There I was. Standing there in nothing but my underwear. She comes in with a roll of bubble wrap and a box set of the new season of Scrubs. This has nothing to do with this review, I am just really cool like that and my fantasies are awesome.
Speaking of cool. It’s time for yet another review on the long…. long line of heatsink/fan combos that are gracing the store shelves these days. Today’s victim, er, subject is the Rosewill RCX-Z4.
Now, I know what you’re all thinking. Who the hell is Rosewill and why should we care? The answer to both of those questions is this; I don’t know. Before I received my latest shipment of reviewee’s I had never heard of Rosewill. All I know is that they make one strange looking heatsink that in my opinion doesn’t look like it would do much at all. But my opinion only matters at the end of reviews and in horseshoes.
Here’s what I found out about Rosewill. They are a relatively new company looking to make a name for themselves. They currently sell over one hundred products through various online stores such as the big kahuna Newegg.com and Cheifvalue.com, and their popularity is growing.
A few years ago they made a market attempt with ATI based video cards, but that soon fizzled out and apparently got scraped in favor of heatsinks. And rumor has it they are expanding into the NAS server market also. These guys are really going for it, aren’t they?
As I said earlier, todays test subject is the Rosewill RCX-Z4. It’s a freakish sort of heatsink, kind of reminds me of something out of an H.P. Lovecraft short, and without a doubt looks like it would take up a lot of space and possibly block access to several things. This very well could be my first pain in the ass since prison. Here are the specs on the Z4:
- 120mm adjustable speed fan
- Cooler dimensions: 122 x 160 x 114.5mm
- Rated voltage: 12.0v DC
- Started voltage: 5.5v DC
- Power Input: Max 2.16 W
- Input current: Max 0.18 A
- Fan Speed: 1,000 – 2,000 RPM
- Fan Airflow: 32.2 – 67.5 CFM
- Fan Air Pressure: 0.6 – 3.2 mm H2O
- Noise Level: 15 – 29.8 dB(A)
- Bearing Type: Two Ball Bearing
- Designed for AMD Socket 754, 939, 940, & AM2
- Designed for INTEL Socket LGA 775
The heatsink came with a small packet of thermal grease, but I only trust Arctic Silver. Sorry Rosewill, but that’s just the way it is. So after a nice coating of thermal grease, I mounted the heatsink and screwed the thumbscrews down. Easy as pie.
But just as I foresaw the heatsink blocked access to the first DIMM that held my RAM. I was able to get the memory in and out, but only after a little meticulous fingertip work. I then hooked up the adjustable fan control switch and put the side back on my computer. The temperature in the case when I closed it was room temperature, 66 degrees F.
Here are a few quotes from the Rosewill website, just in case you don’t believe these people mean business.
About Rosewill
Not long ago we had an idea – bring quality hardware and affordable prices together. From that idea Rosewill was born. Formed from a top team of hardware professionals, Rosewill is dedicated to our mission to compete and win on price, quality, and service. We work only with the best partners – businesses we know and businesses we trust.
The Rosewill Mission
Our vision is to become the leading brand in computer hardware and peripherals. We aim to achieve this goal by creating superior customer satisfaction. We view our customers as our most important assets. Through our integrity, our innovative products, and our excellent customer service, we aim to create lasting customer relationships.
Customer Satisfaction
We believe that excellence is a standard. Our customers deserve nothing less than the best. By purchasing a Rosewill product you are choosing exceptional value, unrivaled customer service and top quality hardware. If you are a Rosewill reseller, you can have the comfort of knowing that we at Rosewill value the success of our business partners.
The Future
We will soon be introducing a full line of hardware that will encompass the Rosewill commitment to excellence. New product launches are on the way, so check back with us soon.
The Rosewill Z4 Heatsink was tested using a Sempron 2800+ processor @ 1.6Ghz, 2GB of DDR RAM, a 320 Seagate Barracude Hard Drive. The test case has adequate cooling with 120mm fans at the front intake and rear outflow. Oh, and the system was tested with 3D glasses, too!
I proceeded to boot my PC up and let it warm up to idle temperature for about 20 minutes. Since most people have real world stuff to do with their computers, I like to test hardware like the Z4 while I’m working on other things. For the medium load test, I decided to edit some video for about an hour using Sony Vegas 8. At one point video editing was a massive load on any CPU, but with advancements in software and hardware, this is really not much of a challenge for even a weaker processor such as this. The reason I chose to use the Sempron is because it takes less work to heat it up. Obviously.
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So after an hour of editing video I proceeded to the maximum load test. This is usually my favorite because it gives me an excuse to play games for a couple of hours. My flavor of choice today is called Obscure 2 (read our review here). If you have not played it yet I highly recommend it.
Find some hot gamer chick to 2P with you and enjoy an extra thrill. Was that a little sexist? I guess it depends on what kind of woman is reading this. Okay, game over. Three hours of playing the game and getting just shy of nowhere, I shut the game off and tested the temperature again. Here are the Z4’s results and how they compare to the stock crap that comes with processors.
I found Rosewill’s Z4 heatsink to be bulky, heavy, and in the way. I couldn’t reach my RAM, The way it is designed with the heatpipes acting like a “stem” with the huge radiator and fan on top gives me worry that this could possibly stress the motherboard it sits on.
Motherboards are very strong, but everything has its breaking point, and the Z4 is freaking huge. I didn’t find a huge improvement in cooling compared to stock either. Same for the noise level. I personally would opt for a more “low profile” heatsink. This one just doesn’t do the job for me.
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