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?

yes, the motors for the fan are located in the corners of the fan, not at the center. therefore the central hub can be very small and allow air to circulate in the very middle of the fan.

i think i remember seeing recently that these fans are recalled or something to that effect. they spin way past (up to 20%) the RPM's they are supposed to sometimes. (maybe that is why the swiftech beat the alpha ;) )

A comparison with same fans would also be a good idea, but I understand why it was done this way too...

Anyway, VERY complete review, this is the ONLY way to compare 2 heatsinks imo, the dual pics rule ;) Really gives me an idea bout what we are talkin' ;)

I was wondering if I should put on my 50CFM 80mm delta fan during the installation of the heatsinks, but foolishly I chose not to :/

You can only make mistakes by doing stuff :) and I'm sure I'll learn from them, next heatsink review will be even more complete :)

@Mrzeld: I'm pretty sure the swiftech outperforms the alpha even when same fans are used. I'm basing this on reviews I saw of the 2 on other HW sites, and www.overclockers.com heatsink database also ranks the Swiftech higher then the Alpha

I'm expecting to know what the price will be for the Swiftech any day now, seeing as the older version already was around 120€ I'm thinking that the alpha is the budget wise choice of the month, seeing that the temp. difference between the 2 will be very small when using the same fans!

but still there seems to be a difference. Our belgian friends over at www.overclockersonline.com also tested the two.. in the more correct way, using the same fan on both


http://www.overclockersonline.com/?p...num=149&pnum=3

In my humble opinion, this is a review like it should be: compared two products "as is", anyone who buys one of these has the liberty of modding them by his/hers wishes but knows how they perform on factory settings.
btw, I like the "Rocky touch" in this review

haha i always got somthing to ***** about. anyway the overclockers review had the fan on the alpha blowing DOWN.
the alpha is ment to push air out the top of the fan. so that could be why it lost in that article... but for blowing the swifty wins ._.

So guys, where can I buy that swiftech ??

got mine @ Comtechnology

Well, I didn't found it in the 'cpu coolers' section ...


http://www.comtechnology.net/default.php?cPath=11

they don't stock it anymore

Right. then I think the best choice for me is the Alpha @ Loveno ..

http://www.overclocking.be/?page=sho...7b6677ba272c68

Just ordered a 8942 at Loveno. It's in stock and will arrive soon. I'm going to try it with a Papst 8412 NGL (12dB, 19CFM) from my sale in (http://users.pandora.be/souvereyns/ ), hope my P4 1.6 becomes not too hot...

I will report when it's tested.

Cheers

it won't go to hot... it's one great heatsink!

I am considering about purchasing the Swiftech MCX4000. Normally a fan attach to this heatsink has a dimension of 80x80mm. Is it possible to use a fan adapter 120->80 ( or even 92->80 ) to reduce fan noise but at same CFM ? No, I am not gonna use that 120mm NMB fan 8.8Watt 120CFM on it :^D

And how future proof are those highend heatsink ? Can I reuse it to future release of Pentium CPU ( Prescott, etc ) ?

I bought once an Alpha PEP66 heatsink ( a great heatsink ) and it was obsolete when P4 came out.