Introduction

First of all i would like to thank Rosewill for providing this cooling unit for a review. Rosewill has just recently became our partner and i would like to thank them for being so kind to us.

Cooling of the CPU could play a big role in everyday computing and of course for overclockers. There are many heat sinks out there and hey all behave in a similar patterns. So what does it make a best cpu cooler out there? Is it the style or the performance features? You guessed it. Both! :) Here we have a RCX-Z5 Ultra cpu cooler. We will see how this particular unit stands out and how it performs under the extreme conditions.

About the Product

Following information is taken from the manufacture website.

Wow not too bad of a specs. Lets take a look at the actual unit.

Closer look

Front shot		Side shot

The packaging of RCX-Z5 ultra is pretty neat. The box was well structured and build from tough cardboard. On the side of the box there are images of the actual unit and some technical data.

Back shot		Specifications on the back

On the back of the box Rosewill included the technical information of the unit inside. The specifications look very promising and impressive.

Pretty as a picture		Opening the box

The box opened from the top without any problems. On the top i could see some papers and what looked like a mounting kit.

Mounting accessories		Caution slip

Above are the shots of the mounting for Intel and AMD processors. On the little piece of paper Rosewill also included a caution statement about the installation.

Instruction manual		Intel / AMD

Besides the caution notifications, Rosewill provided an installation documentation's for Intel and AMD installations.

What's this?		Nice packaging

Digging deeper in to the box i found another hard cardboard container which contained the actual unit itself.

Nicely secured		...

The RCX-Z5 Ultra was nicely packaged. Rosewill also included the Cilica for the absorption of moisture.

WOW		Amazingly huge

When i took the RCX-Z5 out of the box, i literally said WOW. I mean this thing is a beast! I was really amazed of the side of this thing :)

Blackberry vs RCX-Z5 Ultra		Side shot

Just to show you i have taken the picture of RCX-Z5 Ultra with my blackberry. As you clearly can see the size of RCX-Z5 Ultra is "BIG". On the both sides of the unit there are 2 92 mm fans to disburse the heat a way from the cpu.

Close up		Heat pipes 8?

Besides the 92 mm fans the RCX-Z5 Ultra has 8 heat pipes. I think the heat pipe technology is great over all and for this particular unit is a must.

Heat sink block		Amazingly reflective

One the bottom of the heat sink there was a protective seal that protected the heat sink from being scratched. I have placed a small piece of pop corn on top of the heat sink to show you just how reflective it is.

Mounting hardware		Preparation for mounting

For our testing i will be using Intel installation of RCX-Z5 Ultra. Above are the pictures of the Intel mounting.

Small screws		Close up

You would need very small screw drive to attach the mounting to the base of the heat sink. Keep in mind, Rosewill does not provide a philips screwdriver.

Our test subject		P4M800PRO-M 2.0

I am going to use P4M800PRO-M V2.0 for testing. The reason why i am going to use this board is that it supports dual core intel chips. This way i will be able to maximize the load of the 2 cores.

Intel Dual Core @ 2.8		Thermal compound

I am going to be using a 2.8 Ghz chip for testing. It is crucial to use some kind of thermal compound on the cpus and heat sinks. If you do not have the thermal compound on both of the parts, you could be damaging your cpu by heat. Rosewill has provided us with an unknown thermal compound for testing. This compound is also included with RCX-Z5 Ultra.

Application of thermal compound		Thick compound

I have used the compound on the cpu and the heat sink. What i did was, i have placed an equal amount of thermal paste on both of the cpu and heat sink and then gently spread ed it on the components.

Reflective finish		Making it messy

I am still amazed on how reflective the finish of the heat sink was so i took another shot:) The polish means world when it comes to CPU or GPU cooling. The reason why you want to have your heat sink very smooth is because when you attach the heat sink to cpu it forms a compound seal between two components. The tighter the seal the better the heat transfer :)

Capacitor clearance		Standard mounting

RCX-Z5 Ultra was designed with a great care. The clearance between the capacitors and the RCX-Z5 Ultra was perfect. Even the mounting was perfect.

