Related Articles

Introduction

Gigabyte surprised us in December when we received their 3DCooler-Pro. Although Gigabyte has a diverse range of products, a new heatsink was not what we expected. The 3DCooler-Pro was a good first product for Gigabyte to enter the cooler market with. While it did not definitively take the cooling lead when tested against a couple other Athlon XP coolers, it made a positive first impression. The unique look and good build quality really separated the 3DCooler from the more traditional looking ones that we usually get. Gigabyte also took cues from some of its competitors by including a fan control unit. All in all the 3DCooler-Pro was a solid product.

Today we take a look at Gigabyte's newest revision of the 3DCooler, the 3DCooler-ULTRA. Gigabyte did not go and totally redesign the heatsink. The dimensions between the PRO and ULTRA are identical but there are several subtle changes. When it is first picked up, the first apparent change is the weight. The original 3DCooler-PRO was very light for a heatsink of its size, being only 430g. The Ultra by comparison is a massive 780g dwarfing even the Swiftech MCX462-V which topped the scale at 650 g. The additional weight comes from the fins which are made of copper now instead of aluminum.

The second change is the fan. Gigabyte gave it slightly more power, it now maxes out at 4500 RPM instead of just 4000. This change is definitely noticeable as the 3DCooler-PRO gets a lot of use in the lab and it was surprising how much louder the ULTRA was at full blast. The finish of the base is also a bit different. No longer is the finish a concentric pattern centered around the middle but the grain of the finish can still be seen making sweeping arcs across the contact point.

The final change is the color of the fan control unit. It is now a copper color instead of the silver finish of the original. Personally I prefer the silver color because it matches aluminum cases whereas a copper colored case is more of a rarity. Hopefully Gigabyte will stick with the silver version of the rheostat in the future or sell different colored ones although these will not be too hard to paint. Oddly enough the final change in specifications is a decrease in the expected life of the fan- down from 70,000 hours to 50,000 hours. I am guessing that this is due to the faster rotational speed of the fan stressing the bearings a bit more. In either case 50,000 hours is a long time; roughly 5.7 years of continuous running.

Specifications