OCZ Vindicator: Heatpipe Tower Cooling from OCZ
by Wesley Fink on April 5, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
The OCZ Vindicator is a full heatpipe tower that is designed to be used with one or more 120mm cooling fans. OCZ also claims that the Vindicator can be used to cool at stock speeds with no fan at all. That is probably true, but our current case setup is really not optimized with cooling paths for fanless cooling. With the barely average results achieved with the stock Vindicator fan it seemed unfair to test and report less than stellar fanless results with a cooling setup not really geared to fanless cooling. We will be making changes to our cooler test bed in the near future, with the goal of realistically reducing noise and improving case airflow using means available to our readers.
The Vindicator is produced in the same plant as the Scythe Ninja Plus Revision B, so it is understandable that the OCZ cooler bears a striking resemblance to the Ninja Plus B. OCZ ships the Vindicator preassembled for Socket T (Socket 775), so it is ready to install on today's most common enthusiast CPU - Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. OCZ also includes an easy to mount adapter for AMD Socket AM2/939/940/754. The Vindicator therefore fits all current production processors and most recent CPUs except for Intel Socket 478.
The stock Vindicator fan is clearly designed for low noise first. With a meager 40 CFM output and 18.5 dB-A noise rating it is a great cooler for a low-noise PC just as it comes from the kit. If your goal in purchasing a new cooler is silence you will be happy with the full OCZ stock package. The Vindicator name does suggest more though, and overclocking is one arena where OCZ is always a player.
The problem with overclocking, however, is the anemic output of the stock Vindicator fan. If you push overclocking with the Vindicator as far as it will go you end up with a stable overclock on our test bed of 3.80GHz. This is average to below average among the heatpipe tower coolers we have reviewed. Fortunately this problem can be corrected and the Vindicator is capable of much more. Replace the stock fan with the quiet (14 dB-A) and powerful (72 CFM) SilenX IXTREMA 120 and the Vindicator can overclock with the best.
The OCZ Vindicator with the SilenX reached a stable 3.90GHz, which matches the top tier of cooler performance we have tested. This matches the excellent Tuniq Tower 120, Thermalright Ultra 120, Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and the Scythe Infinity with two fans in a push-pull configuration. You can achieve similar but slightly lower results by using two OCZ fans, or similar quiet medium output fans in a dual push-pull arrangement. However two SilenX in push-pull did not really allow a higher overclock, so there is a limit to how much increased airflow will benefit the performance of an air cooler.
For OCZ, the Vindicator is said to be the first in a much expanded line of CPU coolers. We look forward to testing the upcoming OCZ coolers, but we hope the new coolers will be a little more original that the Vindicator. Performance does differ from the similar Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B primarily because a different fan is used, but the cooler itself is a Ninja Plus Rev. B with a different cut-out design on the aluminum fins.
If you want a quiet PC and modest overclocking you will be very happy with the stock OCZ kit. It is quiet and cools reasonably well. If you are an enthusiast who overclocks, buy another fan and clips and do push-pull for improved performance. For top overclocking performance throw away the stock OCZ fan and substitute something like the super quiet/high output SilenX or the Scythe SFLEX SFF21F. With a better matched fan you can reach the performance levels of the best air coolers available.
However, no matter what you do the OCZ is not quite as effective at lowering temperatures as the Tuniq Tower 120 or the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme. The Vindicator with a better-matched fan will not hold back your overclocking attempts, but cooling is not in the same league as the top Tuniq and Thermalright coolers we have evaluated at AnandTech.
The OCZ Vindicator is a great beginning to an expanded OCZ cooler line. We liked OCZ coolers when they were more plentiful a few years ago. OCZ has that cooler background to be tapped in expanding their cooler product line. We look forward to seeing many new designs as OCZ establishes and expands their selection of cooling products.
The OCZ Vindicator is a full heatpipe tower that is designed to be used with one or more 120mm cooling fans. OCZ also claims that the Vindicator can be used to cool at stock speeds with no fan at all. That is probably true, but our current case setup is really not optimized with cooling paths for fanless cooling. With the barely average results achieved with the stock Vindicator fan it seemed unfair to test and report less than stellar fanless results with a cooling setup not really geared to fanless cooling. We will be making changes to our cooler test bed in the near future, with the goal of realistically reducing noise and improving case airflow using means available to our readers.
