3DVelocity would like to thank Bacata, France and especially Jean-Christophe Agobert for their help and courtesy in providing this HSF for review.

Fitting :

Once you've mastered the clip, fitting is fairly straight forward. The 294s dimensions (61 x 69 x 61 mm) make it sutable for just about any motherboard on the market, no matter how tight the socket is, and though its weight is a worry at 442g, the new retaining clip makes this less of a problem than it was on the 238. The supplied shroud need only be fitted with the fan in the exhaust position in theory (blowing out of the top), though in testing it made very little difference one way or the other.

Prior to fitting, it's important that you wipe the base of the 294M to remove all traces of the protective oil. After applying your favoutite Thermal grease (none is supplied) and swearing a few times at the clip, you're ready to plug in the fan and go. While we're on the subject of the base, I should comment that it is very flat and has a qood quality finish.

 

Testing :

Test System :

AMD Athlon 1000 @ 1104 (138x8)
ATi Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO Retail
SBLive 1024
DFI AK76-SN Motherboard
256MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
Arctic Silver (original) TIM

All readings were taken using the motherboard's thermistor, so while not degree accurate, any inaccuracies will be duplicated for each heatsink tested.

Room temperature : 23 Celsius
Case Temperature : 26 Celsius

The assembly instructions clearly show the fan fitted in the exhaust position, but the table below clearly illustrates that doing this lowers performance significantly. The most efficient configuration is when the fan is used in the intake orientation (drawing air in from the top) and with the shroud removed.

Idle	Stressed	Idle	Stressed	Idle	Stressed	Idle	Stressed
39	48	40	49	37	46	37	45

Here's how this stack up against the competition.

	Idle	Stressed
Swiftech MCX370-0A	32	38
Thermaltake Super Orb	38	46
Alpha PEP36T	38	44
Zalman CNPS5000+	35	41
Kanie Hedgehog 294M	37	45
Kanie Hedgehog 238M	37	46
Thermosonic ThermoEngine (36CFM fan)	35	41

 

Conclusion :

Pros
Good base flatness and finish
Well built with look of quality
Quiet fan
Secure retaining clip
Good price for this class of cooler
RPM monitoring

Cons
Average cooling
Underpowered fan
Retaining clip is fiddly
Weight

Kanie claim their new design offers a 10% improvement over the 238M, though in reality we saw only a 1 degree (approx 2%) improvement. This gives rise to the questions of construction. As with the 238M the cooling pins are pressed into the base then clamped or crimped. One reason given for the varying performance levels of the original Hedgehog was that gaps were sometimes visible between the pins and base that could interfere with thermal conduction. With only one unit to test I can't confirm one way or the other if this was the case with the 294M, or if this was the factor that stopped it scoring better than it did against the 238M, or indeed against the other coolers we tested.

Certainly a big factor in its very average performance is the 24CFM fan. Show me a top 5 rated cooler with a 24CFM fan and I'll show you a cooler that defies the laws of physics. Air flow is critical in HSF design, and the 294M doesn't have it, at least not in this configuration.

Despite all this, the 294M isn't a bad cooler, it's just not a great one. The look, feel and quality still make this a desirable piece of kit, and coupled with a high performance fan it's worthy of the overclocker's attentions, though for the hardcore overclocker looking for that last Megahert it's possibly not the best choice at the moment. The weight is something many may feel uncomfortable with, and it's certainly way beyond AMD's upper weight limit, but I've never heard of anyone having problems with a Hedgehog that were in any way related to its weight, and the three lug clip should make moving your PC with the 294 installed less of a risk, though I personally wouldn't.

It'll be interesting to see if other sites score better results than I have thus confirmimg the construction variation theory. At £35.19 (inc. VAT from Overclock.co.uk) or £38.19 (with Delta fan) for a solid Copper cooler, the price can't be argued with. It's not cheap, but it's certainly cheaper than other similar sized and equally well built Copper coolers. I guess it all depends if you're looking for that extra degree of cooling or the Kudos of solid Copper.