| ThermoLab Baram CPU Cooler
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Installation and Operation:
The ThermoLab Baram CPU cooler was installed in a system with the following components for this review:
» Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core processor
» ASUS P5KC P35 ATX motherboard
» Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB hard drive
» Aeneon XTUNE 2GB DDR3 1333MHz dual channel memory
» Nesteq EECS 700 Watt power supply
» Windows Vista Home Premium, 64-Bit
The first two images in this section of the review show a fan clipped onto the Baram. The design is yet another feature that reminds me of a Thermalright product. If you can say one thing it is that at least they have chosen a worthy product to imitate. You can clip one or two 120mm fans to the Baram, and the process is rather simple. Some manufacturers include rubber strips to reduce vibrations between the fan and the cooler, but not ThermoLab.
 
Installation wound up being a bit tricky. The main problem was that for an LGA 775 installation, the bolts have to be passed through the motherboard backplate, through the motherboard, and then lined up with the cooler... pretty much opposite what a typical cooler requires. While this does eliminate the potential for interference while tightening bolts from above, it is not easy to balance all of this while looking trying to line things up. I wound up with the cooler upside down between my knees with the motherboard resting on it.
The next set of images take a look at the Baram installed, and once the work was done I was rather pleased. The bracket has a rather minimalistic look to it that shouldn't get in the way of any motherboard components. Overall the cooler is of average size for a heatpipe tower, and there should be plenty of room for one or two fans in most systems.
 
The last set of images in this section take a closer look at the mounting brackets. There really isn't much to them, and this simplicity is appealing because it looks good and works well.
 
Once the system was started up with the Baram installed, I was presented with another 'problem' that gave me flashbacks to another cooler review. I reviewed the Zalman CNPS8000 back in the summer of 2006, and once the review was over I never used it again because of the horrible, unexplainable stench of body odor. While the Baram didn't smell quite as strongly, the scent was identical, and quite unpleasant. As soon as a fan blows air across the cooler it smells like a locker room or a hot summer day in a taxi.
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