The Vindicator is produced in the same plant as the Scythe Ninja Plus Revision B, so it is understandable that the OCZ cooler bears a striking resemblance to the Ninja Plus B. OCZ ships the Vindicator preassembled for Socket T (Socket 775), so it is ready to install on today's most common enthusiast CPU - Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. OCZ also includes an easy to mount adapter for AMD Socket AM2/939/940/754. The Vindicator therefore fits all current production processors and most recent CPUs except for Intel Socket 478.
The stock Vindicator fan is clearly designed for low noise first. With a meager 40 CFM output and 18.5 dB-A noise rating it is a great cooler for a low-noise PC just as it comes from the kit. If your goal in purchasing a new cooler is silence you will be happy with the full OCZ stock package. The Vindicator name does suggest more though, and overclocking is one arena where OCZ is always a player.
The problem with overclocking, however, is the anemic output of the stock Vindicator fan. If you push overclocking with the Vindicator as far as it will go you end up with a stable overclock on our test bed of 3.80GHz. This is average to below average among the heatpipe tower coolers we have reviewed. Fortunately this problem can be corrected and the Vindicator is capable of much more. Replace the stock fan with the quiet (14 dB-A) and powerful (72 CFM) SilenX IXTREMA 120 and the Vindicator can overclock with the best.
The OCZ Vindicator with the SilenX reached a stable 3.90GHz, which matches the top tier of cooler performance we have tested. This matches the excellent Tuniq Tower 120, Thermalright Ultra 120, Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and the Scythe Infinity with two fans in a push-pull configuration. You can achieve similar but slightly lower results by using two OCZ fans, or similar quiet medium output fans in a dual push-pull arrangement. However two SilenX in push-pull did not really allow a higher overclock, so there is a limit to how much increased airflow will benefit the performance of an air cooler.
For OCZ, the Vindicator is said to be the first in a much expanded line of CPU coolers. We look forward to testing the upcoming OCZ coolers, but we hope the new coolers will be a little more original that the Vindicator. Performance does differ from the similar Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B primarily because a different fan is used, but the cooler itself is a Ninja Plus Rev. B with a different cut-out design on the aluminum fins.
If you want a quiet PC and modest overclocking you will be very happy with the stock OCZ kit. It is quiet and cools reasonably well. If you are an enthusiast who overclocks, buy another fan and clips and do push-pull for improved performance. For top overclocking performance throw away the stock OCZ fan and substitute something like the super quiet/high output SilenX or the Scythe SFLEX SFF21F. With a better matched fan you can reach the performance levels of the best air coolers available.
However, no matter what you do the OCZ is not quite as effective at lowering temperatures as the Tuniq Tower 120 or the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme. The Vindicator with a better-matched fan will not hold back your overclocking attempts, but cooling is not in the same league as the top Tuniq and Thermalright coolers we have evaluated at AnandTech.
The OCZ Vindicator is a great beginning to an expanded OCZ cooler line. We liked OCZ coolers when they were more plentiful a few years ago. OCZ has that cooler background to be tapped in expanding their cooler product line. We look forward to seeing many new designs as OCZ establishes and expands their selection of cooling products.
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Chunga29 - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
I have to wonder if part of the issue might be your sound meter. Some meters are only good to measure levels down to ~35 dB. I've played with a sound meter at work (the HR department had to conduct "ergonomics testing" [rolls eyes], and as the IT guy I had to make sure the PCs weren't "too loud". Not sure what we were supposed to do if the Dell systems made too much noise for comfort, though....) Our offices were at a pretty consistent 45-50 dB during the day. Even a normal conversation would jack that level up to 55-65 dB (depending on the speaker(s).At night with all the computers shut down, however, the noise level dropped below 30 dB and our meter was no longer useful as far as I could tell. Of coruse, at that point even moderate breathing in the vicinity of the meter would increase the detected noise level, as would walking. In my experience, then, 30 dB is basically extremely quiet (even "silent"), and anything lower than that is not likely to be meaningful unless you are testing in some soundproof location.
