Verdict: A storm in a teacup
Heatsinks used to be big chunks of metal with a fan on top. These days, however, complex arrangements of heatpipes and suspended fans are more common. The OCZ Tempest is compatible with new CPU sockets, but it still looks a little antiquated - hunk of metal, fan on top. There are heatpipes, but the Tempest looks tiny next to the massive Zalman CNPS9700 LED, and even on the dinky side compared with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
Although the box contains a wealth of screws and metal plates, the Tempest is easy to fit. Various plates need to be screwed on, depending on which CPU you're using, and it then screws into a backplate. The parts are well made and the holes line up easily. Once fitted, the Tempest feels secure.
The Tempest is cooled using a 92mm fan, complete with blue LEDs. There's no fan speed control included, and at full speed, the fan is audible, though not deafening. Performance in our overclocked, overvolted Athlon 64 FX-55 test rig was reasonable, with the Tempest cooling the CPU to 8ûC below the reference HSF. This is still some way off the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, though, which reduced the CPU temperature by 18ûC. In the Intel rig, which uses an overclocked 3.96GHz Pentium 4e, the CPU ran 4ûC hotter with the Tempest than it did with the reference kit. The heatsink was hot to the touch when we removed it, as the fan hadn't dissipated the heat.
CONCLUSION
The Tempest is well made in that it's easy to fit, but there's no denying that the design is antiquated. Heatpipes are all well and good, but the basic design and 92mm fan just doesn't cut it when it comes to getting rid of heat. For both Intel and AMD systems, you're better off with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro or Freezer 64 Pro.
