The Test:
All the test were run on a P4 1.6a Northwood on an MSI 645 ULTRA (SIS 645) Mainboard using 256MB OCZ 3200. CPU Voltage was default (which was 1.45 v.) for the 100 FSB, and 1.54 (the highest it would go)for 133 and 150 fsb. Artic Silver II was used and a fresh application was done each time the heatsink was changed. Temperature and voltage reading were taken using SiSoft Sandra. All test were run in a full tower Antec case which was open. The ambient temperature in the basement laboratory was 26 C. As always, results will depend on the cooling in your particular system.

Testing was done by placing each cooler on the CPU with a new application or Artic Silver II. The CPU was run for 15 minutes at idle and 15 minutes running Folding@Home 2.0. Temperatures were taken using SiSoft Sandra. The P4 Dragon was tested at each of its 3 fan settings.

Synopsis:
As you can see, the DR Thermal was the best performing heatsink in this group, and provided consistently better results than the Intel unit. It was nearly as quiet as the Intel unit and had a very good level of finish. The P4 Dragon outperformed the Intel unit when the cpu was not loaded, but did not seem to be able to handle the additional heat from 100% CPU utilization as well. The Thermaltake unit did come with the 3-speed fan controller, which is an excellent idea and unexpected on a $21 unit, and I think this unit's efficiency was reduced by the retention mechanism. At a later date I may play musical parts with all 3 heatsinks and fans to see what is possible.

Conclusion:
If you are new to 1.6A overclocking, you'll be surprised at some of the differences from AMD overclocking. First, the quality of the stock Intel unit. Intel has clearly raised the bar here with a 2500 rpm unit. Second, the two units reviewed are quality heatsinks, with fans, costing less than $25.00 each, and they are being used on a 2.4 Ghz system. Thanks again to our good friends at CrazyPC Computers for these review samples.