The Fan

The fan used for the FOP-38 unit is a very solid Delta fan that measures in at 60mm x 60mm x 23mm. It is rated at 6800 rpm and cranks out an impressive 38-CFM airflow rate. Cooler Guys claims a noise rating of 42.5 dba, but to be honest, I think that it's probably closer to 46-48 dba. To put it plainly, this is one loud fan, but not like normal fans are loud. The sound is more like a high pitched whine that you hear in the background. it's not annoying to me, but if you have sensitive ears, then it may get on your nerves.

The fan connects to the system by means of a 3-pin connection, but Cooler Guys have added a nice feature…a 3 pin to 4-pin converter. This allows the fan to be hooked up directly to a spare line that comes straight from the power supply. I have always had very good stability from the fans that hook up to the power supply. I also don't have a lot of faith in the motherboard being able to provide a smooth flow of power to everything on the board PLUS the fan headers as well. Fans take up a good chunk of power, so a stronger source is always a good thing to keep things cool under the hood.

Another nice feature is the addition of a simple fan grill. I have stated before that it isn't the finger chewing that concerns me, but the sick feeling you get to your stomach when that little monster of a fan sucks up a couple of wires within your system. The sound of the fan blades grinding something to bits isn't a good one.

The Heatsink

The heatsink is an anodized aluminum block that measures 75mm x 68mm x 42mm. It is rather large, but is compact enough that it should fit on just about any motherboard around. It fit with no problems at all onto my Abit KT7 board, which is also known as a tight fit for larger heatsinks. It consists of a split design and has 20 fins that go through the entire unit. The larger base will allow for more dissipation of heat, which will help out considerably when you start overclocking.

One feature that GlobalWin is notorious for, and which also annoys me to no end, is the addition of some cheesy thermal tape to the base of the heatsink. Thermal tape is next to useless, is messy, and is a royal pain to clean off the processor core after it has heated up. it's just my opinion, but it seems to me that the people who are likely to buy this type of performance heatsink are people who push their systems to the limit. I have yet to meet an avid overclocker who uses thermal tape. They ALWAYS use a thermal compound of some sort because it is inherently a much better interface for mating the core to the sink.

The heatsink also did not come lapped. It had noticeable ridges in the base that had to be sanded off before it could be used. I normally don't polish my bases, but I do sand them until they are smooth, then clean them thoroughly with some Isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth.

Even with the minor quirks noted above, there are no complaints when it comes to cooling performance. The large heatsink working in conjunction with the Delta fan is a very solid combination. How good? let's just see…