The Delta DBX-A Cooler

The retail kit of the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition processor comes with a Delta DBX-A cooler. This cooler is exclusive to the Extreme Edition processor. The non-Extreme Edition Core i7 processors ship with the less-effective Delta/Nidec DBA-A cooler.

The DBX-A's heatsink has a copper core with a "vapour change" chamber, which acts like a heatpipe, and rapidly transfers heat from the base to the top of the heatsink. It also uses a mix of copper and nickel-plated aluminium fins. The heatsink base has three stripes of pre-applied thermal paste. Be careful when you handle the cooler as the thermal paste is liquid in nature. It will come off if you touch it.

The cooler uses a large 80 mm Delta DTC-CAX06 fan, which has a maximum power output of 9.6 W. The fan comes with a mini-switch which allows you to set the fan to run in the Quiet (Q) mode or the Performance (P) mode. In the Quiet mode, the fan will spin at just 2150 RPM, but if you need better cooling, you can switch it to the Performance mode, which drives the fan up to its maximum speed of 3050 RPM.

Unfortunately, it did not have a fan shroud which would improve the fan's performance by directing its air flow at the heatsink. Instead, Intel chose to include only an integrated blue LED for case modders who choose to use the stock cooler. However, the lack of even a simple fan grill makes it dangerous for anyone to fiddle inside the case while the fan's spinning. If you try to use the mini-switch to change the speed of the fan while it's spinning, you could lose a finger, so watch out!

Mix of copper and aluminium fins

The fan's mini-switch

One of the four fasteners

If you would like to learn more about installing the Delta DBX-A cooler, be sure to read our Intel Core i7 Installation Guide.

Cooler Specifications

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