I would think in a standard house with all of the noise generating equipment (fans, refrigerators, heat/AC, TV, etc.) shut down that reaching 25 dB should not present a problem. Whether your equipment can reliably measure noise levels at that point is the real question.
Wesley Fink - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
CORRECTED - Editors would also like to be able to edit their comments :)It seems that every cooler or hard drive review that we have recently posted is met with rocks from SilentPC "readers". This is really puzzling, since we have stated many times that we admire the good SPC has done in making manufacturers pay much more attention to the noise their components generate. There are many more choices of low-noise components because enthusiasts and sites like SPC have pointed out the noise offenders, and buyers have bought the quieter version instead.
Testing component noise in isolation provides useful information, but AnandTech has a long tradition of "Real World" testing. Overclocking also has very different demands than building the quietest PC to run at stock speeds. The noise floor for any working system will be the power supply generally, and possibly the video card or ambient room noise. It doesn't matter in our approach how quiet a fan is if the power supply is 20db louder. This is pretty obvious but it is rarely mentioned when people are screaming about a fan at 14dbA versus a fan at 18dbA or hard drives that are 2db apart at 26db. Does it really matter if the power supply in the system is at 36dbA?
We do plan to move to a quieter power supply in our test bed as soon as we can find one that meets our needs. We have looked at several of the power supplies proclaimed in comments in past reviews as "MUCH quieter than the OCZ PowerStream 520W". They were quieter at idle, but at load those power supplies were virtually the same noise level as the OCZ. Idle noise might matter if you sleep in the same room with your computer, but you can't do anything with an idling computer except look at it. We believe the normal operating noise measurements are the noise levels that matter most.
If readers prefer the review approach of another site that is their right, but we do hope they will stop investing so much emotion in their comments. We think there is room for both the component isolation approach and the AnandTech "real world" approach. We also don't think there is any "right" or universal truth to be gleaned here - they are just different approaches.
We chose the SilenX fan because it specified higher output than the SFlex at noise levels that were far below our system noise floor. We could just as easily have used the SFlex with a specified 63.7cfm instead of the 72cfm of the SilenX. However, since we have not yet done our fan review we didn't want to tilt sentiment too strongly to one brand name so we chose another quality product to put another deserving brand in the spotlight.
Our plan going forward is to complete a few more waiting cooler reviews, and then select the top air cooler from our reviews. This will be followed by a fan roundup testing fans on our top performing HSF. New reviews will then be tested with stock components PLUS the top fan from our roundup. This should provide some consistent answers to some valid real-world questions.
Wesley Fink - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
Yes, it appears SPCR had the SilenX wars recently, but the fan in this review is NOT the same one tested at SPCR. Someone needs to back away and also point out that while the SilenX fan did not match it's noise specs in the SPCR review it DID test at less than 18db, which is still exceptionally quiet. In addition a recent SPCR review of the 14DBa SilenX power supply concluded "The SilenX 14 dBA advances the state of quiet fan-cooled power supplies by another few decibels."The SilenX DID improve the cooling ability and the overclocking ability of the OCZ Vindicator compared to the stock fan, and it did so at measured noise levels below the noise floor of our system. These things we did confirm in our review. We did not test the claimed specifications since our concern was cooler performance, overclocking, and noise lower than our system noise floor.
ATWindsor - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
Less than 18 dba at 10 cfm that is, at full speed it is noticably more noisy. (the SPCR-test puts it at 33 dba), I have myself measured fans, and the specs are more or less hit and miss, my conclusion was that the very best indicator of noise is the rpm of the fan. 14 dba isn't even close to realistic at stock speed. Hower also SPCRs reults are not entirely reliable at levels below 20 dba, that is very quiet for a room not specifically designed for it, and most sound-level-meters (even good ones), have a noise floor on the 15 dba-range.The problem is that nobody knows how these numbers are measured, 14 dba at what range? 20 meters? It like saying "this heater will give you a room-temperature of a 100 degrees F. Its more or less meaningless when you now nothing about the room, as a heater, sound should be stated as sound-power. Then you can easily calculate sound pressure level in a given room at a given distance.
coldpower27 - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
Are you going to be doing some comparisons to the value coolers?Sunbeam Silent Whisper Socket 775
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Wesley Fink - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
A value cooler roundup is planned for the future.Bumtrinket - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
I think what's got up SPCR readers' collective noses is the way you allowed SilenX's claim to pass without challenge, and presented it as established fact: "Replace the stock fan with the quiet (14 dB-A) and powerful (72 CFM) SilenX IXTREMA 120 and the Vindicator can overclock with the best." Unless there's some way SilenX have found to defy the laws of physics, there's no way a fan capable of shifting that much air could be that quiet.I'm not sure if you're aware of SilenX's history of deceit as regards SPCR, but that was like a red rag to a bull.
