Thermalright SLK-700

Cooling today’s processors is a big market, especially as the processing speeds go up and the die sizes get smaller. Thermalright is no stranger to the pc crowd. The statement at the top of their website says it all: “Ultimate PC Cooling Solutions.” They have certainly produced some awesome products. Today we examine the SLK-700 which includes the YS Tech’s 74mm T.M.D. fan. As far as I know, this is the first Thermalright heat sink to include a fan.

The Package

When I agreed to do this review, I knew nothing about the SLK-700. I assumed it would be a copper heat sink and allow many 60, 70 and 80 mm fans. However, that was not the case. This heat sink was designed for 60, 70 and the 74mm YS Tech T.M.D. fans. The base is flat and is rather narrow. Thus Thermalright also ships additional pads to protect the chip since the pads on AMD’s chips are too far apart for the HSF.


The heat sink is all copper, weighs in at 510g and measures L80 x W60.8 x H45. Just as all others in the SLK series, this one is very solid and has an awesome finish. I was even able to catch the reflection of my flat panel monitor off its “mirror finish,” obviously no lapping required here.


The three-pronged clip mechanism attaches to the ziff socket on the motherboard. This clip requires a small flathead screw driver for easy mounting.


The Fan

The YS Tech T.M.D. was new to me until this review. I was surprised at how thin it is and how small the center is. It cools well despite its small size because no motor is required in the center like all the other fans I have used.

As I said earlier, this fan actually comes with the SLK-700 as a stock fan. Here are the details:

Maker: YS Tech

Model: PD1270155B-2F

Size: 74 x 74 x 15 (mm)

Bearing: T.M.D. (Tip Magnetic Driving)

Voltage: 12V

Speed: 5600 rpm

Air Flow: 35.5 CFM

Noise Level: 38 dBA


TMD stands for “Tip Magnetic Driving” which describes the fan mechanism. Basically, the fan motor is located in the 4 corners, not in the center like most fans. Here is the info contained on the YS Tech website about the fan:

COOLING POWER It reduces 75% of traditional motor hub area. This revolutionary breakthrough not only increases 30% of airflow and static pressure, but also brings air stream directly to the centralized heat source. As a result, T.M.D. FAN improves the efficiency of heat dissipation at least 15%.

POWER CONSUMPTION / TORQUE Locating motor at 4 corners substantially expands the room for winding. Thus, lower power consumption can be easily attained. At the same time, the torque of motor becomes even much more powerful than ever.

ACOUSTIC NOISE / BALANCE As known, the tips of fan blades are the main source of noise when a fan is rotating. The magnet of T.M.D. FAN surrounds along the tips of fan blades. This "tip-magnetic" design eliminates the major noise source of an impeller and provides the suspended balancing force when impeller is rotating.


The fan is energy efficient enough to be plugged directly into the motherboard via the three-pronged power clip instead of requiring a direct hookup to the power supply. It only needs 3.8 watts which the motherboard can readily supply. The retention clip for the fan slides inside the fins on each side of the heat sink, and clips over the holes in the top of the fan to provide a snug fit. The casing of the T.D.M. fan has a slightly curved edge. Thus while trying to line up the fan to the heat sink, I noticed the fan rested against the side edge of the heat sink only in the center of each side. I was concerned until I slid the clips over the fan and realized how tight and solid the fan felt.


Installation

Removing the stock AMD HSF was a difficult task. However, installing the TMD fan was very easy. As you can see from the pic below, there was plenty of room around the heat sink. I had no problems getting to the RAM, chipset, or to the power leads for the fan.


Sytstem Configuration

I have wanted to get a newer system together for my wife, since the P3 650 Slot 1 system she is using is getting a little slow. I was able to secure a FREE AMD XP 2200+ from a friend. It was running too hot in his system and he wanted a newer “cooler” chip. I thought this would be the perfect system to try out the SLK-700 in.

Test System

Asus A7V8X-X

Single Stick 512Mb Kingston DDR 2.5 CAS DDR400

AMD XP 2200+

eVGA GeForce 2 MX

Maxtor 40Gb

Asus 48X CDRom

Integrated Nic & Sound

Generic PSU 300W

Antec Intake & Exhaust 80mm 34cfm 30dba

Test Environment: Ambient temps are usually kept around 72F, however due to my wife’s pregnancy, ambient temps were maintained approximately ~21Cº/70Fº Each (stock and SLK-700) heat sink was installed and run idle for 1 hour and the final temp reading was recorded. The loaded temps were recorded over a 48hr period running SETI and the final temp was recorded. Thermal compound used was Artic Silver 3. Temps were measured by Motherboard Monitor 5.3.3.0.

Test Results

I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this setup. In the 2200+’s original box, the temps were averaging 55C and above during normal usage in the late afternoon, using a ThermalTake Volcano 7+ set to medium speed. In the current system however there is a fairly nice difference as shown below.


Conclusion

I was very impressed with the SLK-700 paired up with the YS Tech TMD fan. It was quiet and did a fabulous job of keeping the processor cool. I have never seen a 2200+ run under 50c with a full load, unless a screaming delta is added to the mix. The nice thing here is this machine can replace my wife’s PC in our room without bringing in a huge sound problem. Overall the noise to performance ratio was better than expected!


I would like to thank Thermalright with providing us with this review sample. If you are looking to purchase a Thermalright SLK-700 they are available at Crazy PC for 35 dollars.

Pros:

Mirror flat finish

All Copper

3 Prong retention clip

High performance, low noise

Cons:

No 80 mm fan support

Added: July 15th 2003
Reviewer: KingKash
Score:
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Language: english