Testing:
To test the thermal performance of the
OCZ Technology Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler, the idle and load temperatures were monitored using
CoreTemp 0.99 in conjunction with
OCCT 2.0.0a. The idle condition was established with the system sitting at the Window's desktop with only CoreTemp running for a period of 30 minutes. The load condition was established by running OCCT for a period of 60 minutes set to stress the CPU and memory. All phases were executed with the processor overclocked from a default setting of 3.0GHz (9x333MHz) and 1.32V, to 3.6GHz (9x400MHz) and 1.35V.
For comparison purposes, the Vendetta 2 was tested head-to-head with the original
OCZ Technology Vendetta cooler and the
Cooler Master Sphere cooler. The two OCZ Technology coolers were run at two different speeds by using the motherboard's BIOS to take advantage of the PWM function made possible by the 4-pin power connection. Each was run at its maximum speed, as well as a much lower speed established with the "Performance" speed profile in the BIOS. The Cooler Master cooler was only run at its maximum speed since it only has a 3-pin power connection.
To illustrate just how similar the Vendetta and the Vendetta 2 really are, the images below show them side by side. It is as if someone put the original Vendetta on a copy machine and selected "enlarge by 30%".
The chart below details the results from all three coolers achieved while maintaining an ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.
As you can see, the Vendetta 2 is not only capable of lower temperatures, but it can do so with much less noise. The noise level labels associated with each set of results may be somewhat subjective, but they provide a good approximation of the noise produced. At full speed the original Vendetta is really too loud for extended use, and when slowed down it may be much quieter but the temperatures rose 4C. The fan on the Vendetta 2 is quiet at full speed, and slowing it down some more makes it near silent while keeping the temperatures safe.
