Thermaltake Golden Orb II

Introduction

Thermaltake’s success blossomed after the release of their Orb line. The first Golden Orb was designed for Socket 370 and the design revolutionized the entire computer cooling industry. All heatsinks were designed to be rectangular, with a fan on top providing airflow. The Golden Orb was so successful in performing that Thermaltake extended the design into GPU cooling. The first product was the Blue Orb, which was amazingly successful. Then came the Chrome Orb. I still have one sitting in my pile of old computer parts. Sadly, the Orb family began to fade. The release of the Dragon Orb was nowhere near as successful as its prior counterparts. It performed well, but at the high cost of silencel. It was like using the screaming Delta fans.

Because of the failure of the Dragon Orb, Thermaltake stopped production of the Orb family. It’s been a good 3 years since they’ve released anything remotely close to the original orb. During that gap, other designs took over. The first one was the pin design, made popular by Swiftech and Alpha Novatech. The pin design reigned supreme for about a year. The next design is what everyone is currently using; Heatpipes. Heatpipes have been around for the past couple of years. Thermaltake has many heatpipe coolers, like the Big Typhoon, the Beetle, and the Sonic Tower. When I saw the Golden Orb II at Computex a couple of months ago, I was pleasantly surprised that Thermaltake brought back the Orb. The most surprising part is that there are no heatpipes used.

Thermaltake Golden Orb II

The Golden Orb II looks like just what the name implies; A circular CPU cooler. The entire cooler has a golden finish to the aluminum fins. The fins extend from the base and are curved at an angle to provide smoother airflow. Unlike other circular CPU coolers, the fins on the Golden Orb II are thick and sturdy.

At the bottom of the Golden Orb II is a thick copper base. The copper base is smooth and shiny, but not reflective. As long as the base provides great contact with the CPU, shine and reflection won’t matter.

The Golden Orb II comes with two spring-loaded screws on the sides for installation. The cooler only allows installation on the two latest platforms–LGA775 and K8. Sorry older platforms, you’re out of luck. I’ve been haunted by the installation methods of previous Thermaltake coolers, so I was a little scared with the Golden Orb II. Fortunately, the Golden Orb II installed with ease. For K8 platforms, which includes Socket 754/939/940, remove your existing motherboard bracket and replace it with the included backplate. Then all you have to do is sit the cooler down on the CPU and secure the screw to the backplate. It’s very easy and straightforward. Installation on the LGA775 platform required a little bit of work, but not all that much. There are two brackets, four washers, and four screws provided in the bag of accessories. The four screws go through the back of the motherboard and screw into the brackets, with the washers in between the screws and the motherboard to prevent shortages. Installing the brackets is the hard part and takes about 30 seconds of your time. Finally, sit the cooler down on the CPU and fasten it to the bracket. It is now tight and secure.

There isn’t all that much to say about the Golden Orb II. Like the majority of coolers out there, the Golden Orb II features a two metal design. This not only helps reduce cost, but overall weight as well. The gold-colored finish may not appealing to some enthusiasts, but it wouldn’t make sense to use the name ‘Golden Orb II’ and not use a gold color.

Specifications and Fan

P/N	CL-P0220	Compatibility	Intel Pentium 4 (Socket LGA775) AMD Athlon 64 (Socket 754 / 939) AMD Athlon 64 FX (Socket 939/940) AMD Sempron (Socket 754) AMD Opteron (Socket 940)
Heatsink Dimension	120 x 63 mm
Heatsink Material	Copper Core & Aluminum Extrusion (66Fin)	Max. Air Flow	35.43 CFM
Fan Dimension	100 x 24 mm	Max. Air Pressure	1.50 mm H2O
Rated Voltage	12V	Noise	17dBA
Started Voltage	5V	Life Time	30,000 Hours
Power Input	1.56W	Connector	3 Pin
Fan Speed	1600±10% RPM	Weight	752 g

One noticeable feature about the Golden Orb II is the weight. When I picked it up, I was surprised by how much this thing weighs. It weighs more than the comparable Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu, but less than the SilverStone Nitrogon NT02. As long as the cooler is secured on tightly with screws, it’s very unlikely that it’ll come crashing through your $600 7800GTX.

The 100mm fan would probably be the only part of the Golden Orb II that I don’t like. The low noise level of 17 dBA is great, but the shiny pearl effect of the fan blades is far beyond my understanding. Why not use a clear fan?

Test Setup and Results

Test Setup and Method:

Ambient temperature was kept at a consistent 23°C. Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal paste was used during the entire testing process. A temperature probe was placed next to the Intel heatspreader to measure CPU temperature. Two instances of CPU Burn-in were used to create maximum load on the CPU. The purpose of this test was to determine the results a home end user would obtain. There was no scientific testing conducted, simply because I do not have the proper equipment.

Test System Specifications:

• Intel Pentium 4 560 3.6GHZ (18 x 200FSB = 3.6GHZ @ 1.3625v)
• Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE
• Centon Advanced PC2-5300
• MIS Geforce 6600GT
• Thermaltake PurePower 680W

Competition:

• Arctic Cooling Freezer 7
• SilverStone Nitrogon NT02
• Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu

Test Procedures:

• Idling at desktop for 30 minutes
• Full load with 2 instances of CPU Burn-in for 60 minutes

Results:

The performance of the Golden Orb II is not jaw dropping, but it does keep up with the similarly designed Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu on low fan speeds. While the noise level of the included fan is great, it really is a shame that the fan is not adjustable.

Conclusion and Thoughts

The reincarnation of the Thermaltake Orb family through the Golden Orb II seems to be a worthy investment. Yet, there must be one thought in your head as you read this, especially for those who recently started in computers; Thermaltake copied the Zalman coolers. That’s certainly not the case. For those of you who know computer history, you’ll know that Thermaltake is the company that started the Orb family. After a long absence, the Golden Orb II just continues that line. Like many coolers, the Golden Orb II is just a revised heatsink to allow better performance and better clearance on multiple platforms.

The Golden Orb II is far from being perfect, though. The major deficiency is lack of an adjustable fan. Intel’s CPU’s are not getting any cooler. Forcing the fan to run on silent mode will only force enthusiasts to run their systems at stock speeds. This takes away the fun in overclocking! It really is a shame that the fan is not adjustable. It would’ve helped the Orb line reclaim the performance crown.

We would like to thank Thermaltake for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.