Testing/Conclusion

Test Methodology

Thermalpaste was used throughout will be Arctic Silver Ceramique which I applied by simply placing a rice-sized grain onto the center of the IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader). The thermalpasted allowed the natural mounting tension to compress because the paste eliminates spreading which can incorporate air into the paste and reduce the performance. Using a TTGI Fan Master SF-609, I placed one thermistor between the heatsink and CPU (repeating this several times until the highest temp was found), another to monitor the internal case temp, and a thermistor located outside the case to measure ambient, or room temperature. Even with thermistor's there can be errors, therefore I relied primarily on the Prescott's internal thermal diodes. Since Intel depends on these for their Thermal Throttling, On-Demand, and ultimately shut-off, their becoming much more reliable. I used the higher temperature in each case to be safe, however; temperature differences between thermistor, and Asus Probe readings were minimal. I chose to set up the Polo-735 in its manual rheostat mode. Ultimately our temperature chart below will show the heatsink's performance under these three distinct circumstances which the end-user can control at the twist of a dial. The photo below shows one of two options for attenuator installment in manual mode, the attenuator dial can be installed in a front bay, or rear (in this photo the dial was set to the half-way point very quiet, yet still very effective).

Lowest-RPM (dial to full left) was interpreted by Asus Probe at 2100RPM. Thermaltake manual equates this to 26CFM. Medium-RPM (dial at halfway point) indicated 4500RPM. Finally High-RPM (dial to full right) read as 5580RPM by Asus Probe. Thermaltake's Polo-735 manual equates this to be 76CFM. I gauged fan speeds by plugging the Polo's monitoring wire in the CPU-fan header on the Asus motherboard. Simply checking the Asus display indicates approximate speed as seen below.  

I tested the Polo-735 at these three RPM speeds under four conditions, running the Prescott 3.0E under IDLE at 3.0GHz, IDLE at 3.6GHz, then under LOAD at 3.0GHz, and 3.6GHz. Running the CPU at 3.6GHz I had to raise the Vcore from its default 1.375V to 1.423V (approximate). LOAD was produced running SETI for approximately 30-minutes. I validated this using the free Panopsys utility Throttle Watch which monitors thermal throttling for Pentium-4, Prescott, Xeon, and Pentium-M processors. Below the system is running under full LOAD (via SETI), at default speed 3.0GHz. 

Throttle Watch is capable of monitoring "both" instances of Prescott which under Intel's Hyperthreading feature presents a signature similar to that of a dual processor. Since the Polo 735 has so much to offer, I ran multiple tests spending some time with the unit. At its lowest RPM setting the fan was barely audible, and at first I kept checking it, and checking the temp. The highest setting was clearly audible and could be somewhat bothersome. What did surprise me was spending a few minutes to find just the right medium setting there was a "sweet-spot," fan noise was barely audible, yet the performance was almost as good as the highest RPM setting. In fact there was only a few degrees difference between the medium and high setting's and in the end I kept the fan on Medium most of the time. I really enjoyed the silence of this cooler.

Ambient room temp = 19C ~ 21C Case temp = 24C ~ 26C

Low RPM = 2096RPM	Med RPM = 4650RPM	High RPM = 5578RPM
IDLE @ 3.0GHz = 38C	IDLE @ 3.0GHz = 35C	IDLE @ 3.0GHz = 34C
LOAD @ 3.0GHz = 44C	LOAD @ 3.0GHz = 42C	LOAD @ 3.0GHz = 41C
IDLE @ 3.6GHz = 46C	IDLE @ 3.6GHz = 43C	IDLE @ 3.6GHz = 41C
LOAD @ 3.6GHz = 50C	LOAD @ 3.6GHz = 49C	LOAD @ 3.6GHz = 47C

Keith Suppe's Thoughts:

Thermaltake can be proud to engrave their name into this heatsink; they've produced another excellent product, and one which contends with some of the better cooler's out there. My only complaints were the cooler wasn't adaptable to Socket-775, and the base could have been better lapped, however; it's flatness over finish that matters in the end. Perhaps not as performance oriented as some of Thermalright's offerings it's also not a heat-pipe cooler, nor is it as costly.  Running at full speed this was a formidable contender, and while the noise was noticeable I'm also hypersensitive to such things since converting to H20 cooling. Of all the high-performance cooler's I've owned this was most definitely the quietest. The unit can be installed and left to run at full speed, or manual mode with front, or rear panel adjustment plates, or it can be easily wired to monitor temps adjusting fan speeds on its own. The unit is 100% copper from its base to its fins and it's very well constructed. It's easy to install, very versatile, and looks great. What impressed me most about this cooler was the price. I honestly thought this cooler would run about $40 ~ $45 USA. That I found the unit for as low as $30 at Dealtime was a pleasant surprise. Thermaltake has certainly hit the mark with their Polo 735 heat sink! 

Legit Bottom Line:

If you are looking for a good quality heat sink without breaking the bank take a look at the Thermaltake Polo 735.

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