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Heatsink Group Test - August 2007
Author: Simon BriersPublished: 2nd August 2007
Zerotherm BTF90
CPU Socket Support: AMD AM2 / 940 / 939 / 754, Intel LGA775Weight (with fan): 688g
Size: 108mm x 81mm x 128mm
Price (as reviewed): £33.00 (inc. VAT)
The BTF90 is a similar design to other 'tower' coolers, though it uses copper fins instead of the more prominent aluminium fins found on most tower coolers. Interestingly, there are two versions of this cooler – one made from 100 percent copper (the version we have here) and another made from 100 percent aluminium (the BTF80).
The fins are shaped like a butterfly, hence the BTF moniker and the tower stands much shorter than most others. The reason for this is because Zerotherm has decided that it doesn’t need to use a 120mm fan – instead, the BTF90 comes with a 92mm shroudless LED fan that glows read. This isn’t mounted by default – instead the user has to slide the fan down a plastic rail on the larger face of the tower.
Click to enlarge
Installation:
The base came with a protective sticker over its polished surface, but this unfortunately left a sticky residue that you’ll have to remove before applying any thermal paste. It took us quite some time to get rid of using Arctic Silver TIM remover so it’s something worth bearing in mind.The instructions require some close scrutiny, as procedures for both the AMD and Intel installs are lumped together, rather than being separated out. As a result of this, the illustrations are not necessarily next to the corresponding instructions, making installation a little confusing if you’re following the instructions closely.
Click to enlarge
There is useful advice to ensure there are no interfering components on the motherboard when mounting the cooler. This is just as well, as on our P6N SLI Premium there was a group of low capacitors that were in the way of the mounting plate. This forced me to rotate the assembly by 90 degrees, with the fan blowing away from the I/O plate, as it wouldn't clear the chipset heatsink in the other orientation.
Installation was the most complicated in this group, with Intel boards requiring an additional plate being screwed onto the heatsink’s base. In order to do this and access all four screws, the fan must first be removed. In this respect at least, Zerotherm has made life easier by mounting the fan on a pull-out plastic carrier. Once this has been done, the heatsink screws into the baseplate in the same way as the CF900, resulting in a similarly solid mount.
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