Installed		Heat pipe and mounting clearance

Ok just when i thought this thing is out of tricks, i found out that the both sides of the RCX-Z5 Ultra comes apart for better heat disbursement. When the two sides are open the clearance of the mounting is just right.

Left adjuster		Right adjuster

The mounting of the two sides is supported by an adjustable mechanism. This way you can close and open the sides as much as you wanted.

Shiny ^^		Pretty as a picture

The actual heat sink is made out of aluminum and coated what looks like stainless steal. When i have finished the installation everything came in to its own perspective:)

Installed and ready to go		Look ma, we got lights!

In the case the RCX-Z5 Ultra looks great! With the lighted fans and that huge spread in the middle of the whole case it really does turn heads.

Close up		Clearance with other components

The case is provided by Ultra has room for a 120 mm fan on the inside of the case. With the RCX-Z5 Ultra you can see that they fit together just right without touching each other.

Clearance with chipset		Flash on

The clearance between RCX-Z5 Ultra and the chipset heat sink was good too. No complains what so ever.

Flash off		Looks great!

Once the lights went off, i got a soft blue color all over my case. What a great way to show off ^^. Ok so all is well with the presentation of the RCX-Z5 Ultra let take a look at how it will perform under the extreme temperatures.

Testing

As i have mentioned earlier, the test rig would be P4M800PRO-M V2.0. The reason being is that it is dual core capable motherboard and it would help us heat things up. With this motherboard i will be using Intel dual core chip 2.8 with 1 gig of ram from Patriot. Other components are not important for this particular test.

Once everything was stable i used my temp meter and took few readings. In the idle state the temperature was as low as 68.2 F or 20.2 C. I thought my meter was broken so i took few more readings and nope, it was right!

Idle 68.2F		20.2 C

My method of overloading the cores is by running Folding at Home on each one the cores. This way the both cores max out at 100% utilization. Any ways, when i have loaded up the both cores i left my testing rig on for about 24 hours. The reason why i left the testing rig for this time period is the thermal compound. Thermal compounds work under the extreme heat conditions. By burning in the compound, we accumulate a tight seal between the cpu/gpu and the heat sink. After the 24 hour burn in period i took another set of readings. Again i thought my temp meter was broken. 69.4 F or 20.3 C was on my testing sheet. WOAH!!!!!!!!

Max load 69.4 F		20.2 C

PC Wizard 2008

Above is a screen shot taken from PC Wizard 2008. It took all the readings for the state of the motherboard.

Motherboard monitor

With help of the Motherboard Monitor 5 here are some of the technical data i have gathered upon my test. As you can see the CPU 0 and CPU 1 are both loaded and kicking butt while the RCX-Z5 Ultra is keeping the internal temperature to minimal which is 82 F

Task bar

Motherboard monitor 5 details

Here is another overall shot of the raw data. In this sheet you can see the running time of approximately 24 hours. The CPU temperature low 77 and high 93 F. Amazing!

Conclusion

Hmm i am not sure on what to conclude of RCX-Z5 Ultra. I hate to sound like a high school girl who just got her first kiss but this heatsink is amazingly perfect. The style and the performance of this particular unit is astonishing. I have showed this unit to my friends and coworkers and it is definitely turning heads. In my test environment i got the internal temperature of dual core chip to stable 82 F on two 100% loaded cores! What more can you ask? The idea of the two sides opening up was a great one. Not only this helps with getting rid of the heat but it helps with cooling of the ram and all case over all.

If you would ask me what heat sink would i recommend to an average and overcooking users, this would be it! 10/10!!!!

Some pros we found:

Stylish and well build

Highly reflective heat sink block and the whole unit itself

Keeps temperatures extremely low

Provides extra cooling for ram and the whole case overall

Dual 92mm fans

Heat pipe technology

Some Cons we found:

None