As you can see in the chart the winner is the Swiftech MCX462-V
with the Vantec tornado fan, beating the Thermalright by 6C. One
thing that should be noted however is that the Vantec Tornado
fan is extremely loud. Pushing a lot of air is one thing, but
the whine that that fan makes in my opinion is just too annoying
to use. With noise taken into account I think that the best combination
of fan and heat sink would have to be the Swiftech 462-V with
the Thermalright fan on it. The Swiftech beat the Thermalrght
by 2C under load using the same fan. This demonstrates the superior
design of the Swiftech.
Conclusions
The results speak for themselves. The Swiftech 462-V is an excellent
choice in the war against heat and noise. It seems to be too easy
for a company to repackage a heat sink with a more powerful (read
louder) fan these days. Swiftech took the route less traveled
with this heat sink, designing a heat sink to out-cool the competition
with a high CFM or a low CFM fan installed. Including the ability
to utilize a 92mm fan was also an excellent idea, allowing the
customer to have the best of both worlds (that being high CFM
and low noise.)
Overall the quality of the product is top notch. Having a beautifully
machined base that does not need to be lapped. The helicoids pins
are also excellent quality, with no possibility of them coming
out of the base. The design of the heat sink has its ups and downs.
The mounting mechanism was the most innovative and easy to use
that I have ever seen. The only downside of the sink is the fan
mounting mechanism. The snap rivets were way to hard to install,
I think that traditional fan screws would be a much better solution.
Pros
Looks awesome
Conforms to AMD mounting specifications
Mounting mechanism is extremely to use
Excellent cooling performance
Mirror like finish on base
Cons
Fairly heavy (Worry about toting it around although un-installation
is very easy)
Snap rivets
Bottom Line
This is an excellent heat sink to look at. It cools great, looks
great, and is easy to implement. Crazy
PC carries this cooler, and they're a great gang over there
who will take care of your cooling needs. For our European readers,
you can hit up our buds at Overclock.co.uk.
If you have any questions or comments, be sure to hit us up in
the Forums.
