When compared to the 6800RPM Delta fans on the cooling market today, the Evercool had a slightly different sound signature. Not to be misunderstood, the Evercool fans is quite loud, but seems to lack the degree of high-pitch tone that makes the Delta so infamous.

Synthetic Temperature Test Results:

The Dragon Orb3 performs very well, coming just third amongst our list of reference coolers. Since we used the AOS52029KY thermal compound when testing the Thermoengine it would be unfair to directly compare the Orb3 to it as it was tested using silver-based thermal compound. Regardless, the values are listed.

The top heatsink positions have long been held by several copper heatsinks, so it will be interesting to see how the Dragon Orb3 manages when we examine the rise above ambient temperature results.

In this case the order of the top four reference heatsinks changes but the Dragon Orb3 maintains its position. Managing just over a 22 degrees Celsius rise in temperature the Dragon Orb 3 is definitely a very well performing heatsink. It is also one very loud heatsink lest you forget. Raw power rarely comes without a lot of noise, and for many people the top four reference coolers may just be a bit too much to handle.

Of course, we always like the most powerful heatsink whatever the sound it makes. The Dragon Orb3 has plenty of power to use, but with some large issues as well. It is a very heavy heatsink, and the great care should be taken if any computer is moved with the Dragon Orb installed. A sudden shock or a computer tipping over could cause damage to the processor socket, or potentially the processor itself.

It is that heart of pure copper which gives the incredibly stylish Dragon Orb 3 much of its cooling abilities. The move to a top-mounted fan is a good decision for the engineers at Thermaltake, and the drop on fan system for older orbs will be appreciated by many of you as well. The only concerns we see with the Dragon Orb3 revolve around the stiffness of the clip, which during our testing appeared to place a lot of downward force on our synthetic temperature testing rig. Other that than, the Orb3 will absolutely make anyone who doesn't have one, completely jealous. :-)