W1zzard
03-24-2005, 05:24 PM
[Page=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
Our sample was provided by MadMoxx (http://www.mad-moxx.de). Thank you.
From the manufacturer Thermaltake (http://www.thermaltake.com):
High performance fanless GPU cooler, 0dB cooling solution, reduce total system noise
No cooling fan is required, stay cool without suffering the fan noise
Much better heat dissipation is delivered by larger heat sink surface
Internal and external heatpipe modules dissipate the heat efficiently.
Universal clip for both nVIDIA and Ati
<table border="1" class="resulttable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th scope="row">Weight</th>
<td scope="row">514g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Heatsink Material</th>
<td scope="row">Aluminum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Dissipation Area</th>
<td scope="row">Main front heatsink: 1159cm²<br />Main back heatsink: 446cm²<br />External heatpipe module: 516cm²</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Heatpipe</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Internal: 5mm x 2 and copper base<br />External: 5mm x 2 and copper fins</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Compatible with </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Both nVIDIA / ATi video cards for AGP or PCI Express</td>
</tr>
</table>
Thermaltake has been creative - the Schooner is the first VGA cooler which uses a heatpipe to transport heat to the outside of the case.
By the way, a "schooner" is a sailing ship with at least two masts - usually a big one and a second smaller one. Schooners were first used by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th century.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/transfer_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/transfer.jpg)
This is how it works:
The GPU is located under the front heatsink (1). Some heat is dissipated there.
Part of the heat is transferred to the backside heatsink using two heatpipes (2).
The remaining heat is transferred to the external heatsink via another two heatpipes (3).
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package2.jpg)
Box contents:
Front and Back Heatsink
Front and Back Heatsink Base
Two clip plates
Instruction Manual
Internal Heatpipe Module
External Heatpipe Module
Thermal Paste
Three screw packages A, B and C
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package3.jpg)
The base finish is slightly concave and from production, there are some milling marks visible. The 'knife test' shows a good amount of light shining through near the edges. Our contact test later will confirm that.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness2.jpg)
[page=Installation]
Installation
The installation process is long and tiresome. However, the manual is good and tells you exactly where each part has to go. The big number of screws adds a bit of confusion.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation5.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation6_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation6.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation7_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation7.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation8_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation8.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation9_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation9.jpg)
Getting the heatsink base attached without moving it around in the next steps is close to impossible. There must be better ways to get this done, as other manufacturers' products show.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation10_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation10.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation11_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation11.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation12_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation12.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation13_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation13.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation14_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation14.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation15_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation15.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation16_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation16.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation17_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation17.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation18_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation18.jpg)
I noticed here, that the screw holes do not perfectly align. If you completely screw down each screw, the third or fourth will not fit. You have to put all four screws in the holes and screw them down just a little bit so that they are in the thread, but the heatsink can still move. When all four screws are installed you can screw them down without further problems.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation19_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation19.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation20_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation20.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation21_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation21.jpg)
On some other products there is a chance that you can break your video card or the cooler by overtightening a screw. I tried very hard to do this with the Schooner, but it's not possible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/final_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/final.jpg)
The whole construction is fixed to the video card very well. I'm still a bit afraid, what will happen, if you move the case to a LAN party and someone accidentially hits the cooler sticking out of your case.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installed_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installed.jpg)
Getting the outside heatsink through the case was not easy, because the hole in my case (4 years old) is 11.9mm high and the heatsink is 11.9 as well. Lucky that the heatsink's copper fins are soft and can be bent a little bit, so it just fits through.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/nb.jpg)
Another space issue is the northbridge cooler of my Abit IC7. As you can see, one screw of the cooler makes contact with the northbridge cooler. This is not that much of an issue, because the card still fits snug into the AGP socket.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/sharp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/sharp.jpg)
On the edge of the external heatsink there are some sharp copper flashes which seem to be remains of the manufacturing process.
With just a little bit more planning/testing, all those issues could have been easily avoided by Thermaltake.
[PAGE=Performance, Value & Conclusion]
Performance
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact2.jpg)
After the initial installation, I removed the heatsink to inspect the contact area. I was impressed to see that the thermal compound was almost completely squeezed away in the middle. The ATI logo is clearly visible on both the core and the heatsink.
It would have been nice if the contact near the edges was a bit better, but as the benchmarks show, there are no problems with heat transfer at all.
