Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Six-Core 32nm Processor Review

Intel DBX-B Thermal Solution

Much to our surprise, Intel have finally gotten serious about bundling a quality CPU cooler with their $999 Extreme Edition processor. Bundled with every retail Core i7-980X will be the new Intel DBX-B Thermal Solution.


As you can see, this is a proper aluminium tower heatsink with copper heatpipes, no longer the low-profile circular fin array design that Intel have used seemingly forever. The DBX-B is just under 5.5 inches tall, 2.75 inches thick, and 4 inches wide. Our sample weighed in at 677 grams.

The stock Nidec fan measures 100mm and features a blue LED, as we have grown accustomed to on all Extreme Edition coolers. Intel claim idle CPU acoustics under 20 dBA at 800 RPM and maximum acoustics under heavy load below 35 dBA at 1800 RPM. While the idle figure seems about right, at its highest rotation we found this fan to be quite high pitched. Thankfully, this CPU cooler has a built-in fan speed switch with a Quiet mode that keeps fan noise under control.

Interestingly, the fan blades were designed in such a way to push relatively little air thru the heatsink. Instead, the angle of the blades causes a lot of the airflow to be directed towards the other components on the motherboard, like the MOSFETs. What will this mean for CPU cooling performance? We will check that out in our Temperature Testing section.


The bottom mounting bracket is made from somewhat flimsy plastic, but it's the flexible variety that won't break unless you do it on purpose. Installation of the CPU cooler is very straightforward. All you need to do is place the aforementioned mounting bracket under the motherboard, line it up with the socket holes, place the heatsink on the processor, push down the thumbscrews, and then tighten. Although you can tighten the thumbscrews by hand, it can somewhat difficult to tighten the rear ones on some motherboards where the MOSFET cooler can get in the way. With this in mind, the DBX-B has two holes on the top that go all the way through the heatsink and allows for a long thin screwdiver to tighten the rear thumbscrews.


The copper base on our sample was quite polished and slightly convex. This isn't a manufacturing fault though, it's simply done to ensure that the base makes strong contact with the center (where the CPU die is) of the processor's integrated heatspreader (IHS), which is also always convex. Simply making both the heatsink base and the IHS perfectly flat might seem logical, but it is impossible to do economically on a mass production scale.

There were machining marks on the base, but you couldn't feel them. This CPU cooler doesn't feature a H.D.T (Heatpipe Direct Touch) design, instead the heatpipes are merely soldered to the base.


As you can see, there's no comparing the new DBX-B to the previous Bloomfield and Lynnfield/Clarkdale CPU coolers. It's a huge improvement in every sense of the word.


For further comparisons sake, here is the DBX-B next to the ubiquitous Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. Does it stand a chance of competing with it? Well that's what we are going to find out in our Temperature Testing section.