Baram is a big tower heatsink with all the requisite design elements to make it to the top: A huge number of large thin fins, 10 heatpipes spread nice and even, and staggered fins to minimize win resistance. Can this newcomer take on the established big boys?
December 10, 2008 by Mike Chin
Product | Baram LGA775/K8/S478 CPU Cooler |
Manufacturer | Thermolab |
MSRP | US$52 |
Applying the lessons from your predecessors is considered sagely advice the world over. It’s how human beings naturally work and improve. In some ways, the patent is an artificial and unhelpful wrench in the natural development process of the species. Competition is as much about working together to achieve higher goals as it is about beating out the rest. The computer industry, despite the endless roster of patents it has registered, is rife with copies of copies of copies. This is perfectly normal in any human sphere. A “new” obviously derivative tech product is praised when it performs well. It’s only when a derivative product fails to perform well that you hear snarly snickers from reviewers and forum surfers.
The Thermolab Baram is a perfect example of a derivative product. It is a new combination of many ideas and practices that have been used in some of the best CPU coolers over the last few years. Is it original? No. Will anyone care? Only if it doesn’t work well. Or only by the companies who think Thermolab has managed to transgress one of their patents. Does it work well? That’s what you’re here to find out, isn’t it?
Thermolab is a relatively new Korean company. The about / history page of the company web site identifies March 2004 as its inception. It has been involved in IT thermal management products since then. Its first retail products were released in March of this year, a couple of low profile CPU coolers for small cases. We received samples of the Thermolab Nano Silencer and Micro Silencer, but chose not to review them because they did not fit on out test motherboard. We expect that fit is an issue with these coolers on many motherboards… but perhaps not the smallest, latest ones. Admittedly, our test motherboard is a couple of years old; we keep using it for consistency in our test results.
The Baram is a much more ambitious product. The name itself is the Korean word for “wind”. Thermolab says it is “for a cooling mania (sic) who is expecting to have a supreme cooling performance.”
The Baram bears strong resemblance to both Thermalright and Scythe coolers. |
This is the point in most of our reviews where we insert a table showing the Feature Highlights and our (occasionally snide) Comments about those highlights. This time, we can’t do it. Thermolab’s marketing has not reached typical PC industry levels of verbosity, and the features are summed up in just four lines and four illustrations. We should enjoy the relative silence while it lasts. Here, then, is Thermolab’s description of the Baram’s strengths:
The emphasis is on the staggered, interleaved design of the fins and heatpipes to maximize even distribution of heat and airflow through the structure. It all looks good at face value, and it will make more sense as the details are examined more closely.
Thermolab Baram Specifications (from the product web page) | |
Name | Baram |
Dimensions | 67 × 132 × 160 mm (LxWxH) |
Weight | 625 grams |
Material | Pure Copper, Aluminum |
Dissipation Area | 7,580 cm² |
The spec for Dissipation Area is a good one that another Korean heatsink company, Zalman, likes to use. It’s interesting to note that the biggest cooler in Zalman’s range, the CNPS9700, is reported to have a dissipation area of 5,490 cm².
PHYSICAL DETAILS
This view shows the edges of the fins. They are staggered, apparently to reduce airflow resistance. The pattern is repeated around all the edges.
The Baram looks about the same size and shape as the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme on the left, and fairly close to the Thermalright HR01 on the right…
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MOUNTING HARDWARE
The most critical aspect of heatsink installation is secure, tight mounting. The more firmly and securely it is installed, the
better the contact between the heatsink’s base and the CPU itself. Ease of installation is also very important — a simple
mounting scheme means less time spent installing, and reduced likelihood
of user error.
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The socket 775 mounting arrangement shown above does not use spring loaded bolts, unlike most bolt-through systems. There are two arms which are secured with two screws each. The screws have heads that don’t sit flush, but they sit outside the CPU/base interface, so although it looks bad, it is functional. The system looks reasonably straightforward until you try to actually do the installation. It turns out to be a terribly awkward, inconvenient and probably unsafe system. It’s a bit complex so we’ll explain later when we install the thing on our heatsink testing platform board.
