At five inches high, 6.14 inches square at the top, and weighing a few ounces shy of two pounds, the Thermaltake BigTyp 14 Pro is among the biggest and heaviest coolers we’ve tested—although it’s not as big as Cooler Master’s V10, reviewed last month.
The BigTyp 14 Pro contains six heat pipes routed through aluminum fins mounted perpendicular to the motherboard and is topped with a plastic shroud and 14cm variable-speed fan, which blows hot air straight down instead of through the back of the case, like with most performance coolers. Two retention clips screw into the base and are fastened with nuts on the underside of the motherboard, just like with the Cooler Master V10. Installing the BigTyp 14 Pro is easier than the V10—it’s smaller and lighter, it won’t bump up against crucial components like RAM, and the nuts can be screwed in with a Phillips screwdriver as opposed to a hex wrench. But there’s no room for a 12cm rear fan with the BigTyp installed.
The Thermaltake BigTyp 14 Pro is big enough to cause problems with some cases.
The support brace that reinforces our Cooler Master ATCS 840’s removable motherboard tray and backplate got in the way of the BigTyp’s plastic shroud. We’re not sure who to blame for this: Cooler Master for putting a brace so close to the top left of the motherboard, or Thermaltake for creating such an enormous cooler? Regardless, the cooler should install fine in most other chassis. (We ended up Dremeling out a corner of the cooler’s shroud to make it fit.)
At low fan speeds, the BigTyp 14 Pro outperforms our stock cooler, and at top howling speeds it’s a match for our favorite, the Zalman CNPS 9900. But even at $20 cheaper than the Zalman, the BigTyp won’t be taking the top slot. It’s too big and it messes up internal airflow by requiring removal of the 12cm back fan and routing its hot air straight down onto the mobo instead of onto the back of the case.
Performs well at maximum settings.
Large design interferes with some cases; loud; fan disrupts case airflow.
| BigTyp 14 Pro (low) | Zalman CNPS 9900 | Stock Cooler | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idle (C) | 33.25 (high: 30 ) | 31.75 | 45.75 |
| 100% Burn (C) | 63.75 (high: 47.25) | 47 | 70.25 |
Bless
July 15, 2009 at 2:30am
just a short insight for our magz maxpc. if you guys only review what other companies send you, then you will not live up by your name which is: MAXIMUM PC. I know this financial crisis hit us pretty hard, but a piece or two of hardware does not cost much compared to thousands who subscribe maxpc worldwide.
DOOMHAMMA
July 14, 2009 at 5:58pm
The Black Nickel (Dark Knight) variant preferably ;)
Throwing in the Corsair H50 against some of the other coolers would be appreciated too :)
kiaghi7
July 17, 2009 at 5:22pm
The H50 is actually a very good contender, able to go knuckle to knuckle with most others by virtue of how it works.
Depending upon which fans you would use in an alternative, it can be just as quiet in ambient, and cools VERY well. The downside for it is that it has (at least) two operating components, the impeller and the fan, and while a fan could be dialed down if you felt it too noisy for your application, the impeller is not so easily tamed. This isn't to say it's loud, it can compete with Scythe's famously quiet fan configurations, so please don't take it to mean that it's loud, but as always, do some research yourself to compare it to other things which you might know first hand are "X" loud, and thus you can base your decision from that.
The H50 also has the potential to mount dual fans if you're so inclined, and swapping the stock fan for a pair of higher end, lower decibel fans is almost a given.
As for the S1283, in all its variations, it is a VERY good cooler, easily contending with the very best right now for sheer cooling prowess. Whether you sport AMD or Intel, it can and will do the job admirably provided you install it wisely. My only complaint about the S1283's is that the stock fan at "wide open" (in the mid 2k RPM) can get into the high 40 to even 50 db range, and while not exactly like an airliner landing in your computer, it's possible it could draw attention that a PC case simply should not attract. That said, swapping out the one, for two superior fans is a very common solution and the db levels can be slashed while actually increasing performance in a push-pull toward your exhaust fan at the rear for just that much more efficiency.
kiaghi7
July 14, 2009 at 2:52pm
Still no reviews of heatsinks that aren't paid for by advertisers within the MaximumPC magazine...
