[FONT="]Introduction and Specifications[/FONT][FONT="]
Hello and welcome to the review of the Thermolab Baram.
Thermolab is a relatively little known Korean company, who dabble in all kinds of cooling products. The Baram and the Bada are their latest line of CPU coolers and today we are going to take a closer look at one of their coolers, the Baram.
"Baram" in Korean means the flow of air. Lets see if this cooler can live up to its name.
First, lets take a look at the specifications to start with:
[/FONT][FONT="]Specifications:[/FONT]
The Baram also includes a number of differences from some of the other more popular heatsinks, like staggered heatpipes, staggered fin structure and optimization of the fin pitch. Now is this just a lot of jargon, or do they really work. We will take a close look at all these points in our next section.
But what is most important to note here is the 250 Watt CPU cooling capability.
[BREAK=Unboxing and a Closer Look]
Unboxing and a Closer Look
The Thermolab comes in a plain brown box, with just the name on it. Nothing special here, but its not the box that we are paying for, so lets get that out of the way.
Once we open the box, we see that the cooler is packaged in a plain plastic cover in one side, and is separated from the rest of the accessories by a piece of cardboard.
Well the cooler and all its paraphernalia reached me in one piece, all the way from the US, so I am not complaining.
The accessories include mounting clips for Intel Socket 775, 1366CPUs and AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2 CPUs. It also includes 2 sets of fan clips and a tube of thermal interface material. I really didn't use the last mentioned item, so I don't have any idea as to the performance of that. The box also includes a nice high quality color step by step guide to mount this cooler on any of the above mentioned sockets. I wish more manufacturers would do this.
Now lets take a closer look at the cooler itself. As you can see below, this cooler is huge, and I would suggest that you take the time to measure the leeway in your case before going ahead and buying this. For example, this would not fit in the CM Storm Scout, which was actually what I was looking to buy and I had to take a larger case, just to make sure that everything fit comfortably. Now on to the cooler. In the picture below, you can see the staggered heatpipes as well as the fins. Thermolab insists that the staggering of the fins allows for better airflow and the staggered heatpipes gives better cooling to individual heatpipes.
The base on this thing is absolutely flawless. It has been given a mirror shine and is perfectly flat. No issues with a concave or convex base here and no reason to look at sanding this down.
Installation was a snap, as long as you do take a look at the included manual, it should not be too difficult. You do have to take your motherboard out though.
I think this about completes more or less all there is to know about the physical appearance, so lets move on to the testing.
[BREAK=Test Bed and Methodology]
Test Bed and Methodology
Lets take a short look at the test bed before going ahead.
The Test Bed
CPU: AMD 720 BE @ 4 cores
Motherboard: MSI GD 70
Ram: OCZ Platinum 1600 7-7-7 DDR3
Power: OCZ Modexterme 700W
Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper
Case cooling: 5X120 mm and 2X200mm fans
Fans used: 1X120 mm Scythe Gentle Typhoons 1450 rpm. I have also used 2X120 GT's on the Baram
TIM: Arctic Cooling MX2
The Contenders
1. The Thermolab baram
2. OCZ Vendetta 2
3. Stock AMD Heatsink
Methodology
Each of the coolers was tested 3 times, with two test results per mount. The best two results are shown on the chart in the next page. For this review I have take distance from ambient temperature, as this would be a more accurate way of looking at the results. All the coolers were tested at 3.2 Ghz and then at 3.5 Ghz, with a vcore of 1.3v and 1.45v. I have added some extra voltage at 3.5 Ghz, to get a better understanding of how well these coolers will take higher heat loads. For load testing we used 30 minutes of prime95.
[BREAK=Test Results]
Test Results
So lets start with 3.2 Ghz at 1.3v.
As you can see from the above graph, the Baram is the better cooler, both with one fan and two. At load, the Baram with one fan closly beats the OCZ Vendetta 2 and is way ahead of the stock cooler.
Now lets look at the results with 3.5 Ghz on the clock.
At this point the stock cooler failed to cross half and hour of prime and I even tried it with lower voltages, but it was a no go. The highest it went before failing was 62 degrees. The Vendetta 2 manages a full load result of 23 degrees at the half hour mark and the Baram runs the same distance with 20 degrees on the clock.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the results of the Baram this far.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Conclusion
Lets look at some of the pros and cons before we go for the final rating and.
Pros:
1. Very sturdy. The fins are thicker than your normal heatsinks
2. Great out of the box mounting compatibility
3. Beautiful base finish
4. Very good quality accessories and mounting kit
5. Outstanding performance and works well with low speed fans too
Cons:
1. Ships without any fans
2. Availability in India
All in all a very well thought out piece of equipment. It managed to beat the Vendetta 2 hands down, and I would love to pitch this against a TRUE. The only issue is with the availability in India right now, but this can be ordered for approximately Rs. 3,500 including shipping to your doorstep.
Final rating: 4.5/5
Hello and welcome to the review of the Thermolab Baram.
Thermolab is a relatively little known Korean company, who dabble in all kinds of cooling products. The Baram and the Bada are their latest line of CPU coolers and today we are going to take a closer look at one of their coolers, the Baram.
