Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 Cooler Review

Last month we looked at the Xigmatek MidGard II chassis and today we are featuring another product from Xigmatek, the Venus XP-SD1266 CPU Cooler. The Venus XP-SD1266 has a nickel coated copper base and features six 6mm heatpipes to draw heat away from the processor. This tower style cooler relies on a single 120mm fan to move the air through the aluminum fins. The fan that XIGMATEK have chosen for the Venus XP-SD1266 has a CFM rating of 90.3 CFM when operating at full speed. XIGMATEK key management staff have many years experience in Thermal industry, PC, manufacturing and other applications. Lets get started by looking at the key features and specifications of this new cooler. Features: Soldered Heat pipes to nickel plated Heatsink base and fins Special drop high design to minimize airflow resistance Tower side flow design, efficient and optimal cooling performance Anti-vibration rubbers prevent vibration and absorb noise PUSH / PULL option with 12cm fans Specifications: Product Name Venus XP-SD1266 Product Number CAC-SXFH6-U01 Dimension 135(W) x 60(D) x 159(H) mm Heat Sink Base Material Copper (Soldering) Fin Material Aluminum Alloy Heat-pipe SPEC Φ6mm Q´ty 6pcs. Fan Dimension 120(W) x 120(H) x 25(D) mm Voltage Rating 12V Starting Voltage 9V Speed 1000~1800 R.P.M. Bearing Type Copper Axis with Long Life Sleeve Air Flow 90.3 CFM (Max.) Air Pressure 2.3 mmH2O (Max.) Life Expectance 50,000 hrs Noise Level 26dBA (Max.) Available Color 4 white LED 4 pin with PWM 1 pcs. Weight 780g (w/o fan) Thermal Resistance 0.14 °C/W . The Venus XP-SD1266 is packaged in a thin cardboard outer shell that displays the cooler on the front of the package. There are also two small images in the lower right hand corner of that box indicating that the cooler is ready for the latest AMD Fusion based systems as well as Intel's socket LGA2011 CPU's. When looking at the opposite side of the packaging there is a pictorial display of features offered by the XP-SD1266. The 2 opposite ends of the package provide a full list of specifications on one and a continuance of the features on the other. The hardware kit consists of two sets of mounting brackets. One set is designed for AMD systems while the other set deals with Intel configurations. There are two sets of rubber fan mounts in case you want to add an additional fan. There is also a small pouch of thermal paste and the required posts, screws and washers to complete the installation. The Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 is a tower designed heatsink. It features a nickel coated copper base and 6 nickel coated 6mm heatpipes. Looking at the XP-SD1266 side on allows us to view the large groove that Xigmatek has had removed from the aluminum fins. This groove is designed to accommodate the rubber fan mounts that support the fan used on the cooler. The top of the cooler displays the Xigmatek logo. This has been cut out of the entire stack of aluminum fins. I doubt it has any type of positive impact on cooling results but it looks nice. Here we get a different angled view of the groove that has been cut for the fan mounts. This groove restricts the ability to use certain fans that are not attached by their rubber mounts. From this angle we also get a close look at the 6 heatpipes as they pass through the nickel coated copper base of the heatsink. Unlike some coolers we have looked at that feature direct touch heatpipes, the Venus XP-SD1266 has a solid base that makes contact with the processor. The installation of the Venus Xp-SD1266 is a relatively easy process. We have to position the included black plastic backplate and then attach the the 4 threaded posts with washers to prevent any shorting issues. Once the 4 posts are screwed into the backplate we then position the 2 AMD mounting brackets in place and secure them using the 4 provided threaded nuts. After securing the mounting brackets we use the flat retention bar with the XIGMATEK insignia on it. There are 2 holes drilled in the retention bar that sits over the base of the cooler. When we lower the cooler in place the holes line up with the 2 threaded posts on the AMD mounting hardware. Once the cooler is in place, we secure it by screwing the 2 appropriate silver colored nuts to the 2 posts on the mounting brackets. One thing worth mentioning is that the mounting hardware limits the orientation of the cooler. The bracket is designed so that the fan blows towards the rear of the chassis rather than out of the top of the chassis. Because of this orientation, certain motherboards may lose the ability to use all available ram slots. Xigmatek have supplied rubber mounts to attach the fan to the cooler. The mounts have a slit cut in them that fits over the edge of an aluminum fin. The mounts also have a thick rubber post on one end that fits into the groove cut out of the fins. Installing the rubber mounts the first time was frustrating due to a lack of instructions, but after taking the time to study them they we not very difficult to install. The mounts will help to absorb vibrations and they seem to support the fan quite well. Today we are going to test the Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 with the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition CPU. We recently tested another cooler of similar dimensions from Akasa which we will use as a comparison during testing. Each cooler tested today will only use a single fan to keep things on a level playing field. We like to try and mirror ‘realistic’ conditions when possible, so instead of the ‘open bench concept’, we are mounting our test system inside the Enermax Fulmo GT Full Tower. Room ambient temperatures were maintained at a steady 20c throughout testing. AMD System: Processor: AMD PII X6 1090T Black Edition Coolers: Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266, Akasa Venom Voodoo (1 fan) Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 Thermal Paste: Arctic MX-4 Power Supply: SilverStone Strider Plus 850W Chassis: Enermax Fulmo GT Memory: 8GB Avexir DDR3 1600 Graphics Card: HIS HD 5570 There are several different applications available that will load a processor to the limit while running through a series of complicated calculations. For today’s testing we are going to use the latest version of Prime 95. Prime95 is a popular freeware application that can be used to stress test the CPU. Validation Link At stock speeds the Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 does a fine job keeping the 1090T well below 50c. With the fan running at full speed on both units the Xigmatek cooler remained 2c cooler then the Venom Voodoo with Prime 95 running. Even at 4.0 GHz the Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 kept our 1090T at 56 degrees Celsius while running Prime 95. The Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 beat the Venom Voodoo by 5c, which is a significant margin. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground with our Type 2 digital sound level meter to mirror a real world situation. Our system was left at stock speeds, running at 3.2ghz. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum With the fan running at half speed the Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 provides good cooling at stock speeds and a noise level that is very easy to tolerate. Once the fan is operating at full speed it gets considerably louder, registering over 40 dBA on our Type 2 Digital Sound Level Meter. Our time spent with the Xigmatek Venus XP-SD1266 proved to be a mainly positive experience, although there is room for improvement. The new cooler from Xigmatek performs quite well with the single 120mm fan that it ships with. Installation of the Venus XP-SD1266 was straight forward and only takes a few minutes to complete. The hardest part was figuring out the correct procedure for installing the rubber fan mounts. We have tested coolers in the past with dual fans that didn't perform as well as the Venus XP SD1266, so Xigmatek deserve some credit for their work during the development phase. One issue we had with the Venus XP-SD1266 was the orientation of the cooler. Our preference is to have the heat produced by the processor exhausted out the top of the chassis, but as we mentioned earlier, the mounting hardware for AMD configurations forced us to have the fan directed towards the rear of the chassis. The performance of the cooler isn't in question however as it performed well during stress testing as indicated earlier in the review. We can't indicate a value for money rating as we can't find this cooler anywhere in the United Kingdom. Xigmatek really need to look into this if they wish to target a wider enthusiast audience. Pros: high quality construction. easy installation. good performance even with only 1 fan. Cons: orientation limited to rear exhaust. fan is noisy at full speed. hard to find online. Kitguru says: A good cooler which faces stiff competition and availability problems.