Product: PCH 137

Manufacturer: Power Cooler

Homepage : www.powercooler.com.tw

Long time no see ppl. Well, actually, it is a long time since we've been able to see after a particularly virulent strain of crack cocaine was obtained by the test porpoise (I knew we employed him for some reason!) Temporary blindness and paralysis aside, it has been a happy few weeks in the Chillblast HQ.

We were lucky enough to meet the warden of the prison, in which the review monkey is residing. Serves him right for failing to pay the costs of our infamous libel trial. Our chat with the warden went well and let's say a little bit of money changed hands. Subsequently I was shocked to hear that the monkey had had a series of unfortunate accidents, culminating in a brutal episode with a toothbrush. Oh well, at least the surgeon was able to retrieve it, though I don't suppose he will want to use that again!

We were all feeling mighty proud of ourselves after this little coup, we decided to kick back and relax some more. As you are all aware, other than our narcotic fuelled parties, alcohol-induced orgies or merely madness-driven tomfoolery, we relax through the medium of cooler reviews. Mmmmcooler reviews - well perhaps ....

So, it was time once more to send the test porpoise out into the street to sequester some prize, worthy of our leering. He returned after 30 mins with a 15lb salmon but we all felt this wasn't quite what we were after so a quick beating later we heaved his immobile mass back onto the street. We then heard some shrill whistles and were greeted with a wondrous sight. The test porpoise was attempting to balance a car on it's back, that or it has just been run over. A quick fire later and there was no trace of the little fella in our personnel records.

We were rapidly running out of mammals to find products, so the communications bat was called up and issued forth. While waiting for the latest suicide employee to return, a faint slapping at the door revealed that Flopper was still alive! Hurrah! Nothing a long soak in olive oil won't cure (or did he really die and we had to write this to stop the activists coming round?) Cutting....story....short.....bat returned singed cooler strapped to back.

Wow! The plucky nocturnal flitterer had not only gone and found another cooler from our chums over at Power Cooler! If it shows a tenth of the innovation of the earlier two, we are in for a real treat.

The latest addition to the Chillblast review line is the Power Cooler PCH 137 which is rated by the company up to 1.5 Ghz. It is a return to the popular style of heatsink and clip, unlike the PCH 113 and PCH 075. A fully copper heatsink with the unique Power Cooler twin blade fan on top. Feast your eyes.

Hmmm, the OCZ Gladiator looks amazingly similar to this except OCZ put on a Delta and the performance is less good than the original Power Cooler.

The fan uses the excellent twin blade style to increase air flow but the downside is an elevated noise level (remember - blurred photos are a sign of a great photographer, honest).

It is a low profile heatsink with a meaty fan. The sink is coloured a natty pink and the fins are very thin.

Quick shot of the base which is not a shiny as we like it in magpie world but nothing that our old friend Arctic Silver II won't sort out.

Against the Coolermaster EP5-6I11.

A small, short heatsink when compared against the Coolermaster but the fan makes up for any inadequacy.

Test Rig

Our highly scientific approach tends to be compromised by a number of factors - the first being, we don't have a scientific approach. Our aim is to provide a real world test, to simulate the experience that you would have if you had bought these heatsinks. Therefore, we will take measurements from the onboard temp gauge under the cpu and decibel readings but these are not under lab conditions.

The ambient room temperature was kept at 22C +/- 1C (ta BlitZ), if this changed we stopped testing until it had returned to this base level.

Installation

The unit came (luckily) without our arch nemesis the thermal pad. A spring in our step betrayed the fact that the Isopropyl was being liberally sprayed around so that meant only one thing - it was time to clean and prepare the core. Next we examined the clip, not much to report here. It is a typical clipping mechanism. Seat the rear, and then use the thumb plate to clip the front into place. It needs a surprisingly small amount of pressure to attach the front, so much so it made me think we had not put it on properly but we had (for once).

Noise

The unit is equipped with a high speed fan that is supposed to run at 6,800 rpm but our motherboard registered an average of 7,400 rpm! Prepare those eardrums for a hammering.

OMG THIS IS THE LOUDEST FAN WE HAVE EVER HAD TO ENDURE. IT IMPRESSIVELY MANAGED TO DESTROY EVEN THE MIGHTY DELTA. Phew, that's better, turned it off but there's still a ringing in my ears. My perception of the level is that it is very, very noisy. I must admit that we were being spoilt by the comparatively noiseless Hedgehog but the Power Cooler has one vicious fan.

Testing

There is no room for sentiment in this game (the test porpoise would have er...I mean can testify to that), so we wheel out the Global Win CAK 38 to lock horns in this battle for supremacy of the overclocking arena.

Here goes. For those of you that are new to this, we test the CPU cooler on the same system but at different speeds and with different core voltages to increase the levels of heat that is emitted by the CPU. It then allows ppl to see how it copes with a range of temperatures. First settings are the default core voltage (1.6V)and speed (700 Mhz). We test both the idle and full load temps, the former taken after 10 mins of inactivity from boot, the latter after 30 mins of running Seti@home. Got it? Good, let's get it on, team.

Impressive start from our Far Eastern guest. As stated before, the CAK idle temps appear to be anomalous so take them with a pinch of salt (can be substituted for carck). The boys are neck and neck under load and so it looks like turning into an interesting competition. We need more power so onto the next room.

We enter and immediately you feel the heat. The speed has been turned upto 900 Mhz but more importantly the core voltage has been wound up to 1.775V. Let the next game commence.

We see a pair of 35's returned for their load results as we are unable to separate these sparring giants. The CAK sneaks the round with his (steroid induced) idle scores that leave the 137 looking slightly irritated. Prod him with a poker and let's run before he can react...

After the last attempt to get the communications bat to take over from the recently deceas....injured porpoise, ended in a small fireball. We entrusted ourselves with the Herculean task of maxing out our little PC with 945 Mhz and 1.85V. Et voila, who's gonna come out on top?

Aha, we see clear air between the two for the first time this match. A 1*C lead has been opened up by the Power Cooler and since it is the last round er .... then that means something! Still massively adrift at idle which can mean only one thing. Sadly, the CAK once more retains the much sought after overclocking cooler crown (I still think this is rigged).

Our last test is to take a temperature reading 1 minute after shutting down Seti to see how much heat could be dissipated.

The PCH 137 comes bottom in this test but it is for you to draw your own conclusions....

Conclusion

This offering from Power Cooler is another in the sexy department. The pink on copper, two tone effect is very fetching! The unit is smallish and compact but very aesthetically pleasing. Power Cooler are a no nonsense company that have managed to produce another winner in the CPU cooling world.

This unit has the legs on the GW CAK 38 under full load, but (same old story), the CAK destroys all competition at idle. In a dogfight, I would bet on this puppy to come through a tough contest. It has identical performance to the Akasa Silver mountain and Thermalright SK-06 and is the cheapest of all coolers mentioned.

An easy clipping mechanism coupled with great cooling ability make the 137 a unit for the serious overclocker. My only reason for not keeping this in the PC is the abrasive level of noise from the fan but many of you, I know, love the soothing (brain drilling) tone (scream) of a Delta/PC special (spawn of Satan).

I am happy to wholeheartedly recommend this cooler to any-one with hearing trouble.

The final ChillBlast rating is ********

Power cooler's site can be found here.

Many hearts are sent out to the kind souls who reside at Power Cooler for the sample.

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