| Kingwin KA-9225 and KA-9227 Heatpipe CPU Coolers
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Installation:
For the installation portion of the review, I installed each Kingwin cooler on a Foxconn 6150K8MA motherboard with an AMD A64 3200+ processor.
The mounting pieces to be used may vary with each motherboard's layout, but in most cases it will probably be necessary to remove the stock mounting hardware. As with many modern AMD based motherboards, there are two holes on either side of the processor socket that are revealed when the black plastic retention device is removed. With two smaller t-brackets mounted to the bottom of each cooler, just apply some thermal paste to the CPU, line up the screw holes to the motherboard, and screw in the longer screws from the bottom of the motherboard into the holes in the t-brackets. The rubber grommets included with the coolers are used in between the brackets and the motherboard.
 
With each Kingwin cooler installed and powered up, the following images are what would be seen. The below left image is the Kingwin KA-9225 and the below right image is the Kingwin KA-9227. The 90mm fan on each cooler emits a bright blue glow and whistles at 2500RPM, which is a little on the high side for a CPU cooling fan.
 
Testing:
The hardware that was installed for the testing portion of the review includes the following components:
» Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard
» AMD A64 3200+ Processor
» Micron 2x1GB DDR400 Memory
» Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200RPM SATA II Hard Drive
» SunbeamTech NUUO 550W Power Supply
To test the thermal results of each Kingwin CPU cooler, the idle and load temperatures were monitored using SpeedFan system diagnostic software. The idle condition was established by powering the system without running any applications for a period of at least 30 minutes, and the load condition was established by running Prime95 for a period of at least 60 minutes.
The chart below displays the idle and load thermal results with the stock AMD cooler versus the Kingwin KA-9225 and Kingwin KA-9227 coolers. As you can see by the results, it was a very tight race. The KA-9227 edged out the other coolers with the idle temperature performance, while the KA-9225 performed slightly better with the load temperature performance.
There isn't that much of a difference between the performance of the stock AMD cooler and either of these Kingwin coolers. They may be a good option for those with an OEM processor that didn't include a cooler, but neither really provides much of a cooling upgrade over what AMD includes with a retail processor. Plus, when either Kingwin cooler is at full throttle, the 90mm fans at 2500RPM and 31.80dBA are quite noisy.
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