OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler Review

Heatsink Construction & Design, cont.

If there is one area where we were disappointed by the Vendetta 2, it would be the front face of the unit. The side of the cooler the fan rests against is of course called the front face and its job is to get as much air through those fins with as little hassle as possible. To do this companies have taken to either making 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; or to even angle the face so 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 (this also as an added benefit removes to a certain extent the dead zone cause by the fan hub). Thermalright on their T.R.U.E. not only makes the face concave but even angles the fins so the air flow is encouraged to enter the heatsink instead of flowing around it. Unfortunately, OCZ went with the reference design as seen as the S1283 and while it is slightly concave it is not exactly an extreme curve, and the face is not multi-faceted in the least.


While this design is a very outdated and while it may not be as effective as newer designs, it still would be reasonably effective if not for the fact OCZ also went for that darn fan mounting system which leaves a good gap between the fan and the heatsink. You can have the fanciest designed fins in the world but if the air does not go over them it is 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 which removes this relatively large gap.

Overall, the OCZ Vendetta is certainly an improvement over the reference design and to us has easily justified its added cost. Of course, this can all change if the performance numbers don’t back it up but so far if it quacks like duck and looks like a duck we are going to give it the benefit of the doubt and call it a duck…and stick it in the oven to cook for awhile.