OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler Review

Installation

Because this is for all intents and purposes a heavily tweaked version of the Xigmatek S1283, the installation of the Vendetta 2 is very similar. As with the Xigmatek you need to remove the motherboard as the fan installation really does require a bit more “elbow room” than is usually available inside a typical computer case. It is a shame as a pushpin coolers' biggest advantage is its ease of use, but any speed advantages afforded by those relatively easy plungers is negated by the tedious fan installation.


If you follow the included instructions, what OCZ will have you do is first mount the two 775 mounting brackets to the bottom of the heatsink. This is easy and straight forward and we once again we had no issue with this step. What they then have you do is apply a small amount of TIM on the CPU (which we are going to ignore and instead place a small amount of TIM on each of the two inner most metal posts) and then install the heatsink by pushing down on the four pushpins (alternate corners, two at a time). Once again this is no big deal but hopefully OCZ will update their installation process to reflect the work which BmR did in their Best Thermal Paste Application Method article.

It is the next step which takes this from an easy, user-friendly installation and makes it a tedious, hassle filled installation. For all you who have read the Xigmatek review you already know the next step we are referring too is the fan installation. In most cases this should be a cake walk and not a walk over a bed of nails.


OCZ fully expects you to first install the four anti-vibration mounts to the fan (by threading them through the hole and then pulling it tight, they have little pyramid shaped parts which when pulled through keep the rubber mount tight to the fan) and then install the whole shebang onto the heatsink. This is when the “fun” begins; as this is one royal pain to do. It may sound easy on paper but in real world application it is a down right painful experience where you may even get cut by the heatsink while following OCZ’s instructions.


It is for this reason we strongly recommend you either first remove the motherboard from the case and follow these “interesting” instructions or do what we did: install those little pieces of rubber onto the heatsink first, install the heatsink and then thread the four ends through the fan and use a pair pliers to seat the fan on them.

By doing it our way you can install the Vendetta 2 without first removing the motherboard and have it all done in under five minutes. Doing it their way, well lets just say it will be a lot longer and leave it at that.


Before we continue a few of our forum members (e.g. Cptn_Vortex) requested shots of the base with TIM on it to show how much of the base is touching when it sits on top of a Intel socket 775 CPU. As you can see it only touches the center one fully and hits about ¾’s of the other two. In the above picture I purposely used WAY, WAY to much TIM so as to make it abundantly clear what was being covered. You can consider the thick outer edges to be the outside lines of the contact area.