Dr Thermal Sandwich (TI-A8641L) Heatsink Review

Former staff writer - January 26, 2004

Testing
Testing Method
Temperatures for the testing were taken via a CompU Nurse thermal probe located next to the CPU die. Artic Silver 5 (thermal compound) was applied to the cpu and each heat sink according to the directions located on Arctic Silver's web site. The compound was given 72 hours of use before the testing was done on any of the heat sinks. To achieve the "idle temperature" reading, the computer was allowed to set idle for 15 minutes then the reading was taken. To achieve the "load temperature" Prime95 was run for 15 minutes and then the reading was taken. The overclocked temps were taken in the same manner only the fsb was changed to 200 and the Cpu voltage to 1.725 volts.

Testing Setup

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 11x166 / overclocked to 3200+ 11x200

ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0 (nforce2 ultra chipset)

1x512 Hyperx pc3500 cas2 2-2-11

Artic Silver 5 thermal compound

Running windows XP pro service pack 1

Testing Results

Fan	RPM	Noise
Dr Thermal	3800	35 dBa
Aero 7+	3500	37.5 dBa

The Aero 7+ and the TI-A8641L are very close in fan speed with the TI-A8641L being 300 rpm faster. I could not find specs on the stock AMD cooler . The noise level of Aero 7+ is 2.5 dba louder than the TI-A8641L, but the TI-A8641L fan gave off a whirring sound low in pitch. I had the same problem with my last T.I.T.I cooler.

We can see here that the TI-A8641L was trailing aero7+ with a difference 2.3c idle and 2.6c load. While the TI-A8641L showed, improvement over the stock Amd cooler’s temps under load with the idle temps about the same as the Dr thermal’s .

Again, we see the aero7+ leading the pack with the TI-A8641L trailing behind it by 1.3c idle and 4.2c load. While the Amd stock cooler again has a similar idle temp, but the TI-A8641L leading it by a difference of 3.6c load.

Conclusion
I have mixed feelings about this cooler, and a lot has to do with the pitch of the fan it is very pitchy in sound and is a little annoying. It showed some decent temps, only trailing the aero7+ by a few degrees. While the stock Amd cooler shocked me with its showings, I feel if I had the older none copper core version of the stock cooler that comes with the tbred cores, the TI-A8641L would have really pounded it. I really wished I had a quieter 70mm fan to test on the TI-A8641L. The installation was very simple I liked that, but that is about the only thing I liked. I think if T.I.T.I would implement a quieter fan possibly, an 80mm fan to control the noise my opinion would be very different.

Pros