OCZ Gladiator MAX CPU Cooler Review

Heatsink Construction & Design Con't

As mentioned before, the Gladiator Max is in a lot of ways a clone of the Xigmatek S1284 and this idea is reinforced by the mounting “wings” for the 775 pushpins and the double cut in the top of the base for the AM2 mounting bracket. This is not a bad thing per say, as pushpin installations are usually faster and easier than backplate based systems.

That being said, it is too bad that OCZ didn’t take the time and effort to upgrade this design to a baseplate system which Xigmatek sells separately for about $10. For the sake of $10 you get a system which is heck of lot better than the setup included. We say this because while the backplate installation may be more time consuming, it does provide a much more stable mounting platform and one that delivers a more even mounting pressure (as plastic is malleable and may deform at slightly different rates from corner to corner).


Unlike the Vendetta 2 which has all its fins in one continuous group, the Gladiator has the majority of them together and then has two additional groupings of small fins near the base. Our initial impression was that these were to help cool the motherboard; yet after closer examination we doubt this is the case as these four fins are not angled down and thus would do very little for the motherboard. What these four fins are there for is in fact to act as a mini cooling tower for the six large aluminum pillars which sprout from the top of the base.

In a nut shell these large aluminum pillars should do very little to the thermal cooling capabilities of the cooler but do make up a majority of the extra weight this cooler has over the Vendetta 2.


As with the Vendetta 2, we were disappointed by the Gladiator Max’s front face. The side of the cooler that the fan is on is of course called the front face and its job is to get as much air through those fines with as little hassle as possible. To do this, companies have taken different approaches to designing the face. Sometimes, they make the side of the heatsink multi-faceted so as to cut the air up making it more likely to flow through the fins at a lower static pressure. Another option is to angle the face so that it is concave and thus the air being pushed by the fan “wants” to flow to the center and thus be pushed into the heatsink (it also as an added benefit removes to a certain extent the dead zone cause by the fan hub). Unfortunately, OCZ went with the reference design as seen with the Vendetta 2 / S1283 and while it is slightly concave it is not exactly an extreme curve, and the face is not multi-faceted in the least.

This design is quite outdated and while it may not be as effective as newer designs it still would be reasonably effective if not for the fact that OCZ also went for that darn fan mounting system that leaves a good gap between the fan and the heatsink! You can have the best designed fins in the world but if the air does not go over them it makes not a darn bit of good. We have to wonder how much more effective this cooler would be if they had went with a more standard friction based fan mounting system.


Overall, the OCZ Gladiator MAX is certainly a good bit of a departure from the Vendetta 2 and OCZ was right in not naming this cooler Vendetta 3. Unfortunately, OCZ has not taken the time to address the issues associated with the reference Xigmatek design and rather has added in additional cooling capabilities via those four aluminum pillars and additional heatpipes. We have our doubts about this design enhancement but one thing is for certain: we are itching to get to the testing stage and see if this design holds up and is an improvement over the Vendetta 2.