Most
heatsinks emphasize the downward directed airflow that is useful
for cooling all the little electrical bits around the CPU
socket on a motherboard. As you're probably well aware, motherboard
manufacturers like ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte are slapping tiny passive heatsinks on the MOSFETs
and power circuitry that ring the processor, and much larger passive heatsinks on the
northbridge chipset.... all of which is designed to make use of that exhaust airflow from
a CPU heatsink. It's
a parasitic relationship that many a motherboard is built upon, and it's
a good one because no extra noise is generated in the PC case from
small chipset fans.
The
Triton 77 heatsink takes the opposite approach, its 92mm fan is positioned so it
blows up and away from the CPU socket. The packaging suggests this will "drop
VRM temperatures by 10-15°C" - if that's true then we can only assume it will
likely raise the ambient temperature of the air
entering the Triton 77 heatsink by a similar degree...
The ASUS Triton 77 heatsink is one of the latest
processor thermal solutions to come from motherboard manufacturing giant ASUS. The
heatsink is equipped with a Sunon MagLev 92mm vapo-bearing PWM fan which runs at
a very quiet 2300RPM. Standing a moderate 125mm tall, the Triton 77 heatsink has
five copper heatpipes spread across its curved array of nickel-plated aluminum
fins, and weighs 505 grams. The bulk of this heatsink is elevated 55mm above the
CPU socket for good component clearance, and it's compatible with Intel 775 and
AMD (939/AM2) processors so you can migrate from one CPU platform to another
without having to buy another heatsink.
The Asus Triton 77 heatsink is pretty new so it is just
making its way into stores as of this writting. Expect it to retail for around
$38USD ($38CDN) at Newegg and NCIX.
Asus Triton 77 Heatsink
|
 | |
 |
| HEATSINK SPECSHEET |
| Manufacturer: Asus |
| Model No.: Triton 77 |
| Materials: nickel-plated
aluminum fins, copper heatpipes and base |
| Fan Mfg: Sunon MagLev
KDE1209PTV3 (PWM) |
| Fan Spec: 2300RPM, 12V,
0.09A |
| Fan Dim: 25x92x92mm |
| Heatsink & Fan Dim:
125x103x121mm |
| Weight: 505 grams |
| Includes: multi-socket
mounting hardware, thermal compound, instructions. |
Compatible with Sockets: 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+, LGA775 |
| Est. Pricing: $38USD
($38CDN) | |
For the
Triton 77, Asus selected Sunon’s 92mm MagLev fan. The Sunon MagLev
design uses magnetic levitation forces to create a zero friction environment -
on other words the fan propeller is suspended in air during rotation so that the
shaft and bearing do not come into direct contact with each other to create
friction. This design gives the fan high temperature endurance that results in
long life (50,000 hours) and little noise generation in the Triton 77
heatsink.
Here is
an example to help you understand the principles behind the MagLev fan.
"When a toy spinning top is
thrown, the top continues to accelerate even as it hits the ground. During this
acceleration the top tilts and sways until a consistent speed is obtained. At
this point, the top will balance itself - e.g. the swaying and tilting have
faded - and become fixed perpendicular to the ground. This is the simple concept
behind the Sunon MagLev."
"...regardless of the mounting angle the fan, the
shaft will always rotate around a fixed point and at a constant distance from
the bearing without coming in contact with it to produce friction or mechanical
noise. The problem of bearings being worn down into an oval shape or horn
aperture after long use is effectively resolved."
The rest of the ASUS Triton 77 heatsink is pretty
standard stuff. The five copper heatpipes are soldered to the base and fins, and
the curvature of the aluminum fins forms a natural 13mm plenum to further reduce
noise. 
The Asus
Triton 77 heatsink ships with two CPU brackets, one pair for Intel Socket 775
and one for AMD K8 processors (754/939/940/AM2).
The Intel socket 775 clips use the standard push-to-lock
plastic clips that insert into the four motherboard holes around the processor
socket. For AMD Athlon64 processors, the heatsink makes use of the central
lug on the socket 754/939/940/AM2 heatsink retention frame. A cam
lever at one end of the clip applies pressure to the heatsink base directly.
Both clips are tool free to install on the processor.
Base Finish and Flatness
Flipping
a heatsink over to inspect the business end is often a simple indicator of
overall cooler quality. More practically speaking, a heatsink is in many ways
only as effective as the contact it makes with the processor - the flatter and
smoother the better. Base finish is one of the criteria that Frostytech measure
in the course of evaluating heatsinks, and it involves two distinct
aspects.
Surface
Finish is the first; this is calculated with the aid of Surface Roughness
Comparator that has a cross section of common machine surface finishes and their
numerical surface roughness equivalents in microinches. The second is Surface
Flatness. This is tested with an engineers straight edge or proven flat surface,
in two axis.
The base
of the Asus Triton 77 heatsink is a nickel plated pad of copper with a sanded
surface texture. There is 3mm of copper between the heatpipes and CPU, and a
contact area of just 29x31.5mm in area. This is significantly smaller than the
37mm square AMD CPU integrated heatspreader. Surface roughness is ~32
microinches, and the base is flat in both axis.
FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is
used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move
forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics,
and of course its performance in the thermal tests!
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