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Orb or Block for you sir?

Conclusion

This round up proved to be extremely interesting for us at the labs we had a chance to compare two vastly different coolers in the two extremes of the spectrum. From the dead silent Scythe OROCHI to the visually loud ThermalTake DUORB, one thing can be agreed on - both coolers have held up to their ends of the bargain.

With the ThermalTake DUORB, the bling factor was evident even before we turned the lights off. If you want bling, you would be hard pressed to find a cooler that delivers better than the DUORB. Furthermore, its cooling powress also impressed as it went on to keep the motherboard components cooler than the compeition even as we fully loaded the 3GHz Kentsfield. This, despite occupying less space than the other two coolers in the round up.

Whilst the temperatures during the load testing were not exactly low, the DUORB proved that it could take on the massive heatload put out by the QX6850 clocked to 3.5GHz. With so much going for it, would the DUORB encroach on the territory of the Scythe coolers? No. Unfortunately, with both fans spinning at 2,100RPM, the DUORB is not silent cooler by any means. It's audible and might be barely so when placed in a casing but at no point would it be irritating. Our only gripe with the DUORB was in the fact that when mounted, it blocked access to the 8-pin EPS connector on the motherboard. The connector is found at a similar location on many boards out there and so would be users should take note of this fact. It's therefore a good idea to connect the 4/ 8-pin 12v cable before mounting the DUORB onto the brackets. This is especially so for those with removable motherboard trays. In short, you might be extremely excited with acquiring a unit but do remember to mount the cooler last. For upping the ante on interior lighting and still delivering good cooling performance, the ThermalTake DUORB earns itself a healthy 80 VR-Marks.

ThermalTake DUORB CPU Cooler

 

At the other end, we have the Scythe OROCHI which did not fail to impress with its ability to deliver sufficient cooling for the Extreme Edition Quad Core even as we took the fan off the cooler. During the load testing (passive cooling), the fans and all ten heatpipes started to turn blistering hot. We were unable to touch them for more than 2 seconds. Even though I initially felt skeptical about Scythe's choice of stacking heatpipes on top of one another, their engineering effort has proven me wrong. I am almost tempted to call it an engineering marvel were it not for the fact that overclocking the QX6850 was not possible. With its sheer size and weight, one could say they're getting their monies worth just considering the amount of metal used. Keep the OROCHI away from your missus or you could find it being used as a meat tenderizer one not-so-fine-day. Although the fan included in the package spins ever so slowly, the load temperatures were dropped on the CPU by 7'C. I dare say that most silent-freaks would not be able to hear it over the sound of their harddisk drives. Hence, there is no real need to omit the fan from its metal companion.

Not all is rosy for the OROCHI though. The sheer size of the cooler also means that clearance in a chassis is a very real issue and one should check if the OROCHI would fit in their casings before making a purchase. It is good that Scythe acknowledges this issue and places a prominent warning on their website about it.

If you're unsure as to whether the OROCHI would fit in your case, take a 6-pack of Coke or booze and hang it 5.5 cm above your CPU socket to check the component clearance on the sides. The side panel of the chassis should be at least 6.1 inch above the CPU socket and more if you wish to mount a fan blowing towards the motherboard. Based on the findings however, I would highly recommend using it to push air up and towards the PSU area instead.

Although Scythe is a fairly new company as far as CPU coolers are concerned, the OROCHI is certainly a testament to their ability to produce quality heatsinks for various market segments along with their Infinity (Mugen) and Ninja coolers. In light of this, I feel that the Scythe OROCHI deserves as many VRMarks as the DUORB. Both are equally good coolers in their own rights and you would not go wrong with either of them.

Scythe OROCHI Cooler

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