Incidentally, you state that the Scythe Ninja needs a mounting bracket for use with Socket 775 mobo's - that's not true, as it's used the standard Intel pushpin method since revision B was launched several months ago. I'm a bit surprised you consider this would be "good news," especially in a heatsink of this size and weight.
Wesley Fink - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
Easy mounting is always good news, but there are valid concerns about the huge weight being supported by something as flimsy as pins. That concern is also stated in the review.I have the Ninja Plus Rev. B in for review and the bracket and instructions for the AMD AM2/754/939/940 is NOT a push pin install. For AMD the bracket attaches and clips onto the center pin of the AMD mounting cage - which is supported by screws and a back plate. You still do not need to remove the board or the "cage" to install the Nija Plus Rev. B on an AMD board. THe bracket for Intel 775 IS push pin, but it is the only push pin solution.
Bumtrinket - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
ermm... OK, but I was referring specifically to socket 775, not AMD. It's hardly worth arguing about, but you might want to correct what you actually said: "The good news is the OCZ Vindicator comes preconfigured for Intel Socket T, where the Scythe requires installation of a bracket before it can be used on that socket. Mounting socket plates on both coolers is basically the same."I was rather hoping there would be a bolt-thru plus backplate solution for socket 775, which would have avoided the main gripe with the Ninja, but it seems it's not to be.
Wesley Fink - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
It seems that every cooler or hard drive review that we have recently posted is met with rocks from SilentPC "readers". This is really puzzling, since we have stated many times that we admire the good SPC has done in making manufacturers pay much more attention to the noise their components generate. There are many more choises of low-noise components because sites enthusiasts and sites like SPC have pointed out the noise offenders, and buyers have bought the quieter version instead.Testing component noise in isolation provides useful information, but AnandTech has a long tradition of "Real World" testing. Overclocking also has very different demands than building the quietest PC to run at stock speeds. The noise floor for any working system will be the power supply generally, and possibly the video card or ambient room noise. It doesn't matter in our approach how quiet a fan is if the power supply is 20db louder. This is pretty obvious but it is rarely mentioned when people are screaming about a fan at 14dbA versus a fan at 18dbA or power supplies that are 2db apart at 26db. Does it really matter if the power supply in the system is at 36dbA?
We do plan to move to a quieter power supply in our test bed as soon as we can find one that meets our needs. We have looked at several of the power supplies proclaimed in comments in past reviews as "MUCH quieter than the OCZ PowerStream 520W". They were quieter at idle, but at load those power supplies were virtually the same noise level as the OCZ. Idle noise might matter if you sleep in the same room with your computer, but you can't do anything with an idling computer except look at it. We believe the normal operating noise measurements are the noise levels that matter most.
If readers prefer the review approach of another site that is their right, but we do hope they will stop investing so much emotion in thier comments. We think there is room for both the component isolation approach and the AnandTech "real world" approach. We also don't think there is any "right" or universal truth to be gleaned here - they are just different approaches.
We chose the SilenX fan because it specified higher output than the SFlex at noise levels that were far below our system noise floor. We could just as easily have used the SFlex with a specified 63.7cfm instead of the 72cfm of the SilenX. However, since we have not yet done our fan review we didn't want to tilt sentiment too strongly to one brand name so we chose another quality product to put another deserving brand in the spotlight.
Our plan going forward is to complete a few more waiting cooler reviews, and then select the top air cooler from our reviews. This will be followed by a fan roundup testing fans on our top performing HSF. New reviews will then be tested with stock components PLUS the top fan from our roundup. This should provide some consistent answers to some valid real-world questions.