OCZ Vendetta 2

 

What happens when you want great performance from a CPU cooler without breaking the bank? You look for alternatives! The OCZ Vendetta 2 is the perfect starting point for your quest.

 

Introduction

For many of us, the economic hard ships are knocking at out door. Chances are you are trying to make your computer last another year till you get your big raise. The perfect way to do this is do a bit of overclocking on your CPU. You certainly don’t want that crappy stock cooler keeping your CPU from overheating after this, but you also don’t want to spend a mint on a nice top of the line cooler. Chances are you fall into the consumer who is looking at the OCZ Vendetta 2.

OCZ has made one noticeable improvement to the Vendetta 2, the fan size. By going with a larger 120mm fan, they have increased the cooling potential of the cooler dramatically. This not only increases the overall surface area of the cooler, it increases the amount of air that can be blown across the surface without becoming too loud. With the improvements over the original Vendetta, the Vendetta 2 is already looking like a serious contender for the best price to performance ratio.

About OCZ Technology

Entering the memory market in August 2000, OCZ Technology was built around the determination to manufacture the best high speed DDR and RDRAM. OCZ was founded by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, and our commitment to the end-user has not digressed. OCZ Technology has been an innovator in many areas. We were the first manufacturer to make Dual Channel optimized memory available to the public, which originally took advantage of nVidia’s Twinbank or Dual DDR architecture, found in their nForce chipset. We have now taken that technology and tailored it for the Canterwood, and Granite Bay chipset’s. OCZ developed and was the first to implement ULN technology, which has been a critical element in our manufacturing process for some time. We at OCZ diligently work to improve communication with CPU and motherboard chipset manufacturers prior to the release of their products. Only in this manner can we fine-tune our memory’s SPD settings, ensuring a synergistic relationship between the memory module, memory controller, and microprocessor. In today?s rapidly evolving semiconductor industry, such communication is not simply research, but a necessary component of our manufacturing process.


Our Goals:
At OCZ we have one primary goal, and it is to make sure that every customer is 110% satisfied. Every employee at OCZ is dedicated to accomplishing this goal. Our engineers are constantly developing the fastest and best performing products. Our finance department works every angle to bring customers our product at the best price. Our marketing department ensures all the information needed to make an informed purchase is available and presented in an easy to understand format. The technical support department constantly studies and tests the latest hardware to be as informed as possible to help you with any issue you may have. Our customer service department is filled with customer satisfaction fanatics who will refuse to let you be unsatisfied.

Customer Service Goals:
We offer a Lifetime warranty on every memory module we sell. We back this warranty with friendly, courteous staff that is willing to answer any question. At OCZ, if a staff member cannot answer your question, they will be forthright and put you in touch with a technician or engineer who can properly assist you. OCZ Technology is in tune with the needs of enthusiasts and overclockers alike, because we are just like you. Chances are you may have already spoken with an OCZ employee in a hardware forum, as we do bring our work home. We seek motivated, qualified applicants, whom already have a firm grasp, and a passion for the PC. Our technicians are available to answer your questions anytime, and our “technical” section can be referenced at anytime.

We have come from the grass-roots to bring you to new heights, and our products speak for themselves. There is a reason OCZ is considered the best memory on the market and that reason is that we will not settle for anything less then perfect.

Features

• Three Pure Copper Wall Heat Pipes
• Allow Superior Heat Transfer
• Ultra-Quiet: 20-32 dBA
• Anti-Vibration Rubber Design for Noise Reduction
• Dimple Design to Eliminate Laminar Airflow
• New Heat Pipe-toCPU- Direct Contact Design
• Light-Weight Aluminum Fins
• Easy Installation

Specifications

• Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 PWM fan
• Voltage Rating (V): 12V
• Speed (R.P.M.): 800-1500 R.P.M.
• Bearing Type: Rifle Bearing
• Air Flow (CFM): 65.1-81.3 CFM
• Noise Level (dB): 20-32 dBA
• Connector 4 pin with PWM

Pictures & Impressions

The box is pretty straight forward. The font shows off the fan while the side shows specifications, including the dimensions and compatible sockets. The other side lists key features of the cooler. The back of the box (not pictured) has a picture of the whole product, and service numbers in case your product has some kind of malfunction. This can come in handy if your computer happens to not boot anymore due to the mounting of the cooler.

When we open the box we see the main product. To the left is the fan. OCZ has put on a nice touch by including the company’s logo on the fan. This fan is rated at 81.3 CFM, so you know it will move a lot of air to keep your CPU cool. To the right is the actual cooler. This is what pulls the heat from your CPU. Both the fan and the cooler itself are protected by a foam covering. This ensures that neither of them have any harm before you put them on your CPU and start cranking the clocks!

