nVidia designed a nice HSF for their latest line of GeForce 4 Titaniums. It's performance was good enough to cool the GPU, and it's patented design also cooled the surrounding memory chips. The memory used was the BGA variety, so it did run cooler, and didn't need ramsinks.
As good as the design was, enthusiasts always wanted more. Because the NV25 was already pushed to the max, there wasn't a lot of headroom for the GeForce Ti4600 to overclock much higher than its rated speed. Many webmasters have had decent results, but others, such as me, have not. I've stated in our earlier Visiontek Xtasy Ti4600 review that overclocking didn't really go that well. I considered hacking some old heatsinks I have lying around for the ram, but I didn't have an acceptable solution for the core. The Crystal Orb wouldn't fit (unless I used an epoxy), and I wanted to keep it on our GeForce 3.
Thermaltake, the makers of all things "Orb", have released a GeForce 4 cooler that addresses all the above issues. The Thermaltake GeForce4 Copper Cooler, upon initial impression, appears to be another reference cooler, but differs in several ways. Is this enough to make it a worthwhile investment? Let's see&
Specifications
P/N A1349
Fan Dimension 50x50x10 mm
Rated Voltage 12VDC
Started Voltage 6VDC
Rated Current max. 0.28AMP
Power Input 3.36W
FAN Speed 5500±10% R.P.M
Air Pressure 3.3mmH2O
Max. Air Flow 10.6CFM
Noise 29dB(A)
Bearing Type One Ball & One
sleeve bearing
Lift Time 50,000 Hours
Connector 3Pin
Material All Copper Heat Sink
Weight 123g
Memory Heat Sink 2pcs for Front & 2pcs for Back side -AL. material
nVidia designed their heatsink the way they did for a reason. Like I mentioned earlier, the GPU cooler also cools the ram by blowing air over the BGA chips. The other benefit of their design is that you don't lose a PCI slot, as you would with the majority of aftermarket coolers.
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Thermaltake's GeForce 4 cooler does much of the same. It closely adheres to nVidia's design, in terms of dimensions (although Thermaltake's is slightly larger), and appearance. That's where the similarities end though. Unlike the stock heatsink, Thermaltake's is made of copper. The GeForce4 Copper Cooler still follows the reference design, and using the push pins, included in the kit, it fits perfectly with the majority of GeForce 4s that follows specifications. I would say all GeForce 4s, but as I've seen in other hardware components, manufacturers in general seem to have chucked the "specifications" manuals out the window.
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Whereas the stock heatsink used fins, and a 4800rpm fan, Thermaltake ups the ante with a 5500rpm fan, and pins instead of fins. It's debatable which provides better performance, fins or pins, but in theory, pins allow for greater surface area, and therefore more area for heat to dissipate.
The fan is slightly larger than nVidia's reference, and is rated at 10.6CFM. It's big enough, and draws more power than the stock fan, and you'll likely be forced to use the included 3-to-4 pin Molex adapter. Even if you didn't want to use the adapter, it's a physical impossibility to fit the power cable into the video card's outlet. Although the fan is larger, I didn't find the noise to be obtrusive, and chances are, your CPU HSF or case fans will likely generate a lot more noise.
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The ram sinks in the Thermaltake GeForce4 Copper Cooler kit are not made out of copper, but aluminum, and anodized to appear as the same colour as the copper cooler. The weight is a dead giveaway anyhow, as they are extremely light. The kit comes with 4 heatsinks, two for the front, and two for the back, and they can be attached with the included thermal tape, or you can use some thermal epoxy, which isn't included, although a packet of thermal paste is.
Installation
We have two Visiontek Xtasy Ti4600s here, and I decided to use the one where we've had less success overclocking. It happens to be coincidence as well, that this Ti4600 runs about 2C higher than the other.
Depending on how the manufacturer decided to attach the heatsink, will determine how easy it is to take off. I can tell you that Visiontek uses some kind of adhesive, and it's a real pain to get the heatsink off the card. I wanted to do the installation quickly, so the trick with putting the card in a ziplock bag, and freezing it overnight (this will make the adhesive brittle, thus weaker) wasn't in the plans. So instead, I played Quake 3 for about two hours, and uninstalled the card (who says testing isn't fun?). After removing the stock push pins, a little twist and turn, and off came the heatsink.
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I should mention that once you've done the above, you probably just voided your warranty. 
You should thoroughly clean the GPU. I prefer to use my girlfriend's nail polish remover (yes, it's really hers) to remove thermal material. Afterwards, I wipe the remover off with some rubbing alcohol, and the GPU is clean. After that, you can use the included packet of thermal paste, or if you have a higher quality paste (like it'll make any difference), to apply on the GPU. I shouldn't have to tell you that you only need a thin amount. I chose not to lap the GeForce4 Copper Cooler, since the finish was already excellent.
