Alpha
P7125 w/ YS Tech fans
When
Alpha first entered the market with their P125, everyone was amazed by
the sheer size of the heatsink. Since that time, Alpha heatsinks have been
extremely popular among overclockers. Their latest heatsink for Athlon
CPUs is the P7125, which is about as big as the famous P125, but in one
corner of the heatsink, the fins are a bit shorter, for better motherboard
compatibility. This means that, despite the large size of the heatsink,
it will still fit all popular Athlon motherboards. However, the heatsink
might block one DIMM slot on some motherboards (e.g. on the rev. 1.04 K7M).
The
major problem with Alpha fan/heatsink combos has always been that they
are quite expensive. For this reason, most retailers who sell Alpha heatsinks
don't buy entire fan/heatsink combos from Alpha, but instead buy only the
heatsinks and sell them together with cheaper fans - usually YS Tech fans,
supplied by Global WIN. For the customer, this is not necessarily a disadvantage,
since the YS Tech fans are more efficient than the Sanyo Denki fans Alpha
is using (26 CFM, as opposed to 20CFM) - but they are also much louder.
We're reviewing both versions - let's have a look the P7125/YS Tech combo
first:
A
view from the back:
An
interesting feature of the P7125 is the embedded copper plate in the bottom
of the heatsink. This copper plate was first introduced by Alpha with their
P3 heatsink P3125. With SECC2 CPUs, it is obvious that such a copper inlay
makes sense - since the contact area between heatsink and CPU is very small,
the copper plate helps the heat to spread out over the entire heatsink
base. But does the copper plate also make sense with an Athlon CPU, where
the contact area between CPU and heatsink is very big? To find this out,
I took a P125 and cut off the fins in one corner in order to create a heatsink
that is identical to the P7125 - except that it doesn't have the copper
plate. This modified P125 did not perform as well as the P7125, so even
with Athlon CPUs, the copper embedding improves performance. The performance
gain achieved through the copper embedding is even more significant if
you remove the Athlon's thermal transfer plate and mount the heatsink directly
on the CPU - but that requires time and skill; you'll have to modify the
heatsink, and you'll have to install "spacers" to cool the cache chips.
The
heatsink comes with a small tube of Alpha thermal grease -- maybe not the
best grease there is, but better than thermal pads.
The
P7125 is also sold under the name "3dfxCOOL AlphaK7HO."
The fans
The
fans that most retailers sell along with the P7125 are identical to the
ones used on the Global WIN VOS32, so all fan-related comments made in
the VOS32 review also apply to the P7125/YS Tech combo. To make it short:
Good performance but very loud.The
Alpha heatsink was tested with fans blowing away from the heatsink - this
is how it is recommended by Alpha (for a reason - mounting the fans in
a way that they will blow towards the heatsink will decrease performance).
Installation
Installation
takes a lot more time with the P7125 than with other heatsinks. The heatsink
comes in totally disassembled form, but with a small "manual" that explains
installation. The P7125 is attached to the Athlon using self-tapping screws,
which will tap themselves into the holes of the Athlon thermal transfer
plate. Under normal conditions, this screw mounting has no advantages over
a good clip, but if you're planning to add a peltier element to the heatsink,
then this is easier with a heatsink that is mounted using screws.
Conclusion
Thanks
to the big heatsink, with its copper plate and the highly efficient YS
Tech fans, the P7125 provides excellent performance - definitely a very
good choice for overclockers. However, it is very loud and very heavy (560
grams!) - a heavy heatsink means that there will be a lot of mechanical
stress on the motherboard if you're moving your PC around.
Also,
the Global WIN VOS32 provides the same performance (and greater versatility)
at a much lower price.
| Alpha
P7125/YS Tech at a glance |
|
Fans:
Two 60x25mm YS Tech
Fan
rpm (measured): 4450
Weight: 560g (!) |
| Advantages |
-
very good cooling performance
|
| Disadvantages |
-
high price
-
very heavy
-
blocks one DIMM slot on
K7M
-
very loud
|
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