| 
Installation For
testing purposes I will use the following system specs: AMD Athlon
XP 1800+ Palomino
Abit KX7-333
512mb Mushkin PC2700
PNY Geforce
4 Ti4600
2x 120gb Western Digital 8mb Cache Due to the poor
quality of the contact surface, I first lapped the heatsink with fine sandpaper
to a wonderful flat shine. Then for that added bit of perfection I finished it
off with some steel wool. I then applied a paper-thin layer of Arctic Silver 3
on the core of the CPU. Both clips went on easily and I was ready
to go. A warning for those who like to install the heatsink with the motherboard
in the case. The power supply in most cases will make it difficult to reach the
second clip. The clip will be buried underneath the angled side of the heatsink.
I installed the cooler both ways but recommend, for your peace of mind, to install
externally from the case. 
I found
from the second that I turned the Golden Crown on, it lost the elegance that had
appealed to me. The quad-led fan may be nice and all but it really does not match
the gold styling of the metal itself. It's not unlike having solid, beautiful
hardwood floors and then painting the walls a neon green. Consistency is the key
to beauty and this is simply a terrible design choice. Todays craze of flashy
colours must have clouded somebodies judgement. Temperature
Testing The Aerocool Golden Crown was tested against my trusty
stand-bys: a copper core generic cooler (36cfm) and a Globalwin FOP32 aluminum
cooler. A clock speed of 1.75ghz was reached by all three coolers
for overclocked temperature tests. Due to the processor being
the older .18 Palomino core and the motherboard being an Abit KX7-333 the recorded
temperatures may seem higher than normal. The Ambient temperature
was 25 C throughout the entire testing period. Aerocool Golden
Crown |
Temperatures at Stock Speeds (1.53ghz,
1.75v) | | Idle |
46 C | | Load |
54.5 C | FOP32
| Temperatures at
Stock Speeds (1.53ghz, 1.75v) | | Idle |
49.5 C | | Load |
59.0 C | Generic
| Temperatures at
Stock Speeds (1.53ghz, 1.75v) | | Idle |
47.0 C | | Load |
54.5 C | At stock speeds
the Golden Crown is a good match for the much louder Generic. The Generic also
features a copper insert which attests to the superior design of the Aerocool.
As expected the older FOP32 stays well behind. Aerocool Golden
Crown
|
Temperatures at Overclocked Speeds (1.75ghz,
1.85v) | | Idle |
55.0 C | | Load |
64.0 C | FOP32
| Temperatures at
Overclocked Speeds (1.75ghz, 1.85v) | | Idle |
60.0 C | | Load |
70.5 C (and rising) | Generic
| Temperatures at
Overclocked Speeds (1.75ghz, 1.85v) | | Idle |
54.0 C | | Load |
63.5 C | It seems that
under a much greater temperature load the copper base of the Generic gives it
the edge. The FOP32 is starting to make me very nervous. Even
though the Golden Crown produces higher temperatures than the Generic, you would
have to have a tendency towards self-abuse to choose the Generic first. The high-pitched
whine is enough to drive someone crazy. I'd take the gentle whir of the Golden
Crown anyday. | 
