Vantec FCE-6030D Heat Sink

Date Reviewed: May 30, 2001
Reviewed By: Jason Rabel
Companies: GlobalWinUSA, VantecUSA, Thermosonic

Testing:

Testing was done using a KT7A-RAID with a 1GHz Athlon (Courtesy of PCNut) overclocked to 1.13GHz (8.5 x 133). Temperature was taken using the built in thermistor that touches the bottom side of the CPU. Yes, we all know this isn't the actual core temp, but it works for comparison purposes.

To heat the CPU up, I used Prime95 since it puts a consistent load on the CPU. After several people griping about how Prime95 doesn't put an actual 100% load on the CPU, I did a little research and emailing and discovered it only puts about an 85% load on the CPU. So my solution to compensate is simple. First I used a program called Radiate (Download Radiate.zip from our FTP, the original file can be found somewhere at Overclockers.com) to calculate out the wattage of an Athlon at 1.13GHz at 1.85v. This number turned out to be 67 watts. So if I was to run Prime95 with that setting, we take 85% of that number and we get almost 57 watts, which is no good. So, to compensate I upped the voltage in the program till I got something that would be about 67 watts at 85%. This turned out to be 2.05v, which at 100% would be 80.4 watts, but 85% of that number would be 68.34 watts. Well, the closest I could get on my modded motherboard was 2.04v so I figured I was pretty much right on the money. Yes I know this is a crude way to do it, but it is much better than just ignoring the fact that Prime95 doesn't heat up the CPU all the way.

The heat sinks were tested twice to make sure the numbers were consistent. So now that we got a smokin CPU, how do they measure up?

Conclusion:

Well, the Vantec FCE-6030D preformed beyond my expectations. I was a little hesitant at first because of it's smaller size, but it has proven itself just as efficient as its bigger brother the FCE-62430D. These results were also under some heavy heat loads so you know this heat sink can stand up to the test. However the Thermosonic ThermoEngine still reigned supreme over these other heat sinks. I don't know the price for the new Vantec FCE-6030D, however I'm sure it will be much cheaper than a ThermoEngine / Delta combo. So if you are looking for a good performing heat sink that is easy to install (it has a MUCH nicer clip than the GlobalWin's do) and should be reasonably priced, keep the Vantec FCE-6030D in mind. Also, it's smaller size should prove useful for situations where you can't use a larger heat sink due to clearance problems.

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