Thermaltake DuOrb: double the action

For some, this isn’t the first time you’ve seen the DuOrb. In the later months of 2007 we saw Thermaltake release the same cooler, but for a graphics card. With the model now having been out for almost 12 months, Thermaltake thought it was time to revamp this cooler and offer it in another form, this time for the CPU.

The DuOrb is a monster cooler by any standard; at 86mm high and 202mm wide, it is absolutely massive. On top sit two 80mm fans designed to not only cool the CPU but, thanks to the width of the cooler, the memory as well.

While on the topic of width, it’s worth making a note that you may run into some troubles with certain memory and the DuOrb. If you’re using memory like the Corsair Dominator or G.Skill PI series, which have heat sinks that protrude well over the top of the memory, mounting the cooler is not going to be possible. On the other hand, if you’re using memory that doesn’t have a heatsink, or just a standard heatsink, the extra air-flow on offer from the second fan is going to be great and will give you the possibility of getting a few more MHz out of those sticks.

Specifications-wise, the cooler does manage to look the goods. The 598g weight is pretty good for such a large cooler. The copper base alongside the copper/aluminium fin configuration isn’t anything too out of the ordinary and, like most coolers these days, we have heat-pipe technology in place. In this particular case, Thermaltake has opted for six 6mm copper pipes.

The two 80mm x 20mm fans manage to push out almost 38CFM at a leisurely 2000 RPM, which gives us a reasonable noise level of 21dBA. Considering the fact that you’re able to cool more than just the CPU, the overall package isn’t bad at all.

Compatibility-wise, we’ve got the whole Intel Socket 775 range, along with AMD's AM2 and AM2+ range, which gives us the ability to use the cooler on just about any mainstream processor at the moment. What we don’t know is if Thermaltake will be offering support for the new i7 chip due out later in the year. If not, and you’re thinking about making the upgrade, the $99 price tag may be a bit hard to swallow without an upgrade path.

With the cooler attached and turning the power on for the first time, we see the two fans light up; one blue and the other red. With our Q6600 overclocked to 3GHz, the four cores run at 31c/34c/30c/28c when idle. While this isn’t the lowest we’ve seen, it’s still considerably better than the stock cooling solutions from both Intel and AMD.

With the idle temps sorted out, it’s time to see what happens to our cores when we place a bit of load onto them. Getting into World in Conflict and running the benchmark loop multiple times, the highest our four cores get to are 44c/48c/49c/44c.

The DuOrb, while offering some pretty cool features and a unique look, does offer the same performance as other coolers we’ve looked at in a similar price bracket. While the unit would look fantastic alongside a graphics card also sporting a DuOrb, it’s not really enough for someone who puts performance first. The Thermaltake DuOrb is a good cooler, but it’s not great. With the competition out there these days offering better performance at a cheaper price, it’s difficult to pick this $100 cooler over another $100 cooler such as the Noctua NH-U12P.