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RDJD K701 SECC1 Cooler

Cooling became an issue a few years ago, somewhere around the start of the overclocking craze. But that's not the main reason why many of today’s PC’s run with several fans to keep them cool. In today’s techie world, everything is getting smaller and smaller, which is good. But did you also know that everything is also getting hotter and hotter? For example, let’s compare how many Watts were used in a CPU in 1988. It started playing around 1–4 and it’s now shot up to over 60 (Athlon 65Watts). That’s around 20 times more, and it’s still going up. As more and more transistors are crammed into smaller and smaller areas, and cycled on and off at higher speeds, more heat is produced.

High performance CMOS devices are pushing the limits of traditional forced air-cooling. More advanced cooling methods are needed. Semiconductor and computer system manufacturers must take steps now to prepare for greater thermal densities in the future for
Thermal Cooling. But we won’t be talking about this today. We will be reviewing the RDJD K701 cooler.

The competition

So how can a cooling company compete in today's world? it must offer one hell of a service, a good price and off course a high quality product. There are probably thousands of different coolers available on the market today. From Alphas to Lasagnas. But do they really offer what we need? For some of them it's off course a yes and the others a no. We can easly put the RDJD in that competition, it's approved by AMD for its top-speed Athlon 750 MHz processor. But read on the review.

Techie Info

The values typically used to express heat sink efficiency are "thermal resistance" and "pressure drop." Thermal resistance is expressed as the rise in temperature per watt (°C/W)-the lower the value, the higher the thermal performance. Pressure drop is the resistance to the air moving through the heat sink, expressed in units of mmH2O, and ideally should be as low as possible. For example, the heat dissipation requirements for a computer using a 30-watt CPU can be considered as follows. If the maximum operating temperature of this CPU is 75 °C, and the airflow in the case is 1.5m/s, and the temperature of the air is 45 °C, then a heat sink with thermal resistance of 1 °C/W or less is required. The reason for this is that in order to keep the CPU within its maximum operating temperature of 75 °C, the elevation of the CPU's temperature must be kept below 30 °C. To hold the temperature rise for 30W to within 30 °C, the heat must be dissipated using a heat sink with thermal resistance of 1 °C/W (30 °C / 30W) or less. While this offers a rough standard for choosing a heat sink, in reality other factors must be considered, including heat radiated to the heat sink from other parts, the amount of pressure drop, and the surface area of the heat source touching the heat sink.

Impressions


The cooler it self came in a big FEDEX box, just a few days after the order was placed, I expected it to be something else, but it was the little K701 compared to that huge box. It was wrapped in a bubbled plastic. I was really amazed of the weight, it's only 199 grams and its 99.9% aluminum made. Which I could say is pretty good, Aluminum is one of the best heat conductors and should definately do a great job on Centreal processing unit cooling. It reminded me of an Alpha cooler, in smaller size. I think it will perform quite well.

Specifications & Features

Approved by AMD for its top-speed Athlon 750 MHz processor.
Unique sink to socket clip for fast, easy attachment/detachment.
High performance thermal interface allows efficient heat transfer.
Folded fin design is lightweight (only 199 grams) and offers more consistent flatness and better contact than competing technology.
Priced significantly lower than competing designs while offering better cooling characteristics.
Fan Dimensions: 52mm x 52mm x 15mm Dual-Ball Bearing Rated
Fits on all SECC1 Central processing units (AMD K7 - P II)
Voltage: 12Vdc
Rated Amperage: 0.19 Amps
Rated Speed: 6000 RPM
Airflow: 17.5 CFM
Noise Level: 36 dBA

Installation

Installing the K701 isn't complicated, and can be done in less than 2 minutes. When you receive the package the cooler is already assembled. You will first need to remove your cpu out of your box, then remove your existing heatsink. As for the third step, if you have some thermal grease (goop) on the cpu, I highly recommend you to clean the surface for better results. After that has been done, you will need to mount the K701 on your SECC1 CPU. It has a really good mounting system, a much better thought out than other coolers use on the market. Anyhow, you will need to screw the 2 screws on the top to give some pression between the Central processing unit and the heatsink. As for the last step, insert the whole unit back and plug the fan. And you are done. That shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

Some Extra Shots (click to enlarge)


The numbers

I Decided to do a little comparision with the Alpha P125 Cooler, which is now considered as the top cooling solution for us overclockers. I used a PII 400MHz ( SL2S7) SECC1 Central processing unit running on a Asus P3B-F Motherboard.



Overclocking temperature results, ALPHA is leading by an average of 3 degrees celsius.



This chart is showing the motherboard temperature changes, as we can see the ALPHA is leading thanks to it's powerefull dual fans.

Conclusion

As we can see, the Alpha is still the winner, but the K701 isn't that far behind. I also noticed that the motherboard temperature drops by a nice 2-3c using the alpha's powerefull dual ball bearing fans. If we compare the prices, the alpha is almost 2 times more.The K701 is sold at 15$ and another 15$ for fast 2 days shipping (FEDEX), you could go for the other option that is a few bucks less but will take over 5 days. Also, Celery users, this product is not for you, It comes with a nice clip system for the SECC1, but no adapter for the celery. If not counting that, the K701 can be called a competitor, we can highly recommend it for it's low price and good performance. For more details check out RDJD's web site.

Oleg Mitskaniouk
oleg@targetpc.com
99/12/19
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