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The mounting arms for AM2 secure to the base in only one way, as shown in the photo above. The arrangement is convenient: The screws can be accessed from the top with a screwdriver without any interference from the heatsink itself. It is probably possible to mount with the motherboard already in place, as the nut inserts have the same thread as those used in the standard AM2 retention bracket and plate.
Unfortunately, the arrangement means that on most motherboards, the wide side of the heatsink will be perpendicular to the plane of the back I/O panel. With most AM2 motherboards, this means that a fan mounted on the Baram would point up at the power supply intake area in most tower-style cases. That can have a negative impact on PSU temperature as the heat from the CPU gets blown into it; this, in turn, will tend to push up the speed of the PSU fan, which is invariably thermally controlled, thus raising the overall noise level of the system. In a nutshell, for a tower heatsink, the inability to be mounted with its fan aimed not at the PSU intake but the back panel exhaust fan is a design weakness. It doesn’t change the cooling performance of the heatsink, per se, but it can affect overall system cooling and noise.
This problem does not arise in socket 775 boards because the mounting pattern of the screws/bolts used is square, symmetrical. Most socket 775 heatsinks can be rotated so that the fan faces the back panel of the case.
THE PAIN OF SOCKET 775 INSTALLATION
Installation of the Baram on a LGA775 motherboard is very difficult, even with the motherboard complete loose on a work bench. Here is why:
- The screws go in through the backplate from the underside of the board.
- The backplate does not have nubs which insert into the holes in the motherboard.
- The threaded shafts into which the screws attach do not reach the surface of the motherboard. This is necessary, because the mounting arms have to bend in order to apply pressure on the CPU/base interface.
- Thermal interface material has to be applied while you’re aligning the backplate, motherboard and heatsink so that a screw can be threaded and secured with a screwdriver through the three pieces.
- The three main elements — backplate, motherboard and heatsink — don’t interlock in any way, and with TIM in place, the heatsink and motherboard tend to slide around.
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It may be difficult to picture all this. We did not get any photos of the installation process because it required all four hands of two people working together while cursing and straining to accomplish. In the end we were just plain relieved the motherboard still booted. The potential risk of damage to the board was high, especially when you consider the frustration that mounts during the process.
Thermolab’s instructions suggests putting the heatsink upside down and the motherboard atop it during installation, but our advice is simpler: DO NOT TRY TO INSTALL THIS HEATSINK ALONE! TIP: A screwdriver with a magnetic tip that fits snugly into the screw head is an absolute necessity. Mounting the fan with the wire clips was an absolute breeze in comparison.
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TESTING
Some basic physical measurements have been
added to our test routine.
Thermolab Baram: Physical Measurements | |
Weight | 625g (heatsink alone) 650g (including mounting hardware) 780g (including mounting hardware and reference Nexus fan) |
Fin thickness | 0.44 mm |
Fin spacing | 2.52 mm |
Vertical Clearance | 52 mm (measured from the PCB surface) |
Horizontal Overhang | 8 mm (measured from the edge of the heatsink to the top edge of our test motherboard’s PCB) |
Comparison: Fin Thickness & Spacing | ||
Heatsink | Fin Thickness | Fin Spacing |
Scythe Ninja | 0.31 mm | 3.95 mm |
Scythe Ninja 2 | 0.39 mm | 3.68 mm |
Thermalright HR-01 Plus | 0.45 mm | 3.15 mm |
Noctua NH-U12P | 0.44 mm | 2.63 mm |
Thermolab Baram | 0.44 mm | 2.52 mm |
Noctua NH-C12P | 0.47 mm | 2.54 mm |
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 | 0.33 mm | 1.96 mm |
Zerotherm Zen FZ120 | 0.37 mm | 1.80 mm |
Thermalright Ultra-120 | 0.45 mm | 1.42 mm |
Testing was done according to our
unique heatsink testing methodology, and the reference fan was profiled
using our standard fan testing
methodology. This is the first time the Nexus 120mm fan has been measured for SPL in the anechoic chamber. The numbers are lower than obtained before; the actual fan noise hasn’t changed. A quick summary of the components, tools, and procedures
follows below.
