Battle of the Titans: Alpha PAL8942 vs Swiftech MCX4000
 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Madshrimps for another exciting edition of reviewing sensation. In the black corner wearing an 80mm fan, the undisputed champion of the world, Mister Alpha PAL8942. In the silver corner is the challenger, 2 times heavyweight champion of the world, now getting ready to make a come back after a long time of absence, ladies and gentleman, Mister Swiftech MCX4000. Let’s get ready to rumble…


Link to article: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=37

The fan that was used by the alpha in this review, this fan only pushes only 21cfm. The swiftech fan pushes 35cfm... put a equal cfm fan on the alpha and post the new scores. just being fair :/

Agreed, this test was unfair.
 

Alpha = 20 CFM
Swiftech = 37 CFM

Which one's going to win? LoL duh.

You've got to use the same fan on both heatsinks to make a comparison. Please retest.. these numbers are useless =/

Re: Agreed, this test was unfair.
 

yup

nice review though!

Agreed, it would be much more informative to show both tests with a standard 80mm fan.

lapping and cooling the alpha
 

i agree about the fan. i read the review and something was bugging me. then it hit me. the same fan was not used to test both HS's. i could understand using the fans that the heatsinks came with IF the one provided with the alpha was approved by alpha like the swiftech was. but alpha only sells HS (to the best of my knowledge), not HSF combos.

has anyone else lapped their alpha. i just bought one. and decided to give it a try (lapping that is). after an hour of sanding (that aluminum around the edge takes time to sand :) ) there was still a quarter size (about an inch in diameter) circle in the middle of the copper that hadn't even been touched. after about two hours of sanding, i finally got to a point where the surface was flat. i know you shouldn't have to do this for a review, but it might make a difference.

also, mine came with these ridges from the finishing process that alph did. i know people said this is supposed to be a good finish, but it looked like crap to me. running my finger across it, it felt smooth. but running my fingernail across it, it was really bumpy. that is why i decided to try lapping it to begin with. good thing i did since it was sooooo concave.

one last point. i noticed in the picture where you show the bottom of the two HS side by side. the alpha is all blemished. mine was the same way. the packaging used a sticky plastic film to protect the bottom during shipping. after removing the film, it left a residue on the bottom of the HS. i hope you cleaned this off before testing it.

later!

I tested the products as they were delivered at my doorstep, meaning with their default fan , out of the box
to give an idea of how the out of the box product performs. Unfortunately I don't have the heatsinks anymore so further testing is impossible,
however in future tests I will be sure to include a comparison using the same fan.
I didn't rush this article, but I don't have that much free time for the moment so I was very happy to even get it finished :)

@Mrzeld: I cleaned of the residue before testing, I however can't sand the heatsink as it was not my property :/
The Alpha heatsink is however sold together with a fan ALSO, the 8942M81 and 8942M82 both have fans included in the package

Wow, great review! I would also like to see another battle between the AMD heatsink variations of these... hmm maybe i'll look around on other sites. But I still prefer the Madshrimps method of reviewing the products. It gives me a much more conclusive comparison, when most other sites like to blather on about this and that and never get down to what counts. Whats the word... brevity!

i should have looked at alpha's site first. you are correct. although I think it would only have been a fair comparison if the alpha had been the M81 model. although that is still not a fair comparison since the M81 model's fan is 47CFM. but it is very unrealistic to overclock a P4 CPU with a 20CFM fan, no matter what the HS is.

i know, i know. you can only test what they send you. i understand. in this case though, i would have either used the same fan on both or done two seperate reviews.

given that the alpha's fan only pushes half as much air, it did remarkably well against the swiftech. i am kinda glad now that i bought an alpha and not a swiftech. saved about $15-$20. i am going to pair my alpha with a thermaltake smart case fan 2. i am going start off using its thermal sensor and see how the noise is. might have to switch to manual control if it is too loud.

good. i just wanted to make sure.

nice review otherwise! :ws:

is that one of those 'outside ring mechanism' fans on the swiftech?