Sunbeamtech Tuniq Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler Review

Posted by: Daniel Humble () on: 01/28/2009 08:10 PM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

Installation
Installation was pleasingly simple, the clamp has a solid action and should be easy to operate for anyone who has a reasonable amount of strength in their fingers. I would however recommend that you leave space around the cooler during installation if at all possible because although it is relatively lightweight it isn't particularly small. I found that the lead for the pass-through to the fan cooler was only just large enough to stretch from the back of my case (where the mounting bracket for the dial is) to the CPU header although somewhat curiously the lead from the fan itself is very lengthy.

Happily I maintained my 100% record for cutting myself at every single point I've tried to install any PC component but I can't blame the Core-Contact Freezer for that, it really was very simple to install, care should be taken that you don't bend the fins further on installation though as although it isn't hard to install there is a bit of pressure required to do so.

As you can see there is no problem fitting the cooler into the system even with the size difference compared to the stock AMD cooler, either orientation would be acceptable in terms of size although obviously with the fan pushing cool air over the fins and into the case you would normally want the fan to face the back of the case.

At this point I should also mention that when the supplied fan controller was used it functioned perfectly but the motherboard picked up that there was a problem with the CPU fan. This could however be a problem specific to the motherboard which is rather old and significantly less than useful for any form of overclocking.

The fan has a nominal range of rpm between 1000rpm and 2000rpm +-10%, when testing I found that with the dial wound right down I could get as low as 980rpm and opened up as far as it would go as high as 1850rpm. Interestingly when using the fan without the controller it averaged out at about 1900rpm but it doesn't appear to be thermostatically controlled so will stick at that speed throughout.