Introduction

We tested Megahalems Rev. B, a CPU cooler from Prolimatech with a tower design, six copper heatpipes and room for one or two 120 mm fans. Its appearence is great, but let's see if its performance is great too.

Just like the Silverstone NT06-E we reviewed before, the Megahalems doesn't come with a fan, and you must buy it separately. So, when comparing this coolers cost with other options, don't forget to add the price of a good fan.

In our tests we used the Silverstone FM123 fan, the same used on NT06-E test. It is good to remember this cooler performance can vary depending on the fan you choose.

Megahalems box is made of cardboard with a plain look, with no transparent windows or any eye-catching detail.

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Figure 1: Box.

Inside the box we found the cooler, user manual, installation hardware and a tube of gray thermal compound.

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Figure 2: Box contents.

In the next few pages we will see the Megahalems Rev. B in detail.

Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B

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Figure 3: Front view.

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Figure 4: Side view.

In Figure 5 we can see the top side of Megahalems B. We can see cleary the gap between the heatsinks. The top fin is not made of aluminum, but of stainless steel (according to the manufacturer this material was used in order to keep the shiny aspect longer).

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Figure 5: Top view.

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Figure 6: Base.

Installation

Megahalems Rev. B comes with only one holding system, supporting Intel sockets 775, 1156 and 1366 CPUs. Actually, the main difference between the first version to the revision B is the support to 1156 socket, as the earlier version fits only sockets 775 and 1366.

In Figure 7 you can see the installation hardware, and all those parts must be used, which makes the installation a little complicated. Note the four metal wire clips on the bottom of the picture, which holds one or two fans, besides the cooler comes with no fan at all.

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Figure 7: Installation hardware.

Before installing the cooler itself, you must install a frame in the motherboard, made by the backplate, screws, nuts and two aluminum tabs that stay on the component side of the motherboard. In order to install this, you must remove the motherboard from the case, unless it grants access to the solder side of the motherboard. In Figure 8 you can see this frame installed.

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Figure 8: Frame installed on the motherboard.

In Figure 9 we can see the cooler attached to the frame. It was a hard task to put it on place, since a third aluminum bar over the cooler base holds the cooler, and this bar is attached to the motherboard bars with two screws. The problem was those two screws didn't easely pass through the holder holes, and the only way we menage to do this was usign brute force (a lot of brute force, actually).

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Figure 9: Installed on motherboard.

In Figure 10, we can see Megahalems B with the Silverstone FM123 fan on place. Keep in mind our results are based on this fan and, with another fan, you can get a different performance.

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Figure 10: Fan installed.

In Figure 11 we can see the cooler installed into the case. It is not the biggest cooler we have seen, but it is very tall. It did not interfered with any motherboard component, but the fan position can impossibilitate the use of a tall heatsink memory module on the first slot.

How We Tested

We are adopting the following methodology on our CPU cooler reviews.

First we chose the CPU with the highest TDP (Thermal Design Power) we could: a Core 2 Extreme QX6850, which has a 130 W TDP. The choice for a CPU with a high TDP is obvious: as we want to measure how efficient the tested cooler is, we need a processor that gets very hot. This CPU works by default at 3.0 GHz, but we overclocked it to 3.33 GHz, in order to heat it as much as possible.

We took noise and temperature measurements with the CPU idle and under full load. In order to achieve 100% CPU load on the four processing cores we ran Prime95 on the "In-place Large FFTs" option and three instances of StressCPU program, at the same time.

We also compared the reviewed cooler to the Intel stock cooler (with copper base), which comes with the processor we used, and also with some other coolers we tested using the same methodology.

Temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer, with the sensor touching the base of the cooler, and also with the core temperature reading (given by the CPU thermal sensor) from the program SpeedFan. For this measurement we used an arithmetic average of the four core temperature readings.

Sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed 4" (10 cm) from the fan. We turned off the video board cooler so it wouldn't interfere with the results, but this measurement is only for comparative purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be done inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, that we do not have.

Hardware Configuration

• Processor: Core 2 Extreme QX6850
• Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45-UD3L
• Memory: 2 GB Corsair XMS2 DHX TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX G (DDR2-800/PC2-6400 with timings 4-4-4-12), running at 800 MHz
• Hard drive: 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (ST3500320AS, SATA-300, 7200 rpm, 32 MB buffer)
• Video card: PNY Verto Geforce 9600 GT
• Video resolution: 1680x1050
• Video monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 2232BW Plus
• Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
• Case: 3RSystem K100
  

Software Configuration

• Windows XP Professional installed on FAT32 partition
• Service Pack 3
• Intel Inf driver version: 8.3.1.1009
• nVidia video driver version: 182.08

Used Software

• Prime95
• StressCPU
• SpeedFan

Error Margin

We adopted a 2 ^oC error margin, i.e. temperature differences below 2 ^oC are considered not relevant.

Our Tests

On the tables below you can see our results. We ran the same tests with the coolers shown on below tables. Each test was ran with the CPU idle and the with the CPU fully loaded. On BigTyp 14Pro, TMG IA1, NH-U12P and ISGC-300 the tests were done with the fan at full speed and at minimum speed. The other coolers were connected directly to the motherboard and it controls the fan speed based on CPU load level and temperature on PWM models. ISGC-400, iCEAGE Prima Boss and Megahalems Rev. B were tested at minimum speed on idle test and at maximum speed on full load test.

The next graph shows how many degrees Celsius the CPU core was hotter than room temperature during the tests, in idle.

The next graph gives you an idea on how many degrees Celsius the CPU core was hotter than room temperature during the tests, under full load.

 

Main Features

Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B main features are:

• Application: Sockets 1366, 1156 and 775 processors.
• Fins: Aluminum.
• Base: Copper.
• Heat-pipes: Six U-shape 6 mm copper heat-pipes.
• Fan: 120 mm (not included).
• Nominal fan speed: Not applicable.
• Fan air flow: Not applicable.
• Maximum power consumption: Not applicable.
• Nominal noise level: Not applicable.
• Weight: 1.75 Lbs (790 g).
• More information: http://www.prolimatech.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 65.00

Conclusions

Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B is an extreme performance cooler. Under our test conditions it performed better than all coolers we tested to date.

We must keep in mind that it does not come with a fan, and you must buy one. So, if you use a fan with lower airflow, the cooler can show lower performance. But taking into account that it performed greately even with the CPU idle (when the fan was on its lowest rotation speed), we can conclude it will probably show a great performance even with a slower (and quieter) fan. There is also the possibility to install two fans in order to maximize airflow.

One drawback on Megahalems Rev. B is its installation, very difficult. The part count is high and the installation procedure is complex, but the manual is clear and if you follow it step by step you will have no problems.

It looks nice and denotes quality, even though it is not too fancy or eye-catching.

The price is compatible with a high-performance cooler, but keep in mind it is not inexpensive and you must still pay for a good fan. But, performing like it did, it has the right to be expensive.

Due to its exceptional performance, Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B deserves the Hardware Secrets Golden Award seal.

Originally at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/868