SLuGzKEA's OCZ Vendetta 2 Mini Review!

[slugzkea]

Welp, After having the Orochi for quite some time, I got bored of it, and sick of it.

After researching some reviews, I was interested in the Vendetta 's direct heatpipe transfer (no mounting plate)! This is very interesting.

And also, sooo many people were saying how "easy" the installation is, and how quick the installation was...right? right? WRONG! dead fecking wrong.

Okay, so it comes with push-pins. Lots of people are all about the no-no's for push pins, and now I know why. But I thought it wouldn't' be a problem! After all, stock intel heatsinks are easy to install thanks to the push-pins, but I soon found out that this cheap HSF came with a price after all, the price of a frustrating installation.

OCZ PROVIDED MANUAL'S INSTALLATION
I fallowed the manual's instructions. Very simple steps for LGA775. screw on the push-pins on each side, install the fan with those non-vibrating plug thingies, apply thermal compound to the cpu, push the HSF into the holes, done. Right? WRONG!!!

The manual is completely backwards. It didn't say anywhere that you had to remove the motherboard in order to install this HSF, probably because chances are, you don't have to. But on my Rampage Formula, I had to. Too many onboard fins and things in the way.

So, after almost 2 hours of trying to install this HSF through the manual's instructions, massive sweating, insane swearing, and minor bloodshed (thanks to cutting myself on the fins, attempting to push down the push-pins underneath the HSF and around my motherboard's onboard fins), I realized that the manual is bloody useless. This is how you actually install the OCZ Vendetta 2.

SLUGZ's PRACTICAL WORKING INSTALLATION
1. Remove the motherboard.
2. Screw on the push-pins on each side of the HSF.
3. Apply thermal compound to the CPU (I use AS5).
4. push the HSF into the LGA775's holes, attempt to push two pins diagonally simultaneously but if you can't, don't worry about it.
5. Install the Rubber fan clip thingies into the fan slots; WET the rubber ends first, that will get them in a heck of a lot easier (not listed in manual).
6. Install the fan AFTER installing the HSF into the LGA775 socket.
7. Put the motherboard back in the case w/ OCZ Vendetta 2 installed.

PERFORMANCE

I didn't test anything on stock speeds, cuz what's the point? So here are the settings I used to test this device:

CPU: e8400@4.22ghz 1.56v
CASE: Cooler Master Cosmos S RC-1100 w/5 Antec TriCool's @ 79CFM
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE: about 25c

I tested with Prime95 Blend test for a few hours and nothing crashed. I know that means nothing, I'll do a long test later on. Temperatures were 38 idle and 71 max load using RealTemp.

I did the physical touch test on the heatsink during that load, and yes..it was very warm. So the heatsink was working, contact is good. I'm pretty iffy on the fan though, just looking at it directly I can tell, it's not spinning anywhere near 81CFM.

ISSUES & FINAL THOUGHTS
It does beat my Orochi, that's for sure. The installation was not as easy as people claimed it to be. I was hoping that my 20cm fan would fit back on my side door, but it doesn't, so I'd have to say that this HSF still is a little "big".

The fan came with a 4pin to PWM connector. What for? For motherboards that don't support 4pin CPU Fan? or maybe to get that extra 81CFM?

The Fan is rated 61-81CFM. What the heck does that mean, that it varies? I would like for it to remain at 81CFM, how to do that, I don't know. CPU smart fan is disabled, and the fastest this this has spun is 1480RPM, rated 1500.


There are a few things I might try like attaching a more powerful fan. I'm also thinking of doing a minor lapping procedure on the base. I did the exacto blade test, and it seemed flat, but not...super flat. Flat enough though, that's for sure. Also lapping my e8400 as well could possibly drop 10c, since one guy that lapped his e8400 for 10 minutes ended up knocking off 12c on load.

Overall, I am satisfied with the cooler. I only paid $46CDN after taxes and i didn't do my $10.00 rebate yet. So that's pretty damn cheap! And it beats my Orochi, and in some reviews, it beats the TRUE!

I'm going to fool around with voltages, see what I can get.

Oh and one more thing, please, nobody post "omg 1.56v, you're gonna kill your Wolfdale!" I've had this wolfie on high volts ever since I got it, and it's fine. Okay? please don't give me that warning agian

And please excuse my messy cable management

UPDATE - NOVEMBER 13, 2008
I just ran Prime95 Blend test for 13 hours, stable. No crashes. Max temp recorded by real temp was 73c though, damn...but stable! 4.22Ghz 1.56v