OCZ Vendetta Universal CPU cooler ... A silent heatpipe based cooler that's very impressive

Introduction

During this year OCZ have expanded enormously, taking onboard PC Power and Cooling, which specialises in industrial and high-end power supplies. They not only produce top quality award winning memory modules, but also produce thermal products including CPU coolers and heatsink & fans.

In recent months, you will notice that OCZ's brand name is now becoming more and more prominent among PC enthusiasts and mainstream users. They seem to have invested a lot, in terms of both R&D and marketing, and now it looks like the investment are starting to bare fruits. OCZ memory, PSUs and CPU coolers are pretty much available in most online/retail stores with good recommendations.

         

In this review will be taking a look at the OCZ Vendetta Universal CPU cooler. This cooler comes in a form of a tower, and features 3 large heat-pipes with plenty of aluminum fins for effective heat dissipation. The package also comes with a 12v - 92mm fan which spins at 1,200 to 2,800rpm, and has an impressive air-flow of 39-54.6 CFM. The fan is fairly quiet with a noise level of 22-34 dBA, it also has anti-vibration rubber connectors to help reduce excess noise. 

What make's the OCZ Vendetta so attractive is the size of the cooler itself. For a heat-pipe cooler, it has one of the smallest footprint we've seen. The base of the cooler is made from a combination of the 3 copper heatpipes merged together inside an aluminum block. It rather looks like a piece of bacon rasher. It's an unusal design because most coolers have a solid copper base. I guess this new design allows effective heat disspation between copper and aluminum.

Although the OCZ Vendetta can be used without an additional fan, I would not recommend it. I would definitely advise that you use at least one chassis exhaust fan. With the additional 92mm fan installed, I expect the cooling performance of the OCZ Vendetta to be very good. I have a feeling that this cooler will be good enough to replace our aging  test cooler ... the Thermaltake Tower 102.

Ok, let's take a closer look at the OCZ Vendetta universal CPU cooler, and see how well it cools our very toasty Core 2 Quad Q6600 (B3 stepping).