Gigabyte 3D rocket cooler

This cooler can be attached with either P4 or various Athlon CPUs (Socket 754/939/940) by using different clips. This is a remarkable thing. The cooler's top is covered with a transparent plastic sheet, which prevents CPU air from escaping. Instead the air is directed to go out of the vents in the sides and bottom of the tall heatsink. So air is directed towards other components on the motherboard such as the video card and RAM. Even though this air is carrying the CPU's heat, it is still cool enough to keep the components cool. But, if this warm air keeps circulating inside a PC's cabinet, it could become hotter, thereby reducing the cooler's effect. So a cabinet with perforated side panels and even a fan would be preferred for the cooler. The cooler's fan speed can reach up to 4115 RPM, which is not great as even an ordinary P4 CPU fan can achieve it. We installed the cooler in an old fashioned closed cabinet and the temperature rose to 70o even at max fan speed. This further strengthens the point that you must use it with a well-ventilated cabinet. When we placed it in the open, the CPU temperature came down to 50o, something that can be achieved even with a normal heatsink. We used an MSI 925XE Neo motherboard and a Prescott 3.6 GHz processor to test the rocket cooler.

The bottom line: Overall, a fancy cooler that can be used by power users to show off their systems. We didn't quite find it to be very effective. 

Ankit Kawatra