Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Though I am impressed by the performance of the Thermaltake DuOrb CPU cooler, I’m still somewhat staid in my praise for this product. To call it the be all and end all of CPU coolers is incorrect, but to relegate it to my “sell on eBay” pile isn’t right either. When it comes down to it I’m left ticking off things on my checklist, so here we go.

The DuOrb has a fair degree of pluses in its favour. Its thermal testing results showed promise, with ok numbers posted in CPU testing and good numbers in Chipset cooling. The size of the cooler gives it an advantage in that it can disapate heat over a large area. The installation was easy enough, with the added benefit that I could mount the heatsink with the motherboard in the case. The downside is that the DuOrb isn’t completely universal as there are circumstances where it simply cannot be installed without giving up a PCIe x16 slot or with performance memory modules that use extended heatsinks.

The only problem with pluses in they are inevitably followed by minuses, and the Thermaltake DuOrb does have it’s share. Though the thermal testing does show promise with quad core processors, the performance delta isn’t wide enough to avoid being swallowed up by the extra heat generated during overclocking. The size of the cooler is both it’s greatest asset and weakness, as it can make for some dubious installation situations. You’d best be aware of which way your fan mounts are arranged, lest you wind up mounting this cooler vertically and blocking a couple expansion slots. Then we come to the price, which for the performance numbers posted is a little high. That price does go into the extra material required to make this heatsink, but it does force one to make a choice.

In the end, it’s still hard to avoid recommending the Thermaltake DuOrb on the basis that it’s a quiet cooler with decent performance numbers. It’s no slouch in the aesthetics department, and will keep many of your sub-systems cool. Is it a good cooler for overclockers? Probably not, unless you are feeling just a bit naughty and want to squeeze only a few extra MHz out of your CPU. The price is a sticking point, but if you want a unique and quiet cooler for your stock quad core system I would suggest taking a strong look at the Thermaltake DuOrb CPU cooler.

The Good

• Decent performance
• Quiet
• Manages to cool CPU and chipset
• Unique design

The Bad

• Cooling for overclocking not as decent
• Size of cooler might be a hindrance
• Price a little steep

Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0

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