AMA Phantom Review

Testing:

To test the Phantom I first had to install the mounting brackets and then attach the spring loaded bolts to the brackets. Next, I applied the thermal paste in the style that the guide recommended and finished by installing the fan cable after bolting the heat sink to the motherboard back plate. Then comes the testing. Testing is done by booting into Vista for the idle temperatures with Prime95 Small FFT's for the load tests. The average of the four core temperatures is then reported in the charts below. This is all then repeated after the processor has been overclocked to a base clock of 166, effectively 3.33GHz. Ambient was kept around 75F with the temperature at 76.5F during this test.

Testing System:

• Processor: Intel i7 920
• Motherboard: MSI X58 Platinum
• Memory: Mushkin HP3 12800 3x2GB DDR3
• Video Card: nVidia GTX260 216sp
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Western Digital Green 1TB SATA
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit SP1

Comparison Heat sinks:

• AMA Orc
• ZEROTherm Core 92
• Evercool Transformer 4
• Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ(RB)
• Stock Intel i7 Heatsink
• Gelid Silent Spirit
• Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366

The AMA Phantom performed very similarly to the AMA Orc at idle testing, but at load performed far better! At stock its temperature was nearly the same, but when the processor was overclocked the Phantom did a lot better than the Orc. At overclocked load it did two degrees worse than the large Transformer 4, and at either load it performed similarly to the Core 92 heat sink. The tower design has been around for a while now, but its performance is fairly reliable. The Phantom was four degrees cooler than the Orc in each test. While the Phantom is not as trendy looking as the Orc, this design is much more solid and provides a better cooling solution.