Stock cooling solutions by both AMD and Intel have improved over the years.
Like they say though, there's always room for improvement. If the typical 50°C~60°C
load temperatures on your AMD system bother you then read on. The Thermalright
XP-90 will not disappoint.
The Thermalright XP-90 has been available for quite a
few months now. During that time, it has become a very popular choice for
cooling many of today's CPUs. I will be testing it in both horizontal and
vertical orientations as well as with the fan blowing down into the XP-90 and
pulling air away from it.
PACKAGING & CONTENTS
The product packaging follows Thermalright's
established plain cardboard box. I've always liked this minimalist approach.
Brown Box
The best part is how Thermalright uses clever folding, placement, and cut-out
techniques to make the packaging very secure.
Look Inside
This inner folded box area is ingenious as it basically suspends the XP-90 in
the center of the box without any direct contact to the external sides. This may
not seem worth mentioning except that the XP-90's fins are very thin. So
thin, in fact, that simply brushing your hand across them can cause them to fold
over. Regarding heat dissipation, though, thin is good...very good.
Origami Anyone?
So, what did Thermalright manage to place in this little brown box?
Everything you'll need for mounting either an 80mm or 92mm fan is included:
XP-90 w/ 2 Mounting Clips
80mm Fan Wire Clips (2)
90/92mm Fan Wire Clips (2)
Thermal Paste in Syringe
White Rubber Vibration Damper Strips (2)
K8 Adaptive Mounting Bracket
M3 15mm Screws
Contents
But what about the fan? Right? Well, this review is not of
Thermalright's retail package (which does include a fan). Thermalright also
offers the XP-90 without a fan so you can save a few bucks and choose your own
fan. Online retailers like
CrazyPC.com offer a few different fan options that you can add to your order
or simply order with no fan and use one that you may already have.
CrazyPC provided me with the Sunon 92x25mm, 56cfm,
3400RPM, 39dBA fan.
I also had an Enermax 92mm Clear Ultra-Cool Speed Dial that I love and
decided to test with:
Low: 1800 RPM, .13A, 1.56W, 47.34 CFM, 28.0 dB
Medium: 2300 RPM, .20A, 2.4W, 52.25 CFM, 32.6 dB
High: 2800 RPM, .28A, 3.36W, 64.15 CFM, 34.3 dB
NOTE: The Enermax I used is a slightly different model than the one
CrazyPC offers. Both are manually controllable variable speed fans via rheostat.
Below are the specs for the one CrazyPC offers:
Enermax 92x25mm Adjustable Fan - 3pin with RPM, 12vdc, 1200-2500RPM,
41-52CFM, 26-33dBA.
I also tested with a third fan; the stock 80mm fan that came with my AMD
Athlon 64 3500+.
For a base to compare against I tested with the stock AMD heat sink and fan
as well.
