Thermaltake is well known for their wide range of popular products in the enclosure, cooling, and power supply markets. Today we begin a series of articles in our search for the best cooling solution for INTEL's new Core 2 Duo processors with a look at a hugely popular, and monster of a cooler, the Thermaltake Big Typhoon CL-0114 CPU cooler.

Read on as we put the Big Typhoon up against some pretty stiff competition and see if it is in fact the best cooler for that new Core 2 Duo CPU.

Once removed from the packaging, you are greeted by the cooler itself, two metal "H" clips, a Mylar "H" plate, a sponge "H" insulator, a small "H" clip for alternate installation, and various screws and washers for mounting the cooler.

From this angle you can see three of the six copper heat pipes which transfer heat from the base of the cooler to the aluminum fins. The copper heat pipes are soldered to the base, improving heat transfer, with the mounting plate screwed to the base.
While the overall size of the Big Typhoon may put off some people, it also provides cooling for the components surrounding your processor, such as the memory, chipset (depending on board), and the board's mosfets.

The Big Typhoon is huge, weighing in at 813 grams, it easily outweighs the Zalman CNPS9500 (530g) and even the bulky Thermalright Ultra-120 (745g, without fan). While some people may be concerned about weight, Thermaltake has developed an outstanding mounting system which easily handles the weight and should alleviate any concerns.

The 120mm fan is in a word...UGLY. Those looking for a pretty cooler can easily change out the Thermaltake fan for something a different cooler, or one that has LEDs, etc. However cooling should be more about performance than aesthetics, and here the orange "Ultra Silent" fan does its job well, moving 54.4 CFM (Cubic Ft Minute) of air over the aluminum fins at 16dBA.

The fan did pose a couple of issues for me. First, I am not a big advocate of attaching 120mm fans to motherboard fan headers, and the included fan uses a 3-pin plug designed to be used with the motherboard fan header. Second, for those using the motherboard fan header, you might have to disable the fan monitoring software in your BIOS due to the fan's low 1300RPM speed.

One aspect that sets the Big Typhoon apart from a lot of its competitors is how the fins are encased and protected by the large aluminum shroud, which houses the 120mm fan. A lot of quality cooling solutions are hamstrung by a poor design that exposes the fins, allowing them to be easily bent or otherwise damaged.

A lot is made of a heat sink's base. I think something that's often overlooked is the effect a processor's IHS has on the performance of the heatsink. While flatness and reflectivity are typically issues people focus on, it's really a non issue unless you lap both the IHS and heat sink base. Having said that, the base of the Big Typhoon is rather blah, showing small machine marks. We'll see what kind of effect this has on performance later during our testing.

The overall build quality of the Thermaltake Big Typhoon is excellent, and while quite large and simple, it is also a rugged cooler that should hold up well over time and multiple installations.

Installation of the Thermaltake Big Typhoon is well described in a full color installation booklet included in the packaging. Though the Big Typhoon can be used on a wide variety of AMD and INTEL processors, we're focusing on finding the best cooler for INTEL's new Core 2 Duo series of processors.

Like almost all INTEL based coolers, installing the Big Typhoon requires the removal of the motherboard from your case.

The first step in installing the Big Typhoon is affixing the rear mounting assembly. Affix the sponge pad (a double sided sticky pad) to the motherboard, making sure to properly align the mounting holes in the sponge padding with those on the motherboard. Those of you who like switching out heatsinks can simply leave the paper over the bottom of the sponge, so the pad can be easily removed (I really wish Thermaltake had used a simple neoprene pad to allow easy removal and reinstallation).

Next, you'll remove the paper from the top of the sponge pad, and attach the non-coductive mylar frame to the sponge, again making sure to properly align the mounting holes with those of the sponge pad and motherboard.

After placing the mylar frame on top of the sponge pad, you'll line up the rear mounting plate (a chrome "H" clip)

While I wish Thermaltake had used a non-stick neoprene pad instead of the sponge pad, I can understand the philosophy behind their choice. The Big Typhoon is an incredibly large and heavy cooler, and the with the sponge pad stuck to the motherboard and mylar frame, there's no chance of the mounting system shifting, causing damage to the motherboard, or allowing the metal mounting system to short out components.

As the mylar frame is non-sticky, you'll have to hold the H clip in place on the rear of the motherboard as you insert and secure the mounting screws.

While holding the rear mounting system in place, place the four washers over the screws as shown above.

And then install the small copper standoffs to secure the mounting system to the board. Be careful while doing this; while you do not want the system to be loose, you also do not want to overtighten the standoffs and damage the board.

Next apply either the included thermal paste, or your thermal paste of choice, and position the cooler atop the proccessor.

