I must say that we had high hopes for the mini copper orb as we began our testing on the synthetic temperature test platform. The results however, while good, were less than our original expectations. In our tests the mini copper orb performed on par with the very effective Volcano II. The Super Orb, for comparisons sake, came in about 7 degrees behind both.

Where the mini copper orb was able to shine was on the large copper die template. Whereas the volcano II produced a temperature reading of about 52 degrees on the large copper die template, the mini copper orb scored 49 degrees. Now lets take a look at the rise above ambient temperature results.

Surprisingly the mini copper orb lags behind the Volcano II when we look at the rise above ambient temperatures. With that large mass of copper I had expected it to perform a little better than it did. I suspect the added pegging on the top of the copper slug is not getting the kind of airflow it should in order for it to be effective. It would be interesting to see how the mini copper orb would perform with the top fan from the Super orb....

Incidentally the Super Orb performs about 7 degrees worse than the mini copper orb when looking at the rise above ambient scores. The Thermoengine keeps No. 1 spot in this group of reference heatsinks, leaving the mini copper orb about center.

Conclusions:

I have to admit that the copper-factor in this heatsink instantly makes it seem like the mini copper orb will perform miracles. In reality, it is just a very good cooler, not the best we've seen, but still a very good performer for its size and noise output. The Volcano II is a good rival and puts up quite a fight against the mini copper orb.

Faced with the choice between the two of them, I would still go for the mini copper orb just because it stands out among the line of Orb heatsinks. Additionally the mini copper orb has a solid advancement in performance over the very well known Super Orb, making it one of Thermaltake's better performing heatsinks.

The numbers speak for themselves. If you remove the noisy Globalwin, the hard to get Zalman, and the expensive Blizzard, you're basically left with the Thermoengine, Volcano II and mini copper orb. The Thermoengine knocks the socks off both the Thermaltake's of course.

The difference between the Volcano II and the mini copper orb is quite small, and the potential for mods on the mini copper orb is tempting... All in all the mini copper orb is a good performing heatsink, and one of the best Thermaltake has made, but it has not managed to outperform our reference coolers, and the very effective Thermoengine.