Also you can see some smeared around thermal paste on the heatsink base. This is the result of the installation, during which it is very hard to not move the base.
[hr]
For the overclocking tests I used my ATITool overclocking utility version 0.24 Beta 5. ATITool has the unique ability to detect artifacts, or flaws, in a rendered image. As defined by ATITool, the maximum stable overclock on a card is the speed at which it is able to consistently (15 minutes in this test) produce no errors, or artifacts. ATITool detects ANY artifacts, even ones which will not be visible in game. Using the human eye to detect artifacts introduces subjectivity into the test, so despite the fact that an ATITool tested overclock will be characteristically lower than a human one, I will use this.
Thermal testing was done on a Radeon X800 SE. The X800 SE has 8 pipelines and its heat output is well comparable to the X700 / 9800 Pro / 6600.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/x800se_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/x800se.jpg)
The X800SE does not use the same cooler as the rest of the X800 series. It uses a very small aluminum cooler which we know from some 9800 Pro models.
Temperature data was obtained by reading from the internal thermal diode of the R420 GPU chip. Idle temperature was measured after letting Windows sit one hour at the desktop. Load temperature was measured after running ATITool scanning for 30 minutes. Both at the card's default clocks of 425 MHz core and 400 MHz memory. Core overclocking tests were done with memory running at 500 MHz.
Arctic Silver Lumière was used as thermal interface material for the GPU core in all installations. Lumière is a specially engineered testing compound - it needs no settle in time to reach its maximum performance, but it's not designed for permanent use.
The dynamic fan setting of the card changes fan speeds from 50% (idle) up to 80% (load). The stock cooler was also tested with forced 100% fan speed for better comparison.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Radeon X800 SE</th>
<td>Maximum Core Clock</td>
<td>Sound level</td>
<td>Temperature Load</td>
<td>Temperature Idle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Stock cooler - dynamic fan</th>
<td>544 MHz</td>
<td>Quiet(idle)<br />Acceptable(load)</td>
<td>80°C</td>
<td>48°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Stock cooler - fan 100%</th>
<td>546 MHz</td>
<td>Noisy</td>
<td>79°C</td>
<td>47°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake Schooner</th>
<td>547 MHz</td>
<td>Inaudible</td>
<td>78°C</td>
<td>47°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Watercooling (Water ~30°C)</th>
<td>580 MHz</td>
<td>Inaudible</td>
<td>33°C</td>
<td>30°C</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph1.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph2.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph3.gif
I was extremely surprised by how well this completely fan- and noiseless cooler can keep up with the heat output of the X800 SE.
Thermaltake specifically points out in their manual, that they do not recommend overclocking when the Schooner is installed, but I just had to try.
A completely stable overclock of 122 MHz without any noise is just awesome. The Schooner's cooling potential is very similar to that of the stock cooler, minus noise.
Nothing can compete with watercooling in terms of overclocking performance, but getting high overclocks was not the design goal of the Schooner.
With those great results I had to try the Schooner on a bigger video card. Installation on the X800 Pro (12 Pipelines, 475 MHz core, 450 MHz memory) is exactly the same. The second installation was much easier, because I already knew where everything was going.
During normal 2D desktop and video playback usage the Schooner has no problems cooling the card (HTPC system *hint* *hint*). When heavily stressed, without any overclocking, the GPU temperature reaches 92°C.
I find this a bit high to be safe, especially if you consider that the test system has a watercooled CPU, so the inside temperature is not as high as in a normal case.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Radeon X800 Pro</th>
<td>Temperature Load</td>
<td>Temperature Idle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake Schooner</th>
<td>92°C</td>
<td>49°C</td>
</tr>
</table>
As a result of this testing I would say it is perfectly safe to use this cooler on any video with up to, and including, eight pipelines.
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a retail price of about $40, the Schooner is selling for an excellent price if you are looking for a silent VGA cooler.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Completely noiseless
Excellent performance
Great compatibility
Spare parts included
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Complicated installation
Takes up two slots
No cooling for memory
Screw holes do not perfectly align
Size issues
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>The Thermaltake Schooner is the best passive cooler we tested so far. While there were some minor issues it is still a very good product. Thermaltake shows us again, that they have some creative ideas and know how to turn them into products.<br />
If you are building a Media Center PC and can live with a two slot video card, this is the cooler to get.</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td><img src="http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif" alt="Editor's Choice" /></td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
Our sample was provided by MadMoxx (http://www.mad-moxx.de). Thank you.
