Introduction

Today we are going to test another low profile CPU cooler: Evercool HPK-10025EA, which has a horizontal heatsink, 100-mm fan and four copper heatpipes. Check its performance out in this review!

HPK-10025EA comes in a plastic blister package, as you can see in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Blister package.

Inside the package we found the cooler, installation hardware and a gray thermal compound tube. The installation manual is printed inside the package.

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Figure 2: Box contents.

In the next pages we will see the cooler in details.

Evercool HPK-10025EA

HGK-10025EA is a relatively small cooler, with a 100-mm fan and a horizontal heatsink. In Figure 3 we see it from a side view, which makes clear it is has low profile and there is pratically no space between the base and the heatsink. They, however, do not touch each other.

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Figure 3: Side view.

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Figure 4: Front view.

In Figure 5 we can see the other side of the cooler.

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Figure 5: Side view.

Evercool HPK-10025EA (Cont'd)

In Figure 6 we can have a better look on the heatpipes. Note the fan connector, which has three pins and thus with no PWM speed control.

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Figure 6: Rear view.

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Figure 7: Base.

Installation

In Figure 8 we can see the clips for Intel CPUs installed on the base of the cooler. Actually these clips come already installed and all you must do is to put the nuts in the correct position (inner holes for socket 775, outer holes for socket 1366) and stick the rubber washers to the nuts.

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Figure 8: Clips in place.

In Figure 9 we can se HPK-10025EA installed on our motherboard. Installation is very simple, you just need to put the cooler in place and fasten four screws on the solder side from the motherboard, also using the provided rubber washers. Obviously if your case does not grant access to the solder side from your motherboard, you will need to remove it from the case. It is a pity that this cooler does not come with a backplate in order to avoid the motherboard from bending.

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Figure 9: Installed on the motherboard.

In Figure 10 we can see the cooler inside our case. It is very small compared to most the coolers we tested recently, which means it can be installed inside SFF cases.

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Figure 10: Installed in our case.

How We Tested

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

First, we chose the CPU with the highest TDP (Thermal Design Power) we had available, a Core 2 Extreme QX6850, which has a 130 W TDP. The choice for a CPU with a high TDP is obvious. To measure the efficiency of the tested cooler, 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 with the "In-place Large FFTs" option, and three instances of the StressCPU program, all 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 have 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 from the SpeedFan program, using an arithmetic average of the four core temperature readings.

The 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 made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which is not the case here.

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: 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 (ST31000528AS, 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 required: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
• Case: 3RSystem K100
  

Software Configuration

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
  

Software Used

• Prime95
• StressCPU
• SpeedFan

Error Margin

We adopted a 2 ^oC error margin, i.e., temperature differences below 2 ^oC are considered irrelevant.

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 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 our idle tests.

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

 

Main Specifications

Evercool HPK-10025EA main features are:

• Application: Socket 1366 and 775 processors.
• Fins: Aluminum.
• Base: Aluminum, with heatpipes in direct contact with the CPU.
• Heat-pipes: Four 6-mm copper heat-pipes.
• Fan: 100 mm.
• Nominal fan speed: 1,800 rpm.
• Fan air flow: 62.11 cfm.
• Maximum power consumption: Not informed.
• Nominal noise level: 23 dBA.
• Weight: 11.3 oz (320 g).
• More information: http://www.evercool.com.tw
• Average price in the US*: USD 25.00

* Researched on www.newegg.com on the day this review was published.

Conclusions

At first Evercool HPK-10025EA did not impress us. It has a good construction quality but it resembles some basic low-performance heatpipe-based CPU coolers. The fact it comes in a plastic blister also helped to create a not-so-good first impression.

Its performance, however, was a pleasant surprise. Even though it did not perform as good as the best tower-shaped coolers we've reviewed so far, compared to small and low-profile coolers (which fit SFF cases) it performed very well.

If you consider it is not an expensive cooler, we have here a good option for the buyer looking for a good CPU cooler for use in an SFF case.

The greatest flaw in HPK-10025EA is its noise level, which sounds annoying in silent enviroments. Its fan has no PWM speed control pin and thus it works always at its maximum rotation, even with the CPU idle, when you do not need much airflow. So it is a good idea to connect it to a motherboard that controls the fan speed even with the fan has no PWM pin or to connect it to a fan controller, in order for you to find the best balance between performance and silence. Another problem is the fact it does not support socket 1156 nor AMD CPUs.

With a good performance for a slim cooler, low price and only one significant flaw, it deserves our Bronze Award. If you have an SFF case and you are looking for a high-performance cooler buying Evercool HPK-10025EA is a great deal.