After a long time, I've decided to change my creepy old Speeze Whisper Rock. I wanted my new cooler to be silent with a heat-pipes system, and all this for a price no higher than 20$. Everybody probably knows that Socket A has been around for a long time and its time is over. There are no new coolers on a market designed for Socket A anymore and prices of suitable coolers with heat-pipes system available for this type of Socket were all surpassing 20$. Then I've noticed Evercool HPFI, cooler made for Socket 775, nothing striking thought. Evercool was already compatible with another platform, but this couldn't discourage me to try to fix it with my Socket A. And how it turned out?






Packaging and closer look at the cooler

Again I'll start today's review classically - with closer look at a packaging.



Inside a cardboard box there is a cooler together with installation clips for Socket 775 (already fixed to a cooler) and thermal compound placed in mini-sized syringe.
Technical specifications:
Dimensions: 110 x 72 x 142.7 mm
Base material: copper, aluminum
Bearing type: Ball-bearing
Fan speed rotation: 1800 rpm
Flow: not issued
Sound level: less than 23 dBA
Voltage: 12 V
Weight: 500 g.
There are 8g of grey thermal paste inside a little syringe, with thermal conductivity of 3.8W/m-K.



There are two versions of this cooler available: HPFI (s. 775) and HPFA (s. AM2), varying only in a way of mounting onto specific sockets. First thing I've noticed after unpacking the cooler was its weight, good half a kilo. At first glance there are visible scratches on upper aluminum fin.



Clearly visible scratches on the left side of buffalo signature of manufacturer, on a letter L there are signs of abrasion too.

And there are few more downsides; top of one heatpipe is elaborated in shabby way and installation clips for fixation of a cooler tend to deform the upper aluminum fin.



Heatpipes are rounded without visible malformations.



Now let's focus on a heatsink-base. On the first sight it is worked out with not much of an attention, aluminum part seems unfinished.



On this photo you can recognise thermal compound placed in between the heatsink-base, heatpipe and upper aluminium part. It seems to be equal with the thermal paste packed in the syringe.

Installation

Installation onto a socket 775 is very simple, although in my case situation was slightly different. After little arrangements, I could use my old installation clips for socket A, as obviously they are not provided with this cooler. There were not any problems and cooler set onto the socket perfectly. Cooler tends to slightly rotate around its central axis, but this is insignificant and doesn't restrain its stable fixation.



Performance results
Test arrangements:
AMD XP 1800+ (Thoroughbred B0) @ 166x11.5=1909MHz, 1.456V
Matsonic 8147C (KT400)
256DDR + 512DDR PQI 400, CL 2.5(FSB-RAM 1:1)
HDD 80GB Seagate barracuda 7200.7
MSI GF 6600Diamond 128MB DDR3 @ 590/1190MHz
Source Eurocase 400W

Air fluctuation was supported by 2 outtake AC Fan 3 @ 5V, 120mm Fan in a source @ 3,3V, graphic was cooled by old Speeze Whisper Rock + 80mm Fan @ 5V.

Test arrangements:
Windows XP (bez SP)
Super PI Ver1.1e
3D mark 05
F.E.A.R.
Flatout 2


Box was left open during the test; anyway there are two big holes carved on a side of the box, covered with a net, so closing off the box wouldn't have any influence on a measured temperature. Ambient temperature was 21 °C. Thermal Sensor was placed on a top of the box.

1st test
Here I was interested, if cooler is able to cool down my processor in a passive mode.

Cooler haven't passed the 1st test. Starting temperature was 53°C and fan was set at 5V. After disconnecting off the cooler, in 9 minutes temperature had raised up to 78 °C. In this moment I've decided to install the fan again. With fan installed, temperature began to fall and after 14 minutes and 30 seconds, it was stabilized again at 53 °C. WMP 9 was on, during the test, loading the processor up to 8%. I'd prefer not to measure "burn temperature".



2nd test:
In the second test, I set fan at 5V.

In an IDLE mode temperature was 53°C. One hour of fun in F.E.A.R. brought maximal recorded temperature, 58°C. Other tests - super PI, 3D mark 05, Flatout 2) were able to higher the temperature max. up to 57°C. Temperature of the heatsink was 30.5 °C, in both, BURN and IDLE mode.



3th test:
Fan of the cooler was set at 7V. I didn't make pictures of Speedfun for this time, as according to recorded temperatures transferred to a curve, temperature growth was identical. Here are all measured temperatures: 52°C in IDLE mode, 56°C in BURN mode and temperature of the Heatsink was 30°C. (after one hour of F.E.A.R.)

4th test:
This time, input supply voltage was set up at 12V. Temperatures recorded are: 50 °C in idle mode, 54°C in burn mode, and temperature of the heatsink was 29°C. Here I would like to mention, that my old cooler was able to cool down the processor also with 80mm fan, set at 6V (with temperatures recorded: 66°C in IDLE mode and 72°C in BURN mode).

Noise level:
I'll start with the last test. Noise level of the fan set at 12 V is, at least for me, unbearable. Noise is crazy, super-thin aluminium fins tend to vibrate, when big airflow creates air pressure. I couldn't really see it, but I could hear the noise similar to power saw. Fan set at 7V is more or less OK, you can hear little engine buzzing only from a distance smaller than 5 cm. From a bigger distance noise is not disturbing anymore. When fan is set at 5V, engine noise is not hearable anymore, and already from the distance bigger than 10 cm, cooler is absolutely silent. During night, I can hear my breathing.

Conclusion
We are at the end of today's test. Evercool HPFI proves itself as the best incompatible cooler for socket A. I can only recommend this cooler, whose price and performance are excellent. It can be a perfect alternation for more expensive AC Freezer. Keep going Evercool!