Here is a closer look at the fan. While it is not the quietest fan ever, coming in at a whopping 32 dBA, it still isn’t too bad. When you start to get around 40 dBA, then the noise becomes pretty bad and unbearable for most. The fan can work in a quiet mode, which only generates 20 dBA, which is pretty silent. This does hurt the CFM of the fan, lowering it to 65.1, but this is still quite a lot of airflow, and should be enough for most users.

When we go over to a overhead view, we see the unique curves of the cooler. According to OCZ these unique curves cut down on the noise, and improve airflow across the cooler. I am not sure how accurate these claims are, but it looks cool. OCZ adds their logo to the top, really crowning off this cooler, and adding a little extra cool factor. Here you can also see the heat pipes just popping up from the cooler, but let’s get to a better angle to see what is really going on with those.

As you can see, the heat pipes extend from the bottom of the cooler to the very top. This allows more heat to be transferred faster from the CPU to the cooling fins on the cooler. OCZ has further increased the curves of this cooler by adding a V shape down the middle. The one thing that OCZ has done well is give this cooler a whole lot of curves. Hopefully, they didn’t sacrifice the cooling performance for some extra points in the looks department.

Though it is hard to see here, the bottom protective sticker left a lot of junk behind. This is a bit disappointing, as other coolers I have had haven’t had this issue. Also, hard to see in this picture is the reflection. The cooler did not give a very good reflection, but that is not everything that matters. You can clearly feel the gap between the copper and the aluminum, but it’s not so big of a gap that it will severely hurt performance.

Finally, for the accessories list. This cooler miraculously can use the same mounting system as the stock Intel cooler and only the smaller coolers are able to do this because of the stress of excess weight. It also uses the stock AMD backplate. There are two screws to mount it onto socket 775. There is a Molex to 3-pin adapter just in case you don’t have an open power connector on your board, which doesn’t make sense since you should use the CPU fan connector for the CPU fan. But we only review the items, not tell users what they want to do. As with almost every other product, there is an instruction manual and mounts for the fan.

Methodology

To record the idle temperature of the CPU, I let Windows sit and do nothing for about ten minutes to ensure that the temperature was as low as it could get. To test the load temperature, I ran LinX, a Linpack tester similar to Intel Burn. After about 30 minutes I recorded the highest temperature. On the motherboard I used, the X2 7850 would not go higher, so I set the voltage to 1.45 to simulate more heat of a higher overclocked CPU. My system specs are listed in the chart below.

Test Rig
Case Type	Logysis Dracula
CPU	AMD X2 7850 @ 2.8, 3.0 1.45v
Motherboard	Sapphire 780G
Ram	(2×2) Corsair XMS 2 800 @ 800, 5-5-5-18
CPU Cooler	Coolink Silentator OCZ Vendetta 2 Cooler Master Hyper TX3
Hard Drives	WD SATA 80 GB
Optical	Lite-On DVD R/W
GPU	HIS HD 4850 1 GB
Case Fan	One Front 80mm Intake One Back 120mm Exhaust
Testing PSU	Corsair TX650

Testing

The Vendetta 2 gets off the a great start, having the same performance as the Silentator. So far, the direct heat pipes are working quite well, but the solid copper bottom of the Silentator keeps it in the game.

When the heat builds up, the Vendetta 2 was able to just beat out the Silentator. The TX3 falls behind both coolers due to it being smaller.

Conclusion

The Vendetta 2 is certainly a pretty good cooler. While it may not be as good as, say a TRUE 120, it’s still much cheaper, on top of having a fan included. This cooler is more geared towards the weekend overclocker rather than the more heavy overclocker like the TRUE. Part of what gave the Vendetta 2 an advantage against the Silentator is its heat pipes. Not only did they directly touch the CPU, but they also where larger than the Silentator’s. The Silentator’s pure copper bottom held off the Vendetta 2 for awhile, but it could not keep it up for very long before letting the Vendetta 2 take the lead.

Another small advantage the Vendetta 2 has is its fin spacing. It was very close, which gives it more surface area to dissipate heat. This, coupled with a faster fan mean the Vendetta 2 has a higher theoretical cooling potential than the Silentator. In the end, the unique curves of the Vendetta 2 did not affect performance and it was able to easily compete with the Silentator. Overall, the Vendetta 2 had great performance and a great price point to boot.

We are trying out a new addition to our scoring system to provide additional feedback beyond a flat score. Please note that the final score isn’t an aggregate average of the new rating system.

• Performance 9
• Value 9
• Quality 9
• Warranty 9
• Features 7
• Innovation 7

 

Pros:

+  Direct touch heat pipe
+  Great price
+  Cool design

 

Cons:

–  Only single fan operation

With a final score of 8.5 out of 10 the OCZ Vendetta 2 receives the Bjorn3D Seal of Approval.

OCZ has informed us that they have an LGA 1366 backplate available for the Vendetta 2, you may see the Aftermarket Backplate at this web address: http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/cooling_products/ocz_force_2_1366-i7-retention_brackets-vendetta_series