual, we fi red it up at 80W.

 In 25°C ambience, with a gentle breeze from a room fan, it peaked at 52°C. Nothing spectacular, but certainly not shabby for pseudo-passive cooling, loosely similar to having only an exhaust in the case.

 So next we attached a silent 120mm fan. Spinning at 2000rpm, the temperature dropped to a mighty impressive 39°C. That blew us away.

 Thermaltake have taken us by surprise and delivered an effective heatsink that we have no problems recommending for the silent cooling afi cionados. Kudos to Thermaltake.

 
Product Info
Specs:
Specifications Socket 478/A/939/ 775; copper core; six heatpipes; 110 aluminium fi ns; no fan; 692g; 11.2 x 11.2 x 15cm
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This article appeared in the June, 2005 issue of Atomic.

Aliens: Colonial Marines in depth; Z-77 Motherboard round-up; strategy gaming special; Home Server tutorial. PLUS MUCH MORE - ON SALE NOW!
 
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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 137 | June, 2012

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.
 
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