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- Date:
- Thursday , November 01, 2007
- Author:
- Marc Adams
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Mega-Heatsink Roundup - 0407
Big bucks for big units! We pull out the stops and put 10 big bad cooling systems and heatsinks to the test. What coolers deliver you the best temperature drop for your hard earned dollar? We spell it out for you on a unit by unit basis.
ZEROTHERM NV120 PREMIUM
If you have never heard of ZEROtherm before don't worry, they're new to the retail market. Established as APACK Co., Ltd in 1999, they mainly worked with other large OEMs to deliver heatsinks and coolers for their products. It wasn't until late in 2006 that they had begun to offer products directly for the consumer. With the launch of their BTF style of coolers based on a butterfly, ZEROtherm had finally come into their own. Today we are looking at the company’s newest offering in the form of the Nirvana NV120 Premium. With four full length heat pipes, blue LED fan and fan controller this heatsink is poised to earn your respect. Let's see if ZEROtherm has another winner on its hands.
Package & Specs
The box of the NV120 is full of colorful images singing the heatsink's praises. From claiming an 'easy install' to 'killer performance' there is no shortage of clever advertising to be found. Useful information can be found on all sides of the box regarding performance of the fan, heatsink and even the fan controller. The cooler is stored inside a blister pack inside the box for added protection which is nice. Should you order this cooler online there should be little to worry about regarding its safe arrival.
Dimensions: 128 (L) x 95 (W) x 150 (H) mm
Weight: 628g (Without fan)
Heat Pipes: 4 Full length
Compatibility:
- Intel LGA 775
- AMD AM2
- AMD 754
- AMD 939
- AMD 940
With a copper base, heatpipes and aluminum fins the NV120 look to mix it up in an attempt to attain the best from both worlds. How well they do will be shown in the results section of course. Another nail in the Socket 478 coffin as this heatsink does not offer compatibility.
Contents & Finish
The NV120 comes with all the necessary hardware to install the drive and even includes a fan controller. What I liked most about this fan controller as opposed to some of the other coolers that came with one was that this unit uses a standard three pin connection. This means if you did not want to use the controller on the included fan it could be used on a different fan altogether. A very nice touch.
The finish on the base of the NV120 is another display of quality on the part of ZEROtherm. It is polished to a mirror shine and no irregularities were noticed. The entire cooler shares this same level of quality and the heatsink fins themselves are a very cool chrome blue.
Installation & Contact
Installation is the one area where I must reprimand ZEROtherm. While the included plates are easy to install on the cooler, installing the cooler on the motherboard is a separate affair altogether. I found that I needed to remove the fan from the heatsink in order to reach the screws underneath that needed to be tightened. While an 'L' shaped screwdriver would have worked, it would have also been nice to make mention of this in the installation manual as well.
It should be noted that while the fan on the NV120 is removable (with a lot of force) I was unable to use the same fan I had used on the other coolers in any fashion that would work. As such, I used the included fan controller to limit the RPM's of the ZEROtherm fan to match that of our test fan (2000 RPM). While not a perfect comparison it will certainly show us if the NV120 can keep up with the big boys.
As with all coolers that use screws to hold it in place, some smearing of the paste occurred as it was removed but again, I did not notice any large areas of uneven pressure that would suggest the cooler was not properly seated.