Key Components in Heatsink Test Platform:
- Intel
Pentium D 950 Presler core. TDP of 130W; under our test load, it measures
78W including efficiency losses in the VRMs. - ASUS
P5LD2-VM motherboard. A basic microATX board with integrated graphics
and plenty of room around the CPU socket. - Samsung MP0402H
40GB 2.5″ notebook drive - 1
GB stick of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 memory. - FSP Zen 300W
fanless power supply. - Arctic Silver
Lumière: Special fast-curing thermal interface material, designed
specifically for test labs. - Nexus 120 fan (part of our standard testing methodology; used when
possible with heatsinks that fit 120x25mm fans)
Nexus 120 fan measurements in anechoic chamber | ||
Voltage | Noise | RPM |
12V | 16 dBA@1m | 1100 RPM |
9V | 13 dBA@1m | 890 RPM |
7V | 12 dBA@1m | 720 RPM |
5V | 11 dBA@1m | 530 RPM |
Measurement and Analysis Tools
- Seasonic
Power Angel for measuring AC power at the wall to ensure that the
heat output remains consistent. - Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate
the fan speed during the test. - PC-based spectrum analyzer:
SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digital
audio interfaces. - Anechoic chamber
with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower - Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our
standard fan testing methodology. - SpeedFan
4.32, used to monitor the on-chip thermal sensor. This sensor is not
calibrated, so results are not universally applicable. - CPUBurn
P6, used to stress the CPU heavily, generating more heat than most
real applications. Two instances are used to ensure that both cores are stressed. - Throttlewatch
2.01, used to monitor the throttling feature of the CPU to determine
when overheating occurs.
Load testing was accomplished using CPUBurn to stress the processor, and the
graph function in SpeedFan was used to make sure that the load temperature was
stable for at least ten minutes. The stock fan was tested at various voltages
to represent a good cross-section of its airflow and noise performance.
TEST RESULTS
Cooling Results
The Thermolab Baram is a very good performer. Thermal rise was 18°C
above ambient at 12V, and 25°C at 5V. This is a very narrow temperature spread. The Baram is quite good with limited airflow and it may work well enough as a passive CPU cooler. The Nexus fan is generally inaudible at 9V or lower unless
the ambient noise level (and the rest of your computer) is extremely low.
Thermolab Baram w/ reference Nexus 120mm fan | ||||
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Fan Voltage | SPL @1m | Temp | °C Rise | °C/W |
12V | 16 dBA | 39°C | 18 | 0.22 |
9V | 13 dBA | 41°C | 20 | 0.23 |
7V | 12 dBA | 43°C | 22 | 0.26 |
5V | 11 dBA | 46°C | 25 | 0.29 |
Load Temp: CPUBurn for ~10 mins. °C Rise: Temperature rise above ambient (21°C) at load. °C/W: based on the heat dissipated by the CPU (measured 78W); lower is better. |
Compared to many other tower coolers reviewed recently, the Baram doesn’t quite make the top ranks. The latest top performers clearly best the Baram, but the differences are relatively modest unless you’re running a CPU that draw a lot more power than the 78W measured on our Pentium D950. Remember that the vast majority of current CPUs are rated for 65W TDP or lower. In actual use, none of these will generate anywhere near the heat of our test CPU. Any of the heatsink models listed will provide perfectly good cooling with an effectively inaudible fan.
