It’s been a while since we’ve seen any
product from our friends over at Thermolab, but they’ve just sent me
a rather large CPU cooler that has been designed with an aerothermodynamic design.
It looks interesting and it’s attractive, the fins are oddly spaced
as is the heatpipes from what you normally see on a heatpipe CPU
cooler, this design is supposed to help the cooling process. We’ll
see if that’s true, I’ve put it up against a bunch of other coolers
I’ve got for comparison, so read on..
Product
Name: Thermolab
Baram CPU Cooler
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: Thermolab
Tech
Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
*
BARAM(?
?)
[baram] has a meaning of ‘airflow’ in Korean, and is the product for
a cooling mania who is expecting to have a supreme cooling
performance.
BARAM is a heat pipe cooler
used for CPU, designed in an optimal aerothermodynamic structure.
* Not included Fan (Have to buy
120mm Fan in addition)
Applicable CPU
* Socket Standards : Intel
Socket 775, AMD Socket AM2+/AM2
* Thermal Design Power of CPU :
Max 250 Watt
Specification
Product Name: BARAM
Dimension: 67 × 132 × 160 (L
x W x H)mm
Weight : 625g
Heatsink Material: Pure Copper,
Aliminum
Dissipation Area: 7,580 cm²
{mospagebreak title=Unboxing Video and Stills}
Unboxing
and Still Pics:
For this review I’ve got a video
unboxing for you along with a few still pictures, so check it all out
and move along…
Overall the Baram feels very well
made, the unique design makes it aesthetically pleasing, but we’ll
soon find out if it’s just for looks or actually for performance.
The base appears flat and as you
can see has a nice mirror finish to it.
Installation,
Testing and Comparison:
First let me say I don’t like the
mounting system at all you almost need a third hand to install this
cooler as the screws get fastened from the back of the motherboard
through the backplate and into the mounting bracket.
You’ll need to install the
mounting bracket first of course, easy to do, just a couple of
screws.
As I said installation is a pain,
most people will need to remove the motherboard from the case, I
didn’t have to though as I cut my mobo tray so I didn’t have to keep
taking it in and out.
This is testing on my C2D6420,
there’s one intake fan and one exhaust fan as well, then of course
there’s the PSU fan that pulls some air out also.
I used Orthos Stress Prime to get
load on the CPU and CoreTemp to log the temperatures, then they were
averaged out to get the results shown in the following charts. Since
the baram did not come with a fan I used a Notcua NF-P12 120MM fan
for testing.
First up we’ve got testing with
the fan attached to the CPU header:
Comes in at the number two spot,
not bad at all.
Next up we’ve got testing with the
fan connected to a molex connection or running at full speed:
Here we see it coming in at number
six, but still it’s got very good temperatures, the fans on the
Xigmatek cooler is running a bit faster than the Noctua, so I’m sure
if you put a high speed fan on the Baram performance would increase
but so would the noise level…
and finally for testing we’ve got
the Baram with no fan:
Not bad at all, coming in close to
the TRUE Copper, and better than the Scythe Ninja Copper.
Apparently there’s something good
to this design of theirs….
Summary
and Comments:
The results of my testing clearly
show the Baram is a very good performing cooler, it will keep you CPU
cool even without a fan.
The installation could be easier
in my opinion, it just takes a bit of work to get it installed when
you’ve got to put the screws from the back of the motherboard.
DragonSteelMods gives the Baram
CPU Cooler a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Excellent performance
-Well made
-Looks cool!
Cons:
-Installation can be difficult
I
would like to thank Thermolab for the chance to review the Baram CPU Cooler and for their continued support of DSM.
review# 547