Enzotech Ultra-X: If Looks Could Chill
by Wesley Fink on June 27, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Conclusion
It would have been great to see the Enzotech Ultra-X top our cooling test results. This is not because we have a bias in favor of Enzotech, but because a cooler as beautifully finished as the Ultra-X deserves recognition. Unfortunately the best we can say about the Enzotech is that it is the best of the down-facing coolers by a small margin in overclocking, which is a notch below the top-performing heatpipe towers. This is certainly not bad performance, but it is not the best we have tested at AnandTech.
Nothing we have measured in this review of the Enzotech Ultra-X has changed our opinion of the influence of air cooler design on cooler performance. The heatpipe towers with side-facing fans are the top-performing coolers we have tested, in both overclocking ability and cooling efficiency. The best designs with down-facing fans perform in a second tier category just below the top heatpipe towers. The Enzotech Ultra-X performs in that category. That means the top of the air cooler list is still the domain of the Thermalrights, Tuniq Tower 120, and a few push-pull configured towers.
This makes the Ultra-X a beautifully built gem of a cooler with solid engineering of the installation kits for Intel 775 and AMD. The Enzotech is relatively easy to install, but you will have to remove the motherboard to install the Ultra-X. Like many other top coolers the Enzotech Ultra-X is heavy at 835g, but the installation is solid on every motherboard we tried. This is a cooler that attaches to the board securely enough that you won't worry about the cooler falling off when you least expect it. Ultra-X is still a big cooler and you will need to take precautions when moving your system, but the install is solid.
The fan choice for the Ultra-X, however, is not a particularly good selection. It is very noisy at highest speed, where it is most effective at cooling. At lowest speed it is reasonably quiet, but the output borders on anemic. Look back through our reviews of coolers and choose a fan that better balances air output and noise. Fortunately almost any 25mm thick 120mm fan can be mounted on the Ultra-X (though that's an additional cost to an already pricey cooler). Another plus is that the included rheostat for varying fan speed will work on almost any fan with a 3-pin connector, and that means it can be used with almost any 120mm fan.
We really appreciate the obvious quality that went into the manufacturing of the Enzotech Ultra X. The mirror finish mounting base is a very satisfying sight compared to the rough, poorly-machined surfaces seen on far too many coolers today. However, it is hard to argue for mirror-finishes and thoughtful well-engineered installations when you can't find any performance improvements. In the end the Ultra-X still suffers from the same shortfalls as other down-facing coolers, and its cooling efficiency is not even as good as a few of the better down-facers. Overclocking fares a bit better, but then we have a noisy obtrusive fan. If you admire quality production you will like the Ultra-X, but the performance and noise levels still leave a lot to be desired. This is particularly true when you factor in that the Enzotech Ultra-X is one of the more expensive air coolers we have tested. There are better values available in the air cooling market.
It would have been great to see the Enzotech Ultra-X top our cooling test results. This is not because we have a bias in favor of Enzotech, but because a cooler as beautifully finished as the Ultra-X deserves recognition. Unfortunately the best we can say about the Enzotech is that it is the best of the down-facing coolers by a small margin in overclocking, which is a notch below the top-performing heatpipe towers. This is certainly not bad performance, but it is not the best we have tested at AnandTech.
Nothing we have measured in this review of the Enzotech Ultra-X has changed our opinion of the influence of air cooler design on cooler performance. The heatpipe towers with side-facing fans are the top-performing coolers we have tested, in both overclocking ability and cooling efficiency. The best designs with down-facing fans perform in a second tier category just below the top heatpipe towers. The Enzotech Ultra-X performs in that category. That means the top of the air cooler list is still the domain of the Thermalrights, Tuniq Tower 120, and a few push-pull configured towers.
This makes the Ultra-X a beautifully built gem of a cooler with solid engineering of the installation kits for Intel 775 and AMD. The Enzotech is relatively easy to install, but you will have to remove the motherboard to install the Ultra-X. Like many other top coolers the Enzotech Ultra-X is heavy at 835g, but the installation is solid on every motherboard we tried. This is a cooler that attaches to the board securely enough that you won't worry about the cooler falling off when you least expect it. Ultra-X is still a big cooler and you will need to take precautions when moving your system, but the install is solid.