"Baram" in Korean means the flow of air. Lets see if this cooler can live up to its name.
First, lets take a look at the specifications to start with:
[/FONT][FONT="]Specifications:[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Socket Standards[/FONT][FONT="]: Intel Socket 775, 1366CPUs, AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2 CPUs[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Thermal Design Power of CPU[/FONT][FONT="]: Max 250 Watt[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Dimensions: 67 X 132 X 160 (LxWxH) mm[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Weight: 625g (without fans)[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Materials: Pure Copper and Aluminum [/FONT]
- [FONT="]Included Fans: No[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Dissipation Area: 7,580 cm²[/FONT]
The Baram also includes a number of differences from some of the other more popular heatsinks, like staggered heatpipes, staggered fin structure and optimization of the fin pitch. Now is this just a lot of jargon, or do they really work. We will take a close look at all these points in our next section.
But what is most important to note here is the 250 Watt CPU cooling capability.
[BREAK=Unboxing and a Closer Look]
Unboxing and a Closer Look
The Thermolab comes in a plain brown box, with just the name on it. Nothing special here, but its not the box that we are paying for, so lets get that out of the way.
Once we open the box, we see that the cooler is packaged in a plain plastic cover in one side, and is separated from the rest of the accessories by a piece of cardboard.
Well the cooler and all its paraphernalia reached me in one piece, all the way from the US, so I am not complaining.
The accessories include mounting clips for Intel Socket 775, 1366CPUs and AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2 CPUs. It also includes 2 sets of fan clips and a tube of thermal interface material. I really didn't use the last mentioned item, so I don't have any idea as to the performance of that. The box also includes a nice high quality color step by step guide to mount this cooler on any of the above mentioned sockets. I wish more manufacturers would do this.
Now lets take a closer look at the cooler itself. As you can see below, this cooler is huge, and I would suggest that you take the time to measure the leeway in your case before going ahead and buying this. For example, this would not fit in the CM Storm Scout, which was actually what I was looking to buy and I had to take a larger case, just to make sure that everything fit comfortably. Now on to the cooler. In the picture below, you can see the staggered heatpipes as well as the fins. Thermolab insists that the staggering of the fins allows for better airflow and the staggered heatpipes gives better cooling to individual heatpipes.
The base on this thing is absolutely flawless. It has been given a mirror shine and is perfectly flat. No issues with a concave or convex base here and no reason to look at sanding this down.
Installation was a snap, as long as you do take a look at the included manual, it should not be too difficult. You do have to take your motherboard out though.
I think this about completes more or less all there is to know about the physical appearance, so lets move on to the testing.
[BREAK=Test Bed and Methodology]
Test Bed and Methodology
Lets take a short look at the test bed before going ahead.
The Test Bed
CPU: AMD 720 BE @ 4 cores
Motherboard: MSI GD 70
Ram: OCZ Platinum 1600 7-7-7 DDR3
Power: OCZ Modexterme 700W
Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper
Case cooling: 5X120 mm and 2X200mm fans
Fans used: 1X120 mm Scythe Gentle Typhoons 1450 rpm. I have also used 2X120 GT's on the Baram
TIM: Arctic Cooling MX2
The Contenders
1. The Thermolab baram
2. OCZ Vendetta 2
3. Stock AMD Heatsink
Methodology
Each of the coolers was tested 3 times, with two test results per mount. The best two results are shown on the chart in the next page. For this review I have take distance from ambient temperature, as this would be a more accurate way of looking at the results. All the coolers were tested at 3.2 Ghz and then at 3.5 Ghz, with a vcore of 1.3v and 1.45v. I have added some extra voltage at 3.5 Ghz, to get a better understanding of how well these coolers will take higher heat loads. For load testing we used 30 minutes of prime95.
[BREAK=Test Results]
Test Results
So lets start with 3.2 Ghz at 1.3v.
As you can see from the above graph, the Baram is the better cooler, both with one fan and two. At load, the Baram with one fan closly beats the OCZ Vendetta 2 and is way ahead of the stock cooler.
Now lets look at the results with 3.5 Ghz on the clock.
At this point the stock cooler failed to cross half and hour of prime and I even tried it with lower voltages, but it was a no go. The highest it went before failing was 62 degrees. The Vendetta 2 manages a full load result of 23 degrees at the half hour mark and the Baram runs the same distance with 20 degrees on the clock.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the results of the Baram this far.
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Conclusion
Lets look at some of the pros and cons before we go for the final rating and.
Pros:
1. Very sturdy. The fins are thicker than your normal heatsinks
2. Great out of the box mounting compatibility
3. Beautiful base finish
4. Very good quality accessories and mounting kit
5. Outstanding performance and works well with low speed fans too
Cons:
1. Ships without any fans
2. Availability in India
All in all a very well thought out piece of equipment. It managed to beat the Vendetta 2 hands down, and I would love to pitch this against a TRUE. The only issue is with the availability in India right now, but this can be ordered for approximately Rs. 3,500 including shipping to your doorstep.
Final rating: 4.5/5
