Inexpensive Coolers for AMD Processors

Part 1. ASUS, Foxconn, GlacialTech, Thermaltake, and Titan

Thermaltake CL-P0444 and TMG A3

Now let's examine two budget coolers from Thermaltake - the CL-P0444 and the TMG A3.

Thermaltake CL-P0444 and TMG A3

The CL-P0444 demonstrates disordered technical properties. We can even say that it's a chuckle product - the imposing "inverted" fan (92x92x38 mm, plain bearing, 2200 rpm fan) is installed on an aluminum heat sink (92x89x35 mm, 72x67 at the base) of a primitive configuration (just fifteen 0.7 mm fins at 5 mm steps), which total heat exchange surface barely reaches 600 cm².

I don't understand why Thermaltake engineers mated a weak heat sink with a relatively expensive fan - they could have easily made the finning twice as dense in the very least, to design a serious fan-heat sink couple. However the fact remains - the CL-P0444 is too weak as far as its thermal efficiency is concerned, and it will be foolish to expect good results from this cooler.

Practice proves our assumptions - the budget CL-P0444 demonstrates very low thermal efficiency even with its good on-board fan, it's efficiency/noise ratio is not very good. It ruins the image of this cooler, and it takes bottom positions in our usability and economic ratings.

The other budget cooler from Thermaltake (TMG A3) is a representative of the new TMG (Thermal Maximum Grade) brand group. So it tries to confirm its high status and produces a much better impression - this cooler is based on a large aluminum heat sink (92x90x53 mm, 77x67 mm at the base), it's equipped with an "inverted" fan (92x92x32 mm, plain bearing, 2000 rpm), and it's spiced up with a proprietary toolless retention module.

The TMG A3 can boast of developed finning with advanced parameters (trapezoid fins, 0.8 mm thick at the base and 0.4 mm at the tip, placed at 2 mm steps, 29 fins with the total heat exchange surface area of about 2100 cm²), spiced up with an additional thermal catalyst - alternating fin height. Pay attention to the on-board fan, or to be more exact, to the way it's mounted on the heat sink: it's not held rigidly, it's mounted with spring stops acting as vibration dampers that silence extraneous sounds in the noise spectrum of this cooler.

The TMG A3 offers good performance attributes - despite its large working medium, its outer contour agrees with AMD requirements, so the cooler sits in the socket well, and the proprietary mounting clip inherited from the TR2 R1 makes the installation process nice and easy. The TMG A3 also comes with a preinstalled thermal interface - improved thermal grease based on aluminum oxide.

This product performs very well. Even though the TMG A3 is a tad less efficient in thermal terms than the TR2 R1, it still demonstrates decent thermal results and a respectable efficiency/noise ratio. As a result, it accumulates a lot of attributes that have a positive effect on its usability rating. However, its economic rating is lower - it's price is too high.