°C rise Comparison: Thermolab Baram vs. Competitors | ||||
Heatsink | Nexus 120 fan voltage / SPL @1m | |||
12V | 9V | 7V | 5V | |
16 dBA | 13 dBA | 12 dBA | 11 dBA | |
Thermolab Baram | 18 | 20 | 22 | 25 |
Scythe Ninja 2 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 23 |
Thermalright U120E | 12 | 14 | 17 | 24 |
Thermalright HR-01+ | 13 | 15 | 16 | 20 |
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 22 |
Noctua NH-U12P | 14 | 16 | 17 | 21 |
All results generated with our reference Nexus 120mm fan. |
As with any cooler supplied without a fan, both cooling performance and acoustics are strongly affected by your choice of fan and the speed at which it is run. With a fan like our reference, it will be optimized for super low noise. The Baram can probably achieve much better cooling performance with a more powerful fan, but at higher noise levels. A second 120mm fan in a push/pull mode could also improve the cooling performance, again at the cost of higher noise. Other tech review sites will probably explore the performance of the Baram with a higher speed fan and with two fans; we have no interest in running any fan noisier than our reference at 12V.
For your reference, here are the latest acoustics measurements and recordings of our reference 120mm fan, from our anechoic chamber. The recordings was made with a high
resolution, lab quality, digital recording system inside SPCR’s
own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to LAME 128kbps
encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no audible degradation
from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent a quick snapshot of
what we heard during the review.
The recording is intended to give you an idea of how the product sounds
in actual use — one meter is a reasonable typical distance between a computer
or computer component and your ear. The recording contains stretches of ambient
noise that you can use to judge the relative loudness of the subject. Be aware
that very quiet subjects may not be audible — if we couldn’t hear it from
one meter, chances are we couldn’t record it either!
The recording starts with 10 second segments of room ambient, then the fan
at various levels. For the most realistic results, set the volume so that
the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then don’t change the volume
setting again.
- Nexus
120mm Real Silent Case fan at one meter
— 5V (11 dBA@1m)
— 7V (12 dBA@1m)
— 9V (13 dBA@1m)
— 12V (16 dBA@1m)
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Thermolab Baram provides very good low noise cooling performance with a quiet 120mm fan, but it does not make the top ranks of tower coolers. It is a bit surprising that better performance was not achieved, given the large area of the fins, and the high integrity of the overall build. However, the results speak for themselves: Against the short list of high performance tower coolers that accommodate standard size 120mm fans, the Baram falls in last place. The spread is not that big, with only 4°C separating it from the top performer, with the reference fan at full or minimum speed. And it is being compared to very good company, the very best coolers for low airflow performance we’ve tested in the past year or so.
Where the Baram falls really short is in the mounting arrangements. The Socket 775 mounting hardware and procedure is flat out bad. It’s true that once completed, the heatsink is securely in place, but the process is painfully awkward. The AM2 socket mounting is obviously easier, but the inflexibility of fan direction is another negative. Like Scythe with the Ninja 2, Thermolab needs to go back to the drawing board. There are many good mounting systems to imitate, and some of the best are right on our short list of tower coolers. Makers of DIY aftermarket coolers really have to remember a simple fact: Their customers are mostly buying their products for fun, as a hobby, for personal interest. Getting challenged with poorly thought-out assembly kits is not most people’s idea of fun.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US$52 seems steep, especially when compared to the prices of some of the competition. Thermolab does not appear to have resellers in North America at this point, however, so the MSP may be moot. That being the case, we sincerely hope Thermolab reworks its mounting hardware for the Baram so that by the time resellers are set up, it comes with better hardware. It is possible that a better mounting system might also result in better cooling performance.
Thermolab Baram | |
PROS * Very good performance | CONS * Poor mounting system * High MSP |
Our thanks to Thermolab for the heatsink sample.
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Articles of Related Interest
Zalman 9300AT: Not me too, but me again
Noctua
NH-U12P Tower Cooler
Zerotherm
Zen FZ120 CPU Cooler
Noctua
NH-C12P: A Top-Down Cooler Rises Up
Thermalright
HR-01 Plus: 2nd Gen Killer Tower Cooler
Scythe Ninja 2: Tweaking a Classic
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