Thermaltake Venus 12 K8 Cooler

Athlon 64, it's the new buzzword in tech circles these days. The AMD Athlon 64 processors are an inexpensive way to step up into the world of 64-bit computing. Along with new CPUs, you will always see new coolers/heatsinks popping up on the market to service the needs of the overclockers and die-hard enthusiasts.

I've had my A64 2800+ now for just over a month, and to me it has seemed cool running. I say "seemed" as the BIOS that my Chaintech VNF3-250 motherboard came with was registering temps of around 8-10 degrees Celsius for the CPU at idle and 14-16 Celsius under load. Call me crazy, but I instantly suspected that a BIOS upgrade was needed. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any response from Chaintech's support staff in a month as they seem a tad busy. However, I luckily managed to get a new BIOS the day after I received the shiny new Venus12 - a K8 Heatsink from Thermaltake (How lucky is that? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I used my Bjorn3D e-mail account this time and mentioned I would be doing a review of the motherboard and bad support would go under as a big negative).

Encased in your typical plastic blister pack, the heatsink is well protected and arrived safe and sound. The first thing I noticed when I picked up the package was the weight. The heatsink weighs in at 790g or 27.86 oz or approximately 1.7lbs. Now that's one heavy heatsink; it's a serious chunk of copper you've got there in this sink. This sink weighs roughly 3.5-4 times the weight of a standard/stock AMD K8/A64 heatsink cooler, so it had better perform quite a bit better to justify all that weight and stress that'll be added to the motherboard. Keep on reading, and see what I found out.

The heatsink comes with Thermaltake's 3-bladed fan capable of doing from 2,000 to 5,600 RPM. It also comes with VR fan controllers for both a PCI slot or a spare 3.5" drive bay. The sink itself has 73 very thin fins to maximize the cooling area.

Package Contents, Features and Specs

Package Contents:

• Venus12 Heatsink
• 3.5" Bay and PCI slot fan controllers
• Thermal paste
• Adhesive Tape
• Instructions
• Screws for brackets

Features:

• All copper construction
• 73 Thin Fins for more surface cooling area
• Powerful 80x80x32 2 ball bearing fan
• VR control function
• Auto temperature control
• Six pronged type heat sink clip
• Tool free clip design
  

Technical Specs:

• Dimensions: 73.6 x 73 x 48 mm
• Weight: - 790g (heat sink only)
• Model: A1744
• Fan Size: 80 x 80 x 32 (mm)
• Bearing: Dual Ball Bearing System
• Voltage: 12V
• Speed: 2000~5500  RPM  (+/-10%)
• Air Flow: 26.5~79.92 CFM
• Noise Level: 48 dBA
• Rated Voltage: 12v
• Started Voltage: 7v
• Rated Current: 0.08~0.45 A
• Power Input: 0.96~5.40 W

AMD: Opteron and Athlon64

_{* Specs subject to change without notice}