Thermaltake DuOrb

The unit retails for about $65 which is very high for an extra part. The performance is great, but if you aren't overclocking, you won't need this. The DuOrb is a great heatsink for the enthusiast looking to get more out of their system. For everyone else, the stock cooler will do you just fine. It still looks great and it is good to see the orb cooler come back in style.

I was impressed with the performance of the Thermaltake DuOrb CPU Cooler. It easily matches the Enzotech Ultra-X, and best of all ... it's a lot cheaper, and the twin fans with red/blue LEDs look fantastic!

In the end, it’s still hard to avoid recommending the Thermaltake DuOrb on the basis that it’s a quiet cooler with decent performance numbers. It’s no slouch in the aesthetics department, and will keep many of your sub-systems cool. Is it a good cooler for overclockers? Probably not, unless you are feeling just a bit naughty and want to squeeze only a few extra MHz out of your CPU. The price is a sticking point, but if you want a unique and quiet cooler for your stock quad core system I would suggest taking a strong look at the Thermaltake DuOrb CPU cooler.

If you want a handsome looking system that will only run at stock speed, you could do a lot worse than the DuOrb. The same goes for anyone building a HTPC system since this short cooler would certainly not have a problem with height restricted computer cases, but before you buy make sure that the case has enough length to handle this guy (remember it was nearly the full length of our Gigabyte DS4 ATX motherboard). If you’re building a lanparty system with a clear window to show off to your friends this also would be a good choice. Heck anyone running a dual core CPU would probably be happy with this cooler; but for everyone else, your 65 hard earned dollars would be better spent elsewhere. Hopefully in a revision or three the bugs will worked out of the DuOrb design and then we will have a true contender for the quad core CPU cooler crown.

With today's market chock full of toasty video cards, aftermarket coolers need to step up to the plate and Thermaltake's DuOrb does so in a big way. Offering excellent cooling performance, acceptable acoustics, a painless installation process, and a footprint that wont interfere with SLI or Crossfire setups, it's easy to see that the DuOrb is a great purchase for that new 8800 series or HD3870. There were a few blemishes to be noted. First off, the fins can be sharp. If you're not careful you can cut yourself with them. Also the aluminum ramsinks look like they were thrown in as an afterthought. At around $40, copper ramsinks should be included. A 4 pin molex connector may be fine for most users, however some would like the option to adjust the fan speeds during low usage times. None of these issues are deal breakers, they're just something to be aware of when considering this cooler.