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Introduction
It may surprise a lot of people to find out that Gigabyte produces a wide range of computer products other than the motherboards and videocards that they are well known for. When Gigabyte approached us with the offer of reviewing a new heatsink-fan of theirs, it came as a surprise to us also as this was something that we did not expect from them. Generally we are a bit cautious especially with coolers as the really bad ones tend to stick out like a sore thumb. However, the pictures they sent out were interesting and Gigabyte sounded really excited about this product so our curiosity was piqued.
The Packaging
The pictures sent to us by Gigabyte could not prepare us for the sight of the Cooler-Pro PCU-21VG. The packaging was enormous for a heatsink and the cooler itself was a behemoth; it did not have the same girth as the MCX462-V from Swiftech but it was definitely taller. For its size, the PCU-21VG is surprisingly light at 462 grams.
Gigabyte has followed suit with Thermaltake's rheostat idea - included is the default 3 1/4" drive bay as well as a PCI slot insert. Unfortunately, if you want to use the PCI slot insert instead of the drive bay, it's up to the end user to disassemble the 3 1/4" unit in order to hook up the rheostat to the PCI slot and the instructions are a bit lacking in that department. I'd keep it on the drive bay myself - this is one very slick looking bay addition using a brushed metal look. Click on the picture below to get an idea of what I mean.
Regardless of the hassle in switching from the drive bay to PCI insert, it is a nice touch that they did include the PCI slot option. In the future it would be nice if they went all out like Thermaltake and included functional versions of both or at least more detailed instructions on removal.
The contents minus the floppy drive fan control unit and the heatsink
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Heatpipes will likely perform differently depending upon their orientation. That fact makes this review that much less usefull.
Life expectancy for the fan is around 70000 hours. Most of the Thermaltake fans we have are rated at 80000 hours. 80000 hours translates into something like 9 years if you run your computer 24/7. These specs may be a bit misleading- I think that is the expected life of the bearing in a clean environment meaning that if your computer is really dusty that could really limit the life of the fan if you dont keep it clean on a regular basis.
On my home system, my CPU temperatures go down when I have an open case on the side rather than having it stand vertically. I dont doubt that heatsinks may perform differently with different orientations though I dont see how this affects the 3D Cooler-PRO in a negative way.
What do you mean by having the heatsink in the "upright position"? Because inside your case, the heatsink is likely NOT to be in an upright position.
The more realistic a review, the more likely your results at home are to be the same.
I really dislike heatsink reviews when they use delta fans or open case setups. When they post temps in the 30's it's like, yeah that's great, but that's only if you're willing to put up with 60 db's or have an open computer all day.
IMO there's too much risk of damage moving things in and out with the case in the way. I'd settle for slightly less accurate reflections of what you'd get vs. having to buy a new CPU or replace the mobo just because of an "oops".
Don't use our numbers to estimate what temps you'd get. You can't do that anyway even if a site uses a case unless their case is very similar to your own cuz you can't be sure their cables and airflow is the same as your own case. Our numbers are for reference against OTHER coolers that WE test.
Btw just to appease the heatpipe orientation theory we ran the temperatures again today and took a measurement when the room temperature became constant with the room temp from our other readings. The result? Less than 1C difference whether the heatpipe was upright, or sideways.