Review Date:       May 6, 1999

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Lets get right down to it, you have a Celeron CPU and chances are that you bought it yourself in hopes of overclocking it to unheard of levels to get the most bang for your buck.  If you're like me, you took advantage of the Celeron 300A phenomenon a few months back, or perhaps you came to the party a bit later and bought a Celeron 366 or 400.  In any case, you want to push it to the limits and squeeze the most performance out of it.  Well, that's exactly what coolers like the FAB28 were designed to do.  We'll outline its features and what sets it apart from standard coolers and then analyze if it does what's its supposed to do, cool our Celerons so that they run more reliably.

Even if you are not into overclocking and perhaps your Celeron was what came with your system when you originally bought it, you may still want to take a look at this cooler to increase stability and prolong the life of the CPU.

Here they are, courtesy of Global WIN:

Fan Rated voltage DC12V Rated Current DC 0.12A Power 1.4 WATT Bearing System Ball Bearing Fan Speed 5000+/-200 RPM Air delivery 11.5 CFM MTBF(life) 41000 hours/45oC Noise level 30dBA Fan safety CE, UL, TUV, CSA RPM signal out yes

Heatsink Dimension 138 x 50 x20mm Material Aluminum Alloy 6063 Clip Material Stainless steel Thermal Interface Material Graphite Pad/Tape Thermal Conductivity 5~6.5 W/Mk Connector Molex 2510/2695 3-pin Total Weight 171.5g

With a pretty good size aluminum alloy heatsink and dual ball bearing fans running at 5000RPM, that's some major cooling power.  The only thing I would have liked to see would be fine fins or ripples on the heatsink itself to increase surface area.  But then again, with these fans pounding on the heatsink, the heat should dissipate quickly.

The other thing to note is the graphite pad interface material.  Interface materials have proven to be extremely important as they are what actually transfers heat from the chip to the heatsink.   The more thermally conductive the material, the more efficient the heatsink.  The graphite pad included works very well and only comes second to some good thermal compound which I definitely recommend you use if you want maximum efficiency.  The graphite pad can be scratched off pretty easily and then you simply apply some compound, slap it on to the CPU and you're ready.

One of my favorite things about the FAB28 (and most GlobalWIN devices in general) is that they are well built and very well designed.  If you've ever dealt with Celeron cooling devices, you'll know how hard some of them can be to install and even uninstall for that matter.  I had one heatsink that had these darn brackets that had to be snapped in and once they were forced in, there's no getting them off, unless you saw the plastic pegs off.  On the other hand, the FAB28 has a magnificent clip system (made out of metal) that requires you to put absolutely no pressure on the Celeron and uninstalls just as easily, its a great design and made me very happy.

Utilizing a thermal diode, an Abit BX6 Revision 2.0 motherboard, a Celeron 300A overclocked to 464MHz (at 2.0 volts) and Motherboard monitor 4.04, I proceeded to take some temperature measurements of the CPU during heavy use (A game of Unreal).  After 15 minutes of playing, the CPU core reached a temperature of 52 degrees Celsius, and then dropped back down to 41 degrees Celsius while being idle.  With the old Cool master cooler (single fan), the CPU reached temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius during game play which as you can see is quite a big higher than 52. 

Please note, the tests were taken with at room temperature (21 degrees Celsius), and according to motherboard monitor, the temperature inside my case hovered around 30-32 degrees Celsius.  If you are comparing this to your system, keep in mind I have two 8cm fans blowing air in and out of my case.  For a heatsink to work efficiently, it must have ample cool air from outside circulating inside so that the fans will not be constantly blowing hot air on the heat sink.

One additional note, when I opened my case and touched the heatsink, it was only fairly warm, which is a good sign. I could keep my finger on it for as long as I wanted, unlike other coolers I've used.  Also, air flow was extraordinary, if you put your hand beside the heatsink, you can really feel the the air being pumped away from it.  I've never felt such a big air flow with any other heatsink/fan combo.

 

Area

Score

Price	95
Performance	97
Fan/Heatsink Quality	99
Installation	99
Noise Level	90
Overall	96

 

All I can say about Global WIN's FAB28 Celeron cooler is that it does its job and it does it very well. If you have a Celeron and want to overclock it, then you're going to need efficient cooling and this cooler will give that to you.  I was able to get my Celeron 300A stable at 504MHz with only 2.1 volts which I wasn't able to do with my old Cooler Master heatsink/fan, your results may vary depending on the quality of the CPU but heat is usually the limiting factor. Even if you are not an overclocker, the FAB28 will keep your CPU running stable and prolong the life of the CPU.  Overall, the FAB28 is a great product at a great price, we definitely recommend it to anyone who has a Celeron CPU.

Click here to buy this cooler from CoolerGuys.com

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