Cooling Capacity

The surface of the coolers is rough, not polished.

Unfortunately, the Vortex TX isn't that impressive in terms of cooling capacity. When fully stressed, the Pentium 4 580 can reach 74 °C and start to throttle. For smaller CPUs, the cooler can be used satisfactorily though; for example, with the Pentium 4 540 (3.4 GHz), it works fine.

The manufacturer reports the thermal resistance of the cooler at 0.29-0.40 K/W, which is a rather wide range. We measured a thermal resistance of 0.39 K/W, within the range of the manufacturer's claim

The noise level of 36.7 dB(A), while not quiet as a whisper, wouldn't distract you while working on the PC.

The price of $39 is too high for the lukewarm performance the unit provides.