Boxed.
Thermal paste is included, and thankfully, a thermal pad is not.
Nice look...
Lux Design Aerocool X-Factor HSF Review
Date : Sunday, 26 January
2003
By: Stygian
Provided By: Lux Design
Introduction
For the prospective heatsink/fan buyer, there are many choices nowadays. Almost all of them are claimed by their respective companies as providing superior cooling, but for some consumers, that is not enough. A good heatsink should combine performance with a relatively quiet noise level, ease-of-installation, and perhaps (lastly), good looks if one has a window in their case. A company that was new to me, Aerocool, had just begun to produce some nifty-looking heatsinks and when Olivier of Lux Design asked me if I wanted to review one, I could not pass up the chance. Today I'll be looking at the Aerocool X-Factor heatsink. It certainly looks good, with its aluminum-framed fan, but does it meet the mark in other more crucial areas, or fall short?
Specifications
The X-Factor is based on an extruded-fin design, with fins radiating outward from a center that encompasses a copper core, a design that has been featured on other heatsinks before. The heatsink is about regular size in terms of its footprint, but isn't tall, being only 28mm in height. This comes into effect later on as the implementation of the clip design further shortens the fins' effective height. The fan utilized is a 70mm square by 15mm thick unit. While the frame of it is made out of aluminum, the blades are still plastic and have merely had a metal finish applied to them. It flows a respectable 32cfm. For those of you wanting better performance, Aerocool sells a version of this heatsink with a larger 70mm square by 25mm thick fan that flows 44cfm, but, as you can expect, is much louder. This fan is not aluminum-framed.
Heatsink Specs
Fan Specs
This heatsink isn't heavy in comparison to other units, which an weigh near a pound without the fan. This is apparent when you pick up the box it's in. The thermal paste included is nothing to write home about, but it's better than putting a thermal pad on the bottom of the heatsink that you'll just end up having to carefully scrap off. The packaging of the heatsink is also not too protective, it seems, but the core of the heatsink is protected by a plastic sticker, ensuring that the contact surface is not scratched in any way during shipping. No instructions were provided, and while I doubt that many buying an aftermarket heatsink would need them, it would have been nice, nonetheless, to see them included.
| Boxed. |
Thermal paste is included, and thankfully, a thermal pad is not. |
Nice look... |
The fan has a standard 3-pin connector and draws power from a mobo header. It supports RPM monitoring, and MBM reported a reading of ~4300rpm from my Asus A7V133. This is normal as the fan is rated at 4000rpm. The fan is secured to the heatsink by four screws, and rubber washers separate the fan's frame from the heatsink. This will reduce the transmission of the fan's vibrations to the heatsink and subsequently, the rest of the case, reducing the noise. However, because the screws directly contact both the fan and the heatsink, they will transmit some vibrations. I found this fan to be slightly louder than a Panaflo 80mm 'H1A' unit, but not by much. It doesn't produce any high-pitched whines that I'm so disgusted by.
 Top view - the fan blades only look metallic. |
 The presence of the clip reducing fin size. |
 Washers provide spacing between the fan and heatsink. |
The top-down view highlights the relatively small footprint of this heatsink; you shouldn't have much trouble fitting this on your motherboard. In the next picture we see that there is a slot where the fins are cut down to allow for the clip to pass through. This reduces the fins' height quite a bit, reducing the overall surface area of the heatsink, which isn't a good thing. The reason for this is that the fins go in directions which aren't parallel to the direction of the clip. We'll see if this is detrimental to performance or not.
 Clip design is secure. |
 Fins extend from the "X" of the heatsink. |
 Copper base is fairly flat. |
The clip, thankfully, attaches to all six lugs on the socket for a secure fit. While the weight of the heatsink and fan doesn't necessitate the use of such a clip, the security of such a design is still a benefit. Looking at the bottom of the heatsink, we see where the X-Factor gets its name from: The solid aluminum cross from which the fins extend from at about a 90-degree angle. The design in which the fins extend from the centre of the heatsink has proven very effective in previous heatsinks I've tested, as it's of little use to have fins in the centre of the heatsink, where most fans have a deadspot. The copper base where the heatsink contacts the CPU was very flat IMO, and this finish was protected by the sticker applied to the heatsink for shipping/packaging.
Installation
As mentioned, no instructions were included but installation was fairly basic. The opposite side of the clip (the one that you slip on before applying pressure on the other side of the clip to get it into position) has a rubber block above it to keep it in position. The clip is not a one-piece design as both clips are hinged onto the spring, providing for some play/movement and allowing for easier installation. Once the one side of the clip was in place, a small flathead screwdriver had to be used to put the other side into place. Like all good clips, there was a bit of a recess in it to make sure the screwdriver head did not slip out of place during installation, potentially damaging your motherboard or other device. The amount of force necessary to get the clip into position was about average, as far as my experience with heatsinks goes, but the hinge made it a bit easier to get into position. Overall, installation was a bit easier than what I'd expected.
 Rubber block keeps clip in position. |
 Clips are hinged onto the spring. |
 AS-II was used for all heatsinks. |
With its relatively small footprint, there were no fitting problems with the X-Factor even in the somewhat tight spacing around the socket of my Asus A7V133 motherboard. Score two points for the X-Factor during installation: You'll come away knowing that this heatsink is securely mounted and feeling less-stressed because you didn't have to struggle to get it to fit properly.
 Plenty of room for the HSF. |
 Looks alright! |
Testing
The CPU that was used was an AMD T-Bird 1.2GHz@1.33GHz with a voltage of 1.80. All the heatsinks were installed with a thin layer of Arctic Silver II thermal paste over the CPU core. Temperature readings were taken from the Asus onboard thermister using MBM, and the CPU was put at 100% utilization with the distributed.net client crunching RC5-72 for 1 hour. The ambient temperature was within one degree of 22C during testing. Here are the results I obtained:
The X-Factor wasn't able to beat the AX-7 or the PAL8045, but those heatsinks were much larger and also more costly than the X-Factor. For its price, and looks, I don't think it can be beat!
Conclusion
I was somewhat sceptical about the X-Factor at first, as its small size compared with coolers I've reviewed as of late made me doubtful about its performance. Adding to that, its flashy appearance looked like a cover for middling performance. However, the excellent six-point hinged clip design, easy installation, and good performance, won me over. At a normal price of $44.95 CDN, it is not too expensive, and provides a level of cooling that will be more than enough for many people. However, if you want more from an air-cooled solution, you'll have to look elsewhere and probably spend more.
Pros
Cons
Lastly, I want to give a big thanks to Lux Design for supplying this heatsink for review. They have a whole line of Aerocool heatsinks available, including the X-Factor with a more powerful fan, all at good prices. Visit them if you're interested!