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Product:
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Thermaltake Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler |
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Price:
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$41 (CAN) / $30 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Thermaltake
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Author:
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Hi-TEK
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Date:
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July 14th, 2003
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Rating:
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Once the GPU heatsink based has coated with a thin layer of thermal grease, the nickel coated copper
heat pipe is inserted into the top channel of the unit and secured into place. The main front aluminum
heatsink is screwed into the GPU heatsink using four mounting screws. The same process for coating the
bottom GPU block and re-inserting the heatpipe into the rear heatsink base must be completed. To
finalize the assembled kit, the main rear heatsink base is screwed into the bottom, effectively creating a
sandwich on both sides of the video card.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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The final step to complete the installation of this kit is the install the 45mm cooling fan on the front
main heatsink. Thermaltake has already created a fan mounting area in this design where the 45mm fan can
be inserted. The fan is placed into the base along with the included fan grill and 4 screws are used to
install the unit. With the kit installation completed, the last step is to connect the 3-pin power cable
to your video card or attach the 3-pin to 4-pin adapter. In my case, the 3-pin cable would not work on
my video card and the adapter was used to power the fan from a spare 4-pin Molex connector.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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A rear profile shot provides a visual indication on how complicated this assembly is and how much room
this card will take once connected to a motherboard. Consumers should keep in mind that a product of
this nature will take both the AGP slot and any PCI slot located underneath it.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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One issue that I immediately noticed after installing the MSI GF4 TI4200 video card on an ASUS AV7333
Motherboard was that the length of the Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler blocks access to the clips for the
DDR RAM modules. It’s not quite often that consumers will be required to change their RAM configuration,
but in order to do so requires the removal of the Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler first. In some cases,
depending on the type of motherboard and manufacturer this might cause some room for concern and possibly
create a few issues.
In order to gauge the performance of the modified MSI GF4 TI4200 video card, I ran the card in its
stock configuration and new modification using Powerstrip v3.40
from EnTech Taiwan. This application program allows consumers to increase engine and memory clock
speeds for optimal performance. The latest release includes per-application cruise controls, in-game
clock hotkeys, clock power management, an OSD of current clock speeds, and simultaneous clock control
over multiple display adapters. By default the MSI GF4 TI4200 video card is capable of running with
a memory clock of 445 MHz and engine clock of 240 MHz. A successful overclock of this card includes
having no reported artifacts or visual abnormalities along with stability using normal application
programs. No temperature results of the GPU where taken in this test, but ambient case temperature
was reported at 30°C. With the stock cooler and the addition of Cooler Master CRC-U01 copper heatsink
chips on each of the ram modules, I was able to push the memory clock to 475 MHz and the engine clock
to 320 MHz after 30 minutes of load testing. With the Thermaltake Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler, the
results were even more impressive moving the memory clock to 502 MHz and the engine clock to 335 MHz
stable. I did have to reduce my memory clock settings after 20 minutes because the RAM modules were
becoming notably hot to the touch and performance was effected. I'll be finalizing my configuration
and running some additional benchmark tests using 3DMark2001 and a few other programs.
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Conclusion:
The Thermaltake Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler is a nice supplemental add-on kit for anyone seriously
looking to move into passive cooling with good results. As with most products on the market there is
always an inherent risk associated with overclocking products beyond the manufacturer's specification.
The Giant II can handle increased loads for high performance video cards which in exchange can improve
gaming performance. The 24-page instruction manual is well written and provides all the necessary
information on assembling this kit together. Consumers should keep in mind that this product requires
an abundance of thermal paste applied to specific areas, which tends to be a very messy process.
Passive cooling is usually associated with a reduction in noise levels and despite the high RPM rating
for the included 45mm fan; the noise levels on the Giant II were respectable. If you deploy more than
one case fan in your case, more than likely that this 45mm fan will not become an issue. The overall
final assembly of this product is aesthetically pleasing for any modified case using a side panel window
or acrylic case theme. As noted during testing, one area that will not benefit from cooling is the RAM
modules on the video card. I had to remove the Cooler Master CRC-U01 copper heatsinks before putting
this kit together. Thermaltake would benefit by making this kit more complete by adding some low profile
SDRAM, DDR RAM or BGA RAM module add-on accessories. This would help any consumers who wish to keep
the heat level of the RAM modules down to a minimum. The only other additional point to make about this
product is the issue with the Giant II blocking access to the clips for the motherboard DDR RAM modules.
This is all dependant on the type of motherboard used and the manufacturer. Aside from a few
minor issues, I'm rating the Thermaltake Giant II VGA Heat Pipe Cooler an
8.5 out of 10. If you have any questions
regarding this review be sure to visit the Thermaltake
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Aesthetically pleasing design
- Good documentation
- Quality construction
- Minimal noise levels
- Good performance in overclocked environments
- Price
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Cons:
- Not compatible with all video cards
- Blocks PCI slot
- Blocks DDR RAM module clips on some motherboards
- No RAM cooling provided or possible
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