Supplied by titan

One look through the Titan website and one fact stands out. Titan produces quiet cooling solutions for both AMD and Intel processors with not one heatsink generating over 33 dB(A). The Titan TTC-CU5TB may look "cool" but looks can be deceiving.

Specifications:

External appearance	Length : 72 mm
	Width : 72 mm
	High : 59.2 mm
	Copper color
Fan	Dimensions : 70 x 70 x 15 mm
	Rated Voltage : 12 V DC
	Rated Current : 0.27 A
	Power Consumption : 3.24 W
	Rated Speed : 4,500 RPM
	Max Air Flow : 36.31 CFM
	Max Static Pressure : 5.26 mm-H2O
	Noise Level : < 32 dBA
	Tolerance : ¡Ó 10 %
	Bearing Type : Ball Bearing
	Life Time : 50,000 Hours
Housing	3 Wires, 3 Pin Connector
Interface	Silver Thermal Grease

• Pure Copper CPU cooler AMD Duron / Thunderbird (Socket A / 462) up to 1.4 GHz, Athlon XP 2800+
• The part of the fan frame's materials is Aluminum
• Copper Heatsink & Copper clip with Aluminum frame
• Heat sink dimensions : 72 x 72 x 38 mm
• Total dimensions : 72 x 72 x 59.2 mm

The Heatsink

The Titan TTC-CU5TB is a copper CPU cooler and features a narrow footprint.

The 3-socket ear clip design lessens the stress on the motherboard socket.

It is a two piece clip and it may be, as with most heatsink clips, a bit awkward to mount if the motherboard is already in place inside the PC case. The best route is to mount the heatsink before installing the motherboard. This gives the most working room but if need be the Titan TTC-CU5TB installs relatively easily.

Depending on the motherboard it is the capacitors which present most problems to heatsink installation and not the heatsink itself.

The deception

The deception is the false covering on the heatsink base.

It would be presumptuous to assume that the sticker peels off revealing the customary "pink goop" thermal paste. You couldn't be more wrong. Take a closer look.

The heatsink base is covered with a protective covering layer which peels off revealing an absolutely mirror finish.

The Titan TTC-CU5TB is extremely well finished. The distortion effect is only the reflection of the curtains on the wall.

Titan also includes a tube of their silver grease.

Once the protective covering is peeled off be cautious in handling the heatsink to avoid your "grubby little fingerprints" and causing any unnecessary scratches.

The 24 fins are protected by the fan mount housing. It appears as though there is a pipe running through the fins but in actuality it is the fins which have been punched and then fit together. The pun acts like a spacer and thus forms the illusion of a pipe.

Finally the fan itself is a 70x70x15mm. Titan Aluminum Frame fan that generates 36.31 CFM at less than 32 dB(A) with a rotational speed of 4,500 RPM.

Note that only the frame is aluminum and the blades and core are plastic as well as the motor mount. Airflow direction is INTO the heatsink in its stock configuration.

Titan was good enough to send TWO Titan TTC-CU5TB heatsinks so that Short-Media could torture them on a dual AMD 2100+ MP Gigabyte 7DPXDW-P board. Dual processor systems run notoriously hotter than their single processor counterparts and due to that more effective cooling is needed.

Twice the coolers also means twice the noise therefore less than 32 dB(A) is welcome.

The competition was my trusted companion throughout every system I've built; the Globalwin WBK38. This workhorse aluminum cooler was modified to carry a 92mm. Sanyo Denki fan pushing a massive 50 CFM at only 36 dB(A).

The GlobalWin CAK4-76T has a built-in temperature sensor to speed regulate the 70 x 70 x 15 mm fan. At 30 degrees Celsius the minimum airflow is 23.1 CFM at 24.7 dBA and at 38 degrees Celsius the maximum airflow is 36 CFM at 35 dBA.

The CAK4-76T is very similar in design and fan specifications pumping out the same 36 CFM at 35 dB(A) which is only 3 dB(A) greater.

Let's get an orientation of the system. The top right or upper processor is CPU A and the bottom right or lower processor is CPU B. It's very important to keep track of this and here's why. CPU B sits directly above the Matrox Parhelia 512 video card which deflects some airflow and, most importantly, generates a lot of heat. (You'll singe your fingers on the memory chips...really)

That heat from the video goes straight up into CPU B creating higher temperature readings than CPU A.

The test system and benchmarks

• 2 x AMD 2100+ MP Palomino Processors
• Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ Motherboard (version P)
• 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 7200 RPM HDD
• 1 x 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 7200 RPM HDD
• Matrox Parhelia 512 video card
• 2 x 512 MB Micron PC2100 RAM (AT7)
• 4 x 256 Crucial Reg ECC
• Sony 52x CD
• LG 48x24x40x CDRW
• 2 x Samsung 950p 19" Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
• AMK PC75 modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional SP1

The system was allowed to idle for 1/2 hour before and after tests to establish a nominal case temperature. All fans were disengaged except for the PSU fan and heatsink fans. Ambient room temperature was 23.2 degrees Celsius.

It is very important to remember that these are MP processors which run considerably warmer than XP processors. Temperature readings in your own system will vary due to room temperature, processor used and if additional case fans are employed.

The tests were conducted with the stock heatsink configurations and then with an 80mm. Titan Aluminum frame fan on the Titan TTC-CU5TB heatsinks. The 82x82x25mm. Titan aluminum frame fans generate 38.22 CFM at less than 29 dB(A). The reason for this modification will be explained.

Sisoft Sandra 2002 CPU burn ran 50 consecutive times for CPU Arithmetic and Multimedia tests to attain a peak load temperature.

Conclusion

A few things can be determined by looking at the graphs. The overspill of air from the 92mm. fan on the WBK38 creates a superior cooling effect on system board temperatures. Moving to a larger and higher CFM fan does not create superior cooling though it does reduce overall noise level. This is due to the 82mm. fan overlapping the heatsink opening to the fins thus some airflow is blocked and cooling efficiency is lost.

The Globalwin CAK4 and Titan TTC-CU5TB are fairly evenly matched heatsinks for specifications. Both have 70x70x15mm. fans that generate the same CFM but one might think that the CAK4-76T would be louder due to the fact that it runs at 35 dBA when the Titan runs at less than 32 dB(A).

The amount of sound coming from the CAK4-76T may be greater but the pitch of the Titan TTC-CU5TB was higher thus making the Titan heatsink more intrusive on the ears. Quite simply it gave the illusion that it was louder even though the strength of the noise level was less for dB(A) rating.

Dual processor systems are quite finicky for heatsinks and the processor nearest the video card will always be a few degrees warmer due to the video card generating heat and blocking some airflow. This was quite apparent in the tests.

Aesthetically the Titan TTC-CU5TB looks great in a Lian Li case. The aluminum frame fan with the faux aluminum blades matches well and reflects lighting magnificently.

Sadly I did expect a less than 32 dB(A) fan to be quieter. The look of the Titan TTC-CU5TB is most certainly pleasing in an aluminum case. Overclockers will want to avoid the Titan TTC-CU5TB as it doesn't have the ability to handle high loads.

As a final note when additional case cooling was employed via two rear exhausts, two front intakes and a side intake the idle temperatures dropped to 50 degrees Celsius for CPU A and 55 degrees Celsius for CPU B. This is an important point to remember when cooling today's processors.

 

Our thanks to Titan for supplying the Titan TTC-CU5TB samples.