ridiculously adorable mini tower heatsink

N

NattyKathy

Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
647
while perusing Microcenter for rpi heatsink for a non-rpi project, I came across this miniscule unit

623080_104554_01_front_thumbnail.jpg

That's a 40mm fan :LOL:

240px-塔式风扇-精-3.jpg

Its baby :cry:

Yes, I know this is pointless overkill for a Pi but I thought it was too hilarious not to share
 
N

NightReaver

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
453
KATEKATEKATE said:
I heard the rgb can increase emulation performance on Pi4 by 18-23%, big if true
Click to expand...
I like it though. Reminds me of my 1st aftermarket cooler back on my Q6600. Some cooler master 92mm thing. Followed by a V6 GTS>280mm AIO (original corsair H110)>custom loop.

I'll always have a soft spot for those big tower air coolers. Fond memories of installing them with the mobo already in the case (Some huge TT unit, Xaser III I think) and having to reach around both sides to hold it.
 
Starfalcon

Starfalcon

Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2020
Messages
633
Behold the Tt Superorb, the opposite of your PI heatsink. A bigger and crappier version of the golden orb of core cracking fame. Bought one of these to use on a 1 ghz Tbird back in the day, it was extremely noisy and could not keep the proc from nearly overheating.
 

Attachments

  • superorb.jpg
    superorb.jpg
    32.5 KB · Views: 0
N

NattyKathy

Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
647
Starfalcon said:
Behold the Tt Superorb, the opposite of your PI heatsink. A bigger and crappier version of the golden orb of core cracking fame. Bought one of these to use on a 1 ghz Tbird back in the day, it was extremely noisy and could not keep the proc from nearly overheating.
Click to expand...
ahh the orbz! I remember that craze lol. Wanted one, never had one and I don't think I was missing much in retrospect. I did have a couple "flower" coolers though :cool:
If I'm remembering right, didn't the Orb cooler thing start with people modding HP PA-RISC heatsinks for Athlon, and then Thermaltake jumped in with a native socket A version? Or was that Slot A even? Those were the good 'ol days, when taking a hacksaw or dremel to one's expensive kit was considered 1337 and not low-class :p
 
Starfalcon

Starfalcon

Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2020
Messages
633
The Tt orb coolers started as P3 coolers, I had one on my P3 600 and it was just average. Plus you had to twist the orb to lock it on your cpu tabs, and if you werent careful you could easily crack the core. I swore off Tt heatsinks after getting burned on several bad ones in the socket A days.
 
E

Endgame

Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
628
I must have sold 200+ p3s with Golden orbs on them back when I was in high school working at the local computer shop. Never cracked a core with one, never could figure out how people did that. Has to have been serious use error.
 
E

Endgame

Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
628
pendragon1 said:
i had a gorb at one time and blorbs on my chipsets and gpus.
Click to expand...
I tried to fit a zalman copper orb on a raspberry pi 4, tried to dig out one of my old blorbs, and even pulled out a few pentium heat sinks. Unfortunately, it was no use- too little zheight clearance on the pi 4 for most heat sinks. The best I could do was some old zalman mem sinks.
 
N

NattyKathy

Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
647
is this fully an Orb/retrocooling thread now? I guess I'm ok with that.

apparently "TurboCooler" was the HP PA-RISC heatsink I was thinking of that inspired the orb coolers; some companies even sold them pre-modded for PC. Here's one being used on a Slot A Athlon (TurboCooler section is about 2/3rds of the way down but the whole article is worth reading)

for those looking for a nostalgia overload... while searching Dan's Data for the TurboCooler I also came across this massive comparison of state-of-the-art aircooling in 2001, as well as this look at what building a custom loop was like two decades ago, and a review of a very early AIO cooler (it was bad)

I wish Dan still did reviews :( his site was my go-to when I was a young lass first learning about this stuff and I find his writing style both informative and hilarious
 
Last edited:
E

Endgame

Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
628
Martin the Kiteboy said:
Keep yer blorbs. ThermalTake Volcano, with three blades and a copper finstack for the win. My personal favorite bad heatsink. Remember the devil being LOUD.
Click to expand...
I have a ThermalTake Volcano 6cu + sitting on top of a raspberry pi (which is in a FLIRC metal case). The base models weren't that bad for being loud, but the 6 cu + had a blistering fan speed - something like 7,500 rpm. That was definitely no joke volume wise.
 
D

D-EJ915

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
1,383
I had a few HPPA boxes with the "orb" coolers on them lol, the one on the C200 had a pretty small fin area but it was an enormous metal block on both sides of the PCB lol.
 
D

deruberhanyok

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
1,978
KazeoHin I'd love to see a tiny build like that. Would be funny if Silverstone, Lian Li or similar took one of their big case designs and just scaled it down to like... 1/20 the size. Tiny power button and all.

a few years back there was a bunch of to-do about this metal fan, spinning heatsink design. I don't remember the original designer but Thermaltake ended up licensing the tech, or buying the company, and they made the Engine 27 with it.

https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/engine-27.html

I seem to recall reviews saying something like, it ran really well for its size, but the noise it made was a nasty whine compared to the usual fan hum. Didn't look into it much past that.

But since it didn't use a standard type of fan, and the blades and all were made just for those units, I wonder if today someone could whip up a tiny version for an SBC.

Reminds me of the extremely short lived, no-additional-products-released-after-launch, socket AM1 "Kabini" systems. The processors topped out at 25W and there were only four of them, but there were a few companies that made upgraded heatsinks for them anyways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top