OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler Review

Lets look closer at the Vendetta

First well start with what is different about the Vendetta, the base. There is no solid base on the Vendetta, instead OCZ took a page from the Xigmatek design book and used exposed heat pipes. OCZ does not hide this fact, they give them credit for it on their website. The H.D.T. or Heat-pipe Direct Touch coolers are still relatively new but showing promise. By removing the base plate and putting the pipes straight to the CPU they are improving the heat transfer efficiency.

There are large flats machined onto the pipes, allowing the pipes to set directly on the CPU. I would have liked to have seen a better finish to the base. As you can see in the above image its pretty rough. To help wick heat to all sides of the heat pipes and provide mounting points the rest of the Vendettas base is aluminum. One of the other things you most likely noticed is the heatpipes themselves are massive compared to normal.

To show size difference I set the Vendetta end to end with the ZEROtherm NV120 Nirvana, in the same space as 4 normal pipes OCZ has 3. Now this could be for a couple reasons; they were running bigger pipes to improve cooling, or (and the more plausible reason) the wall thickness of the tube needed to be greater so they could grid it away to have the flat surface for the base. Either way its impressive looking.

Looking at the top of the cooler we can see the stylish shape of the aluminum fins and the tops of the heat pipes. OCZ stamped their name in to the fins along with a slew of dimples. Right about now youre thinking to yourself what is the groove down the sides for well thats for the mounting of the fan.

The fan is attached with T shaped rubber mounts that grip the fan, while hooking into the groove and straddling one fin. This results in a tool-less, quiet, vibration free, and secure mounting arrangement.