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Installing the ramsinks is a snap. If you know how to use double-sided tape, you'll have the ramsinks on in no time. Just a note: There are no instructions on installation included with the GeForce4 Copper Cooler. Now, installation is straightforward, but there are some arguments about which ramsinks you should use on the front and back. The majority of reviews I've seen slap the ramsinks on the front of the card. To me, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, as the first fin will negate airflow over the other fins. Also, because the back of the video card doesn't have active cooling, I thought it would be better to put the larger heatsinks in the back of the card. For the record, our overclocking results with the ram was the same under both scenarios (big sinks in front, or big sinks in back), but the back ram did run 1C cooler with the larger heatsinks.
Performance
We're going to look at a few areas where such a kit may prove useful, if at all. To be honest, I'll be expecting lower temperatures across the board, which as we know, is always a good thing, but more importantly, we will be examining if overclocking will be more successful with the GeForce4 Copper Cooler. We will also be examining the temperatures while overclocked.
The Test Setup will include the following:
Visiontek Xtasy Ti4600
Lian-Li PC65U, with only stock intake and exhaust fans on
Thermaltake Hardcano 2 to gauge the temperatures
Ambient system temperature will remain about 32C during testing
To stress the card:
5 x Quake 3 Timedemos, followed by 4 x 3D Mark 2001 Benchmarks
One temperature probe will be attached on the back of the card, directly behind the GPU, during the tests. I considered attaching the probe to the edge of the GPU, but since the center of the GPU is where the majority of the heat will be generated, I felt behind the GPU would net more accurate results. Keep in mind that this isn't a true measure of the core temperature, but by placing the probe between the GPU and heatsink will almost certainly result in inaccurate temperatures.
One temperature probe will be placed on the back of the card, on the edge of the memory. We did it this way because I feel that the memory as a whole will reflect the same temperatures in the middle and on the edge.
When the computer isn't doing anything, both the stock cooler and the GeForce4 Copper Cooler perform very closely top one another. When the going gets tough though, the GeForce4 Copper Cooler pulls ahead (or behind if you want to look at the numbers that way), and records readings as much as 7C lower.
I think the graphs speak for themselves. Obviously, the BGA ram does benefit with some form of cooling, and runs 3C cooler with the ramsinks. Note that the temperatures for the ram are for the back ram modules, where there was no active cooling. The front ram modules were about another 2C cooler due to the air moving from the GPU cooler.
Overclocking
Cooler temperatures are always good, especially for video cards, as the source of many visual artifacts is usually the result of a card being pushed too hard. With the GeForce4 Copper Cooler, I was hoping for some better overclocking results than I've had in the past. Here's how we did&
To be honest, I was hoping for the same type of success as we've had with the GeForce 3/Crystal Orb, but it appears that our Visiontek just wouldn't do it. It's also probable that the GeForce 4 architecture is already being pushed hard as it is, and it just won't go any higher with this revision. What makes me think this? Core temps with the GeForce4 Copper Cooler only went up by 1C during the overclocking tests.
Final Words
Following up on the success of their previous GPU coolers, Thermaltake has done it again with their GeForce4 Copper Cooler. Considering the lack of decent aftermarket GeForce 4 coolers, they've cornered themselves a nice little niche here. Temps were lower, in some cases, quite dramatically, and they've designed the cooler well enough that is shouldn't interfere with your other components.
Overclocking is a question mark, as the range of overclocking will also be dependent on the yields of the GeForce 4 GPU. We did improve on our previous overclocking results, but nothing too dramatic. Ti4400 owners, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this may be the cooler for you, as most Ti4400 overclocking results have been much better than the Ti4600s, price/performance wise. For a mere 20$ US, this might be the cooler to get if you're still short of the Ti4600 speeds.
If there's one other knock, it's that the cooler is a GeForce 4 only part. We're not going to penalize the cooler for it, but it's something you'll need to be aware of. Anyone without a GeForce 4, you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to replace the stock cooling on your card.
Pros: Excellent cooling performance, easy to install, looks nice!
Cons: May not increase video card's overclocking potential.
Bottom Line: There is no guarantee your card will overclock better with the Thermaltake GeForce4 Copper Cooler, but you will definitely improve upon the cooling the stock cooler provided, and therefore increase your chances of overclocking. Lower temperatures will prolong the life of the card, and may even help eliminate the visual artifacts that are the result of a hot card.
If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
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