Thermaltake DuOrb CL-G0102

Performance:

This is the section you guys have been waiting for, when we tell you how well Thermaltake's DuOrb had performed. The dual fans seem promising, heatpipes as the only heat transfer may seem shaky. We had used the Gigabyte GeForce 8800GTS stock cooler, which had idled at 67°C and maxed out at 81°C. This test system was housed inside of a Cooler Master Cosmos chassis. Once we had installed the DuOrb, the GPU die temperature while idling was at 45°C and 67°C under load. The GPU die temperature was monitored from nvidia-settings on Ubuntu 7.10 with the NVIDIA 100.14.23 display driver and the game used to stress the graphics card was Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The Gigabyte 8800GTS was clocked at 627/1000MHz.

These results are very impressive. The stock idle temperature is equal to the DuOrb's load temperature. Of course, this was a sign for us to push the card further. After a few tests, we settled at a nice 685/1100MHz. This setting was tested for 12 hours and was completely stable. The idle and load at these heightened frequencies were 45°C and 71°C for the idle and load, respectively. The increased overclock increased the load temperatures by about 3°C.

Conclusion:

While the cooling performance was spectacular, these two fans were the loudest thing in the GeForce 8800GTS test system. However, to call them loud would also be unfair. We doubt they would classify as 21dB as advertised, but would put them under 30dB. To fix this problem, we attached an old Thermaltake fan controller and set it to medium and the noise decreased substantially. The temperatures also increased by about 5°C, to 76°C. This suggests that the limiting factor here is the fans. Since so little copper is used, the heatsink cannot hold very much heat, thus the fans must immediately dissipate any heat transferred. Nevertheless, we think Thermaltake has a clear winner. The only thing that the DuOrb lacks is a built in fan controller. The DuOrb performs amazingly well, and it's also a very nice looking addition to your case. While this cooler does cost between $40~50 USD, we highly recommend the DuOrb. Its performance and easy installation make it a definite winner.