From the manufacturer Thermaltake (http://www.thermaltake.com):
High performance fanless GPU cooler, 0dB cooling solution, reduce total system noise
No cooling fan is required, stay cool without suffering the fan noise
Much better heat dissipation is delivered by larger heat sink surface
Internal and external heatpipe modules dissipate the heat efficiently.
Universal clip for both nVIDIA and Ati
<table border="1" class="resulttable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th scope="row">Weight</th>
<td scope="row">514g</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Heatsink Material</th>
<td scope="row">Aluminum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Dissipation Area</th>
<td scope="row">Main front heatsink: 1159cm²<br />Main back heatsink: 446cm²<br />External heatpipe module: 516cm²</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Heatpipe</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Internal: 5mm x 2 and copper base<br />External: 5mm x 2 and copper fins</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Compatible with </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Both nVIDIA / ATi video cards for AGP or PCI Express</td>
</tr>
</table>
Thermaltake has been creative - the Schooner is the first VGA cooler which uses a heatpipe to transport heat to the outside of the case.
By the way, a "schooner" is a sailing ship with at least two masts - usually a big one and a second smaller one. Schooners were first used by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th century.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/transfer_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/transfer.jpg)
This is how it works:
The GPU is located under the front heatsink (1). Some heat is dissipated there.
Part of the heat is transferred to the backside heatsink using two heatpipes (2).
The remaining heat is transferred to the external heatsink via another two heatpipes (3).
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package2.jpg)
Box contents:
Front and Back Heatsink
Front and Back Heatsink Base
Two clip plates
Instruction Manual
Internal Heatpipe Module
External Heatpipe Module
Thermal Paste
Three screw packages A, B and C
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/package3.jpg)
The base finish is slightly concave and from production, there are some milling marks visible. The 'knife test' shows a good amount of light shining through near the edges. Our contact test later will confirm that.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/flatness2.jpg)
[page=Installation]
Installation
The installation process is long and tiresome. However, the manual is good and tells you exactly where each part has to go. The big number of screws adds a bit of confusion.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation5.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation6_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation6.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation7_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation7.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation8_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation8.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation9_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation9.jpg)
Getting the heatsink base attached without moving it around in the next steps is close to impossible. There must be better ways to get this done, as other manufacturers' products show.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation10_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation10.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation11_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation11.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation12_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation12.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation13_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation13.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation14_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation14.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation15_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation15.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation16_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation16.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation17_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation17.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation18_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation18.jpg)
I noticed here, that the screw holes do not perfectly align. If you completely screw down each screw, the third or fourth will not fit. You have to put all four screws in the holes and screw them down just a little bit so that they are in the thread, but the heatsink can still move. When all four screws are installed you can screw them down without further problems.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation19_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation19.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation20_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation20.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation21_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installation21.jpg)
On some other products there is a chance that you can break your video card or the cooler by overtightening a screw. I tried very hard to do this with the Schooner, but it's not possible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/final_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/final.jpg)
The whole construction is fixed to the video card very well. I'm still a bit afraid, what will happen, if you move the case to a LAN party and someone accidentially hits the cooler sticking out of your case.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installed_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/installed.jpg)
Getting the outside heatsink through the case was not easy, because the hole in my case (4 years old) is 11.9mm high and the heatsink is 11.9 as well. Lucky that the heatsink's copper fins are soft and can be bent a little bit, so it just fits through.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/nb.jpg)
Another space issue is the northbridge cooler of my Abit IC7. As you can see, one screw of the cooler makes contact with the northbridge cooler. This is not that much of an issue, because the card still fits snug into the AGP socket.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/sharp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/sharp.jpg)
On the edge of the external heatsink there are some sharp copper flashes which seem to be remains of the manufacturing process.
With just a little bit more planning/testing, all those issues could have been easily avoided by Thermaltake.
[PAGE=Performance, Value & Conclusion]
Performance
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/contact2.jpg)
After the initial installation, I removed the heatsink to inspect the contact area. I was impressed to see that the thermal compound was almost completely squeezed away in the middle. The ATI logo is clearly visible on both the core and the heatsink.
It would have been nice if the contact near the edges was a bit better, but as the benchmarks show, there are no problems with heat transfer at all.
Also you can see some smeared around thermal paste on the heatsink base. This is the result of the installation, during which it is very hard to not move the base.
