Heatsink Group Test - August 2007

Author: Simon Briers
Published: 2nd August 2007

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Zerotherm BTF90 (continued):

Performance:

After the slightly long-winded installation, the BTF90 rewards us with the best performance results in this selection of heatsinks, which surprised us somewhat. It held the CPU at just 49°C under load, and it was a mere 7°C above ambient when idling. VRM temperatures were also quite good, though not the best we've found.

Unfortunately though, the fan gives off fairly loud whine under load, and during testing it ran at around 2,550 RPM initially, before settling down to a more acceptable 2,200 RPM.

Heatsink Group Test - August 2007 Zerotherm BTF90 - 2

Heatsink Group Test - August 2007 Zerotherm BTF90 - 2

It’s good to see that the cooler increases its fan speed when temperatures increase and when it’s sitting idle, it ran at an inaudible 1,400 RPM. It’s a little quieter than the CNPS9700LED running full whack, for reference purposes, and therefore its noise emissions might be noticeable at load in even some of the most advanced system cases.

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Conclusions:

The BTF90’s performance was somewhat surprising, as it managed to take the top spot for CPU temperatures. The use of copper throughout the heatsink has obviously paid off but it would have been good to see the cooler deliver the same performance with lower noise at full load.

Copper’s thermal conduction is better than aluminium’s, but its thermal radiation is worse than aluminium (meaning that it tends to be more reluctant at letting heat escape). As a result of this, the BTF90 responds better at higher fan speeds than some of the hybrid heatsinks this goes up against and therefore we can understand why Zerotherm has opted to increase the speed as temperatures increase.

Its results were better than the Zalman CNPS9700LED with both coolers running at high speed, but neither is really suited for a near-silent system. Thankfully, the BTF90 is quieter than the CNPS9700LED, but it’s still the loudest cooler at load in this selection of heatsinks.

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As such I would ensure that some form of fan control is available, preferably using the four-pin PWM fan header. This will allow fine-tuning of the fan speed through the motherboard, and should result in a decent reduction in noise, while maintaining respectable CPU temperatures.

At around £33 including VAT, the BTF90 fits into the same price range as the Zalman CNPS9700LED – these two coolers seem to share a lot in common, even if they don’t look the same. It’s certainly not the cheapest cooler on the market, but if you spend a little bit extra, you reward yourself with something that performs well.

On the whole though, Zerotherm has created a fairly well-balanced cooler in the BTF90. Its performance has proven enough to match the competition from Scythe's Infinity cooler, but unfortunately for the Zerotherm, it does so while emitting more noise than the Infinity. The provision of PWM fan support adds flexibility for those seeking lower noise, but that comes at the cost of lower performance.