Not even the slightes mention of Xigmatech, Scythe, Thermalright, or even Titan's recent entry which has made waves. Every single one of which not only completely crush Thermaltake's BigTyp 14 Pro, but utterly obliterate everything in the Zalman line up as well.
To date, only one of the heatsinks reviewed, the Coolermaster V8, can compete with the really good heatsinks on the market, and even in that instance, it's only on -some- AMD configurations under certain conditions that it's even able to "place".
MaximumPC, the heatsinks are available all over the place, all you need to do is pick one up, and test it along side another one and you'll be floored by what you thought was good and how much better the ones you aren't reviewing are.
I hereby suggest, and request, an all-out-heatsink-blow-out among at the very least half a dozen different top notch heatsinks. The very best of Zalman, Coolermaster, Thermaltake (the three paying you for "impartial" reviews), and then one from Xigmatech, Scythe, and Thermalright...
Let's just say the:
Xigmatech S1283
Scythe Infinity or Mugen (NOT Mugen II) with one, two, three, and four fan configurations.
Thermalright Ultra 120 both with one and two 120mm fans, Scythe recommended.
To give you a bit of perspective, if I was to be so inclined, I could setup a Scythe Orochi heatsink (the largest heatsink there is last I saw), with six (6) fans all 92mm and have something like 200cfm of AIR COOLING capacity, and it would be something like -HALF- the price of just the Coolermaster V10 monstrosity, that isn't worth the gunpowder to blow it to Valhalla! Granted, it would be a preposterously impractical setup for the vast majority of users, but to a power-user that would be so inclined to tune a CPU and get a high-end heatsink, it gives one pause to consider that disparity in price while the V10 on its best day isn't worthy to fetch the Orochi a cup of coffee.
I don't dislike Thermaltake, Zalman, nor Coolermaster, in fact I do appreciate much of their product line(s), however they should NOT be considered a high-water mark for ANY other competitor's product, because they are simply not even remotely close to leading the way either in effectiveness or quietness of their products, those being by far the most important criteria of a heatsink, followed by price of course :D
Let's have some honest discussion about what's out there and what's NOT being told to much of MaximumPC's reader-base. Many people are new to heatsinks, and have to learn at some time if they want to install their own, shouldn't it be MaximumPC's responsibility to tell them the whole truth, not just what their advertisers want the readers to hear?
nedwards
July 14, 2009 at 4:29pm
Thanks for your insights into other cooler manufacturers. Believe it or not, we do listen to our readers - we have tested Thermalright and Noctua coolers in the past two issues, and they both performed very well.
As to the accusation that we are being paid or in ANY WAY compensated for reviews or opinions on coolers by Zalman, Thermaltake, Cooler Master, or anybody else, that is simply not true. Maximum PC takes its editorial independence quite seriously, and has not, nor will ever give coverage or tint our reviews based on advertisement or any other consideration. We are wholly separate from the advertising department and neither they nor anybody else have any say in our editorial content or tone.
If our coverage in the past has leaned more heavily toward certain manufacturers, it is because they send us review samples more frequently, nothing more. Since I took over the cooler beat in October 2008 I have endeavored to include more manufacturers than have previously been covered in our pages, such as Thermalright and Noctua, and found - as you say - that there are more, and better, coolers out there. Going forward there will be more reviews of products from manufacturers such as Scythe and Xigmatech.
Again, thank you for your input, but your insinuations of advertiser-influenced coverage are simply false.
- Nathan Edwards
kiaghi7
July 14, 2009 at 5:08pm
Alright, I will grant you the benefit of the doubt, but in the last six months to a year, the consistency of Thermaltake, Zalman, and Coolermaster has been pretty homogeneous I'm confident any and all would agree.