Take the top "H" clip and install it onto the heatsink (it only goes on one way), and over the correct mounting screws. A good idea is to think about the orientation of the cooler, and depending on your case's layout and cooling, you way want to position the cooler so the fins channel the air toward the exhaust, or you may want to position the fans vertically to channel air over your NB chipset (as I did for the passively cooled DFI Infinity 975X).

Finally, take the four incuded nuts and thread them onto the screws, and over the "H" clip. This part of the installation takes great care.  If you don't tighten the screws enough, the Big Typhoon's weight will cause a poor connection between the heat sink's base and the processors IHS.  On the other hand, tighten it too much and you risk damaging the motherboard. Unlike other heatsinks that have stoppers to help you tighten the mounting the system, the Big Typhoon has nothing to guide you, no safeguards in place to ensure a perfect fit. During my testing I actually overtightened the Big Typhoon mounting system, and while the cooler worked perfectly, when I switched back to my regular cooling solution, the base did not come in full contact with the IHS.

As you can see from the images, once installed the Big Typhoon is a monster, towering over the motherboard and surrounding components. Those using smaller cases need to make sure the cooler will in fact work in their cases before attempting installation.
From this image you should also be able to see that how you orientate the cooler will affect which board components are cooled by the Big Typhoon. I oriented the fins vertically, which in turn pushes cooler air down onto the board and over the passively cooled chipset block.

I will say that the Big Typhoon was easy to install and didn't interfere with any components on the motherboard I used for testing. My only issue with installation was tightening the mounting system. Overall, installation took about 10 minutes (once the motherboard was removed from the case)

Today's HardwareLogic Test Bench consists of the following components.

• INTEL E6600 Core 2 Duo Processor
• DFI Infinity 975X/G Motherboard 
• 1GB Corsair XMS2-8500 DDR2 Memory 
• eVGA 7900 GTX Video Card 
• Fortron FX700-GLN ATX12V/ EPS12V 700W All-In-One PSU
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB HDD
• HSPC Tech Station Test Bench

Arctic Silver Luminere was used with all coolers for a couple of reasons.  First, nothing but Arctic Silver touches my components, and second, Luminere is the best testing thermal compound available (zero cure time, non-conductive). All testing was done using the following heat sinks in a 76F testing enviroment. Idle temps were recorded 30 minutes after a cold boot, load temperatures were recorded after 30 minutes of 100% load using two instances of CPU Burn In.

• Idle Settings: 1.86GHz, 1.325V
• Overclocked Settings: 2.8Ghz, 1.45V

During our testing at default clock speeds and voltages, not much seperates the usual suspects. The stock INTEL HSF, well....that best probably used as a door stop, to throw at the neighborhood kids, or as a downrigger weight for fishing.

Moving on.... For overclocking performance, I chose a speed I'd feel comfortable running 24/7, and even though I know every component in this system has more to give, I think those choosing to run their system OC'ed on air will typically find them selves in this range for 24/7 operation. Again, the Big Typhoon and the Thermalright Ultra-120 ran neck and neck, with the Zalman  falling back slightly.

So what does our testing tell us......

Our Recommendation

Is the Thermaltake Typhoon the best cooler? Thats up to the individual....and your needs. First of all, if money isn't an issue, the more expensive Thermalright XP-120, paired with a really good fan is probably a better choice. It's easier to install, but its much more expensive, especially considering it doesn't come with a fan. If quiet computing is your thing, the Zalman HSF's performed admirably. They present a much lower profile, do a good job of cooling the surrounding components, and are much lighter than the Ultra-120 or Big Typhoon. One thing to consider, is if you don't plan on overclocking, for the first time in an awful long time with an INTEL processor....there's no need for extravagent cooling.

As to the Big Typhoon, I had some issues with the mounting system, mainly tightening the retention plate on an INTEL LGA775 system. While installation is actually quite simple and well explained, trying to find a balance between securing a beast of a heat sink and ensuring good contact between the base and CPU's Integrated Heat Spreader is difficult. I'd like to have seen some kind of fail-safe system that prevents any chance of damage to the CPU or motherboard from over and under tightening.

Installation issues aside, the Thermaltake Big Typhoon is a great air cooled solution. With its massive bulk supported by a pure copper base and six heat pipes, cooled by massive aluminum fins and a high quality 120mm fan, the Big Typhoon came out on top, even if only by a small margin, during our testing. Besides its excellent performance, this tried and true cooler, is modestly priced at around $50 (about the same as the CNPS9500AT and $10 less than the Ultra-120) and does a good job cooling the components surrounding the processor, which can be extremely important with a board featuring passively cooled chipsets. 

Other Reviews of Note

Its always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, We may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out some reviews from some other great sites around the web.
Overclocker Cafe
Viper Lair
Overclockers Online
TechPowerUp