[hr]
For the overclocking tests I used my ATITool overclocking utility version 0.24 Beta 5. ATITool has the unique ability to detect artifacts, or flaws, in a rendered image. As defined by ATITool, the maximum stable overclock on a card is the speed at which it is able to consistently (15 minutes in this test) produce no errors, or artifacts. ATITool detects ANY artifacts, even ones which will not be visible in game. Using the human eye to detect artifacts introduces subjectivity into the test, so despite the fact that an ATITool tested overclock will be characteristically lower than a human one, I will use this.
Thermal testing was done on a Radeon X800 SE. The X800 SE has 8 pipelines and its heat output is well comparable to the X700 / 9800 Pro / 6600.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/x800se_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/x800se.jpg)
The X800SE does not use the same cooler as the rest of the X800 series. It uses a very small aluminum cooler which we know from some 9800 Pro models.
Temperature data was obtained by reading from the internal thermal diode of the R420 GPU chip. Idle temperature was measured after letting Windows sit one hour at the desktop. Load temperature was measured after running ATITool scanning for 30 minutes. Both at the card's default clocks of 425 MHz core and 400 MHz memory. Core overclocking tests were done with memory running at 500 MHz.
Arctic Silver Lumière was used as thermal interface material for the GPU core in all installations. Lumière is a specially engineered testing compound - it needs no settle in time to reach its maximum performance, but it's not designed for permanent use.
The dynamic fan setting of the card changes fan speeds from 50% (idle) up to 80% (load). The stock cooler was also tested with forced 100% fan speed for better comparison.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Radeon X800 SE</th>
<td>Maximum Core Clock</td>
<td>Sound level</td>
<td>Temperature Load</td>
<td>Temperature Idle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Stock cooler - dynamic fan</th>
<td>544 MHz</td>
<td>Quiet(idle)<br />Acceptable(load)</td>
<td>80°C</td>
<td>48°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Stock cooler - fan 100%</th>
<td>546 MHz</td>
<td>Noisy</td>
<td>79°C</td>
<td>47°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake Schooner</th>
<td>547 MHz</td>
<td>Inaudible</td>
<td>78°C</td>
<td>47°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Watercooling (Water ~30°C)</th>
<td>580 MHz</td>
<td>Inaudible</td>
<td>33°C</td>
<td>30°C</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph1.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph2.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Schooner/images/graph3.gif
I was extremely surprised by how well this completely fan- and noiseless cooler can keep up with the heat output of the X800 SE.
Thermaltake specifically points out in their manual, that they do not recommend overclocking when the Schooner is installed, but I just had to try.
A completely stable overclock of 122 MHz without any noise is just awesome. The Schooner's cooling potential is very similar to that of the stock cooler, minus noise.
Nothing can compete with watercooling in terms of overclocking performance, but getting high overclocks was not the design goal of the Schooner.
With those great results I had to try the Schooner on a bigger video card. Installation on the X800 Pro (12 Pipelines, 475 MHz core, 450 MHz memory) is exactly the same. The second installation was much easier, because I already knew where everything was going.
During normal 2D desktop and video playback usage the Schooner has no problems cooling the card (HTPC system *hint* *hint*). When heavily stressed, without any overclocking, the GPU temperature reaches 92°C.
I find this a bit high to be safe, especially if you consider that the test system has a watercooled CPU, so the inside temperature is not as high as in a normal case.
<table class="resulttable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Radeon X800 Pro</th>
<td>Temperature Load</td>
<td>Temperature Idle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Thermaltake Schooner</th>
<td>92°C</td>
<td>49°C</td>
</tr>
</table>
As a result of this testing I would say it is perfectly safe to use this cooler on any video with up to, and including, eight pipelines.
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a retail price of about $40, the Schooner is selling for an excellent price if you are looking for a silent VGA cooler.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Completely noiseless
Excellent performance
Great compatibility
Spare parts included
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Complicated installation
Takes up two slots
No cooling for memory
Screw holes do not perfectly align
Size issues
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.0</th>
<td>The Thermaltake Schooner is the best passive cooler we tested so far. While there were some minor issues it is still a very good product. Thermaltake shows us again, that they have some creative ideas and know how to turn them into products.<br />
If you are building a Media Center PC and can live with a two slot video card, this is the cooler to get.</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td><img src="http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif" alt="Editor's Choice" /></td></tr>
</table>