First Impressions


When you first see the Triton 77 you could easily be forgiven for thinking that this is a normal down draft cooler, if a little on the fancy side. It is only when you takes a closer look that you realize that there is only one fan on the bottom and it is not sucking air in from above. It is actually pushing the air upwards! However, an upward draft cooler, now that is unique!

Once you get over its strange and exotic nature you can start to pick out details that make this unique cooler not so unique. In many ways this cooler is nothing more than a normal downdraft cooler; it just has a different fan mounting system. When you remove the fan it looks a lot like a normal tower heatsink that has been bent 90 degrees. This of course is to be expected as that is exactly what a down draft cooler is, and while this may blow its air up instead of down it is nothing more than a unique take on a tried and true method of cooling.


The recent trend in down-draft coolers is to have only the heatpipes supporting all the weight of the radiator fin assembly and the ASUS Triton is no different. The only difference that ASUS engineers made was to have the bend in the heatpipes happen more gracefully over a larger arc. This allows the radiator fin assembly to be much further away from the base and also allows easy access to all four 775 mounting pins. We will go into more detail on the ease of installation but suffice to say that ASUS did not miss a trick when designing this cooler. Of course it goes without saying that the this larger arc without any secondary support does make the Triton 77 seem very unstable and it also has a tendency to flex a lot when tapped with a finger from above.


The Triton 77 is not only unique but it is also a great looking cooler that has a very high “bling” factor while not needing to use any fancy LEDs or other trickery. The majority of the Triton’s striking good looks come from the graceful arch of the top of the fins and the unique Triton and stylized wing or wave logo that has been inserted into the front of the fan mounting assembly. It is too bad most of these good looks will go unnoticed when installed in most computer cases (excluding fully clear ones like Danger Den’s UFO line) but it sure will help sell many of these units.


Also on the positive side, the base of this cooler is perfectly flat but does show some major tooling and minor polishing marks. For its price range it is fairly good and is about average.

Overall, ASUS has taken a fairly standard idea and made it their own. It will certainly be interesting to see if its stylish good looks and unique profile translate into real world gains. However, before we get to the testing phase lets take a closer and more in depth look at the heatsink and the fan that ASUS has paired it with.