alman’s CNPS9700 has been the Godz-
illa of coolers and a Best of the Best
champion for more than a year. But it’s
fi nally facing its Megalon in Thermaltake’s
DuOrb cooler. Unlike the CNPS9700, which
has an 11cm fan strapped to the side of
its imposing copper and aluminum frame,
the DuOrb’s heatsinks are stretched out
horizontally. The extra-wide cooler, shaped
in a 20-centimeter-wide fi gure eight, comes
with two 8cm blue and red LED fans tucked
inside two rings of copper fi ns.
The design is certainly unique, but we
dislike the look of the red-blue fan combina-
tion. It’s a slap in the face of case aesthetics.
We’d much rather see no LED fans at all
than this mismatched lighting pattern.We’re used to seeing coolers get taller
and taller, and there’s a good reason
for this—there aren’t any components
above your CPU that could get in the way.
Thermaltake’s horizontal expansion could
prove troublesome for enthusiast build-
ers. Install the cooler one way and you’re
blocking (albeit also cooling) your RAM
slots. Install it the other way and you
might block a PCI Express slot.
But there’s something to be said for this
cooler’s girth. The extra pudge and dual-
fan design allow the DuOrb to match the
CNPS9700 degree for degree in the cooling
race. We recorded results within one degree
of each other in both our idle and CPU burn
tests—and the DuOrb uses less air power
to achieve this parity. Since two
fans split the cooling workload, the
DuOrb runs much more quietly than
the CNPS9700.
We’ve installed Zalman’s
cooler dozens of times, and we’re
still bothered each and every time
we have to attach a screw to thedevice’s retention plate. By contrast, the
DuOrb’s installation—which still requires
motherboard removal—entails no heaving
or straining to mount the cooler overtop
our CPU.
While this device certainly trounces the
Zalman in noise level and installation, our
apprehensions about the cooler’s size keep
the DuOrb out of our hall of fame. We don’t
mind that the DuOrb will make upgrading
our rig more challenging, but not everyone
will be so forgiving. –D AV I D M U R P H YThermaltake DuOrb
This fi gure eight is great!
The DuOrb’s six heat pipes contribute to its
cooling prowess! as does its ability to dissipate
heat over a large surface area.-%| MAXIMUMPC | JUL 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
+ -
VERDICT$65, http://www.thermaltakeusa.com.
Great cooling, quiet,
easy installation
process.Takes up a
worrisome chunk
of space above your
motherboard.C=UBBOT=ERM6LT6@E DUORB<6BBOBest scores are bolded. Idle temperatures were measured after an hour of inactivity;
load temperatures were measured after an hour’s worth of CPU Burn-In (four instances).
Test system consists of a stock-clock Q6700 processor on an EVGA 680i motherboard.BENCHMARKS
ThermaltakeDuOrb Zalman CNPS9700 StockCooler
Idle (C) ().% 35.0 40.0
100% Burn (C) 51.0 *%.% 66.0