Again, I am not against those manufacturers, but the excuse that "well those are the ones they send us" is somewhat fragile under inspection. Shouldn't the obvious question be posed
"well if that's what they are sending you, then -why- are they sending it to you?"
Because they want you to review it of course, and for better or worse, it is done yet never a wisper online or in print about more than one, perhaps two, alternatives, or even a true parallel to not only a top of the line, or market leader alternative.
For a comparison which is perfectly applicable, when comparing graphics cards, the magazine and staff admirably compare the subject of review to either something of comparable capability, or they compare competitors for "king of the mountain" with others already at or near the top themselves, thus you can actually see what is and is not up to par with the real competition.
With heatsinks, not only is the comparison myopic to only a very tiny pool of contenders, again one or maybe two, but on top of that the entire comparison is flawed by being derived from those at the mid to low end of the spectrum of the heatsink arena. Meanwhile the true heavyweights aren't even considered given a mention.
If an indepth "no holds barred" comparison across several manufacturers were done from simply the best of the best, or simply a "top 5 list" or something of compared results in rise over ambient as well as db recording it could not only shed a wider light on the information, but also demonstrate more indepth investigation.
For instance, a reigning champ at any given number ranking slot would retain it until knocked down by an ever better contender. Numerous sites already do this, and any ambitious upgrader would be wise to not only heed the advice across several sites but also weight them against eachother for pro's and con's to each one. As MaximumPC mentions as well, some heatsinks are rediculously large for most people's plans, and thus their performance would be trumped by their impracticality, but the top of the line coolers are rank-and-file of the same overall dimension as the Coolermaster V8 for instance, and routinely stomp it into the ground across countless tests, and as already mentioned on some AMD rigs in some setups it can also contend, but even then it's not exactly "taking names" when there are veterans in the same arena that are much cheaper, do the job better by default, and can even be enhanced to surpass the V8 by that much more.
Perhaps a future "how to" article on "the best heatsink for you" would do wonders to not only expand the dialogue of heatsinks in MaxPC and compare them for better and worse attributes so that the reader ends up informed on their decision more so than whether a new CPU heatsink is as good or better than an old stand-by heatsink reviewed previously, yet itself isn't exactly in contention for anything other than "priciest for meager performance".
mesiah
July 14, 2009 at 9:13pm
The "that is what they send us" argument is perfectly valid. The magazine or nathan himself does not go out to the store and buy up a bunch of coolers. Manufacturers send their product to be reviewed. Sometimes they request product from a manufacturer for review, but alot of times manufacturers will send product without being asked, and those products tend to get reviewed more. They do reviews of other manufacturers coolers, but not as often because the manufacturers arent as interested in sending their product out. Vary rarely do sites or magazines go out and purchase a product so they can review it, its just not cost effective. It's not limited to maximumpc, imagine if motortrend had to buy all those Ferraris and porsches they test. You would be paying $100 an issue to cover their costs >.>
kiaghi7
July 15, 2009 at 2:45pm
mmmm... That's hardly much comfort when discussing a disparity of literally dozens of thousands of times the difference. Add to that, there most certainly are numerous independent sources that do indeed acquire heatsinks (through whatever means) for review purposes precisely for the sake of comparison and in-depth analysis, so that not only is the demonstration valid, but so that it can be seen for what it is worth in contrast to other products on the market.
If a given manufacturer isn't pounding on your door to look at their latest, then perhaps a knock on theirs is in order... Sometimes you must go to the mountain.
bandeezee
July 14, 2009 at 4:26pm
I'm not sure if you subscribe to the magazine or not, but I think in this month's issue (or last month's) they reviewed the Thermalright Ultra-120 extreme. They also reviewed a Scythe (I think, but can't remember which one). If it helps, it was a similar design to the TRUE, but not as tall, it was wider though. I tried searching for the review on the website and couldn't find it.
Forgive me, but I'm somewhat pleased about that. I have no problem paying the small price they charge for their magazine, but it kind of irks me when I read the website and it has word for word the same articles (most of the time before I get my magazine). I do love having the magazine though, keep up the good work MPC.
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