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Performance:::...

The JAP416A isn't a high-end copper cooler so it seemed fair to not put it up against our Thermalright SLK or Cooler Master heatpipe cooler. Instead I decided to take the OEM route. Let's fact it, if these coolers are good enough for Intel to bundle with their processors they can't be too bad.

The first OEM cooler (Stock Cooler 1) was bundled with Intel's Northwood 3.06GHz CPU and is a hybrid cooler with a copper base plate and aluminium fins. It's well made and impressed several reviewers at the time of its release.

The second stock cooler in made entirely in aluminium, though I can't for the life of me remember which CPU it came bundled with.

The Contenders - Top View

The Contenders - Bottom View

The tesing was done using SiSoft Sandra 2004's Burn-in wizzard with the CPU arithmetic test run twenty times. I started with much more but in our fairly low ambient conditions the temperature didn't increase after about the 12th run anyway.

Naturally I had no intention of making life easy for it so this is our test setup:

DFI 865PE Infinity
Intel P4 (Prescott) 3.2GHz
1GB GeIL Ultra-X PC3200 2-5-2-2

Temperatures were read from the Prescott's internal thermal diode.

Here's some screenies from the actual completed runs:

Intel Stock Cooler 1

Intel Stock Cooler 2

JAP416A

And here are the results in chart form:

Well, it may not look anything special but there's no getting past the numbers. The JAP416A is a quite surprisingly efficient little cooler that somehow manages to squeeze some very nice numbers out of its rather unassuming and unexciting exterior.

I have little doubt that a goodly proportion of its performance comes from its relatively powerful fan but even so, as a complete package its a very well rounded product and certainly ranks among the top half dozen aluminium coolers I've ever tested.

Conclusion

The 3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After discussing this concept with users as well as companies and vendors we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept' to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in all the aspects that such a user would find important, while also being fair to products that may lack these high end "bonus" capabilities but which still represent a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent mainstream user. The two catergories we've used are:

The Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast, in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently and reliably within their advertised parameters.

The Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange for some measure of performance or functionality beyond its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in return.

The Mainstream User ~

While I'm not sure I'd use this cooler on anything more than a 3.06 Northwood for prolonged periods of time, the JAP416A is undoubtedly one of a small, elite band of aluminium coolers capable of some significant cooling performance that puts a lot of midrange copper coolers to shame.

I wasn't expecting much but this was very much a surprise package that deserves some serious consideration if you're on a budget or hate the idea of hanging a heavy lump of copper from your socket. Deceptively good!

	NA

The Enthusiast ~

If you're looking for a low-weight, high-efficiciency air cooler for that SFF or LAN rig this could be it. You'd certainly be hard-pressed to find anything significantly better.

The fan is powerful yet doesn't make too much of a nuisance of itself in terms of its noise levels, and being of the ball bearing variety its life expectancy should be good. A nice (and accidental) side effect is that the air that gets kicked out of the side of this cooler due to its sloping internal cuts will, in a lot of motherboards, wash over your capacitors and MOSFETs so helping cool them too.

If you need a simple, no-fuss cooler that does the business without making a fuss, this is one for the shortlist.

	NA

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