Power Cooler PCH137 Review - PAGE 1Neumann Lim - Monday, October 22nd, 2001
Introduction
CPU cooling is literarily the hottest topic in the PC market. AMD’s new processors above 1.4Ghz will need all the cooling it’s going to get. Especially, overclocking fans who push the limits of their cores will definitely need more powerful fans and specially designed heat sinks. All this has encouraged companies to develop all sorts of new designs that will result in a better cooling performance. Power Cooler has modified the old PCH137 Socket 462 CPU cooler with a Tx7020 6800RPM fan. Lets see how it compares against the other designs in the market.
Specs
| Fan Dimension: | 70x70x20mm |
| Fan Type: | Tx7020 (Double Blade) |
| Rated Voltage: | 12VDC |
| Speed: | 6800±10%RPM |
| Air Flow: | 39.65CFM |
| Noise: | 48.57dBA |
| Heatsink Dimension: | 65x61x26mm |
| Heatsink Material: | Copper |
Taking the cooler out of its box, the first thing I noticed was the huge fan that sits on top of the copper heat sink. The Tx7020 fan comes in a double blade design, with a total of fourteen blades. The copper heat sink has really thin fins that help heat to flow through faster, in essence increasing the rate of heat dissipation.
The PCH137 has a good-looking design. The powerful Tx7020 fan running at 6800 RPMs and 40 CFM would be adequate to cool most standard CPU set-ups. With so much raw power, the drawback is noise. When the fan starts up, it makes a noise loud enough to annoy many users.
Installation
Upon first inspection, I noticed that the fan was not screwed on properly. I was able to move the fan about 2-3mm from the top of the heat sink. The poor construction would have cost the fan a decrease in power output (RPMs). Furthermore, the unit had a rather rigid clip and really thin fins! Trying really hard not to bend any of the fins on the heat sink, I used a screwdriver and clipped the heat sink down on the core. Now, the cooler is ready to be tested.
Test Procedures
The Test System:
- AMD Duron 750Mhz “Greenie”
- SOYO SY-K7V Dragon Motherboard
- P4 300W PS
- Prime95 v2.1 (Torture Test Mode)
- Ambient heat 24°C
- Silvergrease (>7.5W/mK thermal conductivity)
Idle temperatures were taken after 15 minutes of 0% CPU usage, and full load temperatures were taken after running Prime95 for 8 hours at 100% CPU usage. CPU temperatures were taken using the motherboard’s internal sensors.
Test Results
| Cooler | Idle | Full Load | Idle | Full Load |
| CPU | Duron 750Mhz | OC Duron 963Mhz |
| Thermaltake Chrome Orb | 40°C(104°F) | 42°C(107°F) | 45°C(113°F) | 52°C(125.6°F) |
| PCH137(7020) | 31°C(87.8°F) | 32°C(89.6°F) | 38°C(100.4°F) | 40°C(104°F) |
As you can tell from the table, the Thermaltake Chrome Orb didn’t do a good job running at 40-52°C (104-125.6°F), an increase of +12°C (+53.6°F). The PCH137(7020) ran at 31-40°C (87.8-104°F), an increase of only +9°C (+48.2°F)
The performance of the PCH137(7020) is much better than expected for a copper type CPU cooler. It brought down the idle temperature; it manages to keep the full load temperature to a tiny amount even when the CPU was overclocked. In disbelief this reviewer unplugged the fan and let the CPU burn up to 50°C (122°F) and then plugged the fan back in. In less than 27 mins, the CPU was back down to 40-41°C!
Conclusion
The PCH137(7020) is definitely up there with the big boys such as Global Win and Swiftech. If you are an overclocker looking for some really good cooling for your CPU, then this will be a good choice for you if and only if you don’t mind the bit of noise that it makes!
Rating
| Installation: | 86% |
| Noise: | 83% |
| Performance: | 97% |
Overall Score: 89%
forums
send article 
hardware newsletter 
article comments (2)
Digg this!
del.icio.us