The fan choice for the Ultra-X, however, is not a particularly good selection. It is very noisy at highest speed, where it is most effective at cooling. At lowest speed it is reasonably quiet, but the output borders on anemic. Look back through our reviews of coolers and choose a fan that better balances air output and noise. Fortunately almost any 25mm thick 120mm fan can be mounted on the Ultra-X (though that's an additional cost to an already pricey cooler). Another plus is that the included rheostat for varying fan speed will work on almost any fan with a 3-pin connector, and that means it can be used with almost any 120mm fan.
We really appreciate the obvious quality that went into the manufacturing of the Enzotech Ultra X. The mirror finish mounting base is a very satisfying sight compared to the rough, poorly-machined surfaces seen on far too many coolers today. However, it is hard to argue for mirror-finishes and thoughtful well-engineered installations when you can't find any performance improvements. In the end the Ultra-X still suffers from the same shortfalls as other down-facing coolers, and its cooling efficiency is not even as good as a few of the better down-facers. Overclocking fares a bit better, but then we have a noisy obtrusive fan. If you admire quality production you will like the Ultra-X, but the performance and noise levels still leave a lot to be desired. This is particularly true when you factor in that the Enzotech Ultra-X is one of the more expensive air coolers we have tested. There are better values available in the air cooling market.
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Wesley Fink - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
CorrectedBarkuti - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
Too much fuss with all of these new massive coolers. Back in 1995 I purchased a Thermaltake Sonic Tower, which proved to be an incredible performer, best passive cooler IMO. The one being currently available is "rev2", guess it's just a mounting accesories update.The cooler comes with a mounting plate for a 12 cm fan, which can be installed on either side. I myself drilled new screwholes on a inner side to be able to install the fan in the center, saving a bit of space. A bit cumbersome to install the fan this way tough. Achieves top performance in this configuration, even with an ultra-low noise fan.
An Anand's review of this cooler is still missing and I think it's really worth the pain, like a gem lost inside and old chest.
And with a bit of skill, a little mod and a lot of space you may be able to install three fans on it... Drools about the kind of performance and perf/noise you could get this way, even with just 2 fans...
Cheers
DrMrLordX - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
Is there a side intake duct or vent that can feed top-down HSFs in your test bed? I'm pretty sure top-downs just don't work well if they can't pull cool air directly in from outside the case (which is why they've done so well in open-air testbeds).vhx - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
Definitely nice, but there are a lot better alternatives according to the results. Anyways, does anyone know whats up with Anandtech's forums? They've been down for like a week.theprodigalrebel - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
The forums have been a little iffy of late but they most certainly haven't been down all week. They just had an update of the forum software and there were a few minor outages here and there - Opera users had some problems, so did IE users. Did you try deleting all forums.anandtech.com cookies? It should work.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
The LATEST NEWS at the top of our AT Forums Log-In page:"Clear your cookies... - 06/24/2007 01:17 PM
We recently updated our forum software to fix a number of issues. As a result, some users are having problems using FireFox on the forums.
The fix for this is to delete your forums.anandtech.com cookies.
We recommend that all members delete their forum cookies, though we haven't run into any technical issues with this in other browsers.
Thanks for your patience while we continue to improve the forums."
Pirks - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
I've got myself A cooler master geminII and run it in passive (fanless) mode, and no fan on my passive mobo chipset heatsink as well. finally I've got a silent PC! my wife thinks my computer stopped working now, hehe :) no overclocking of course but who needs it for games anyway. I'm getting high framerates with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. around 30-40 fps and I'm happy. who says you need a mac to get a silent computer? who says gaming PCs are noisy? just ignore those noobs, they know nothingdeadseasquirrel - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
but it seems, at least according to this review, that it is not worth the price for the performance you get. Can anyone else see a better price/performance cooler than the Scythe Mine Rev B? For $38, with fan, and pretty quiet, it seems like a good choice. Oh, and are the forums down or am I having browser problems?kmmatney - Thursday, June 28, 2007 - link
I have a Scythe mine and am happy with. It's a good combination of price, low noise (its nearly silent) and good cooling. I don't know if I'd recommend it for extreme overclocking, but for stabdard overclocks it is great.Goty - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
Based on the little knowledge I have about the inner workings of heatpipes, wouldn't the lower heatsink on the X-Ultra lower the efficiency of the heatpipes (where heat transfer to the main heatsink is concerned) and thus the whole cooler?