2570 Ipponmatsu, Numazu-City, Shizuoka-Pref., 410-0314, Japan
Tel : +81-559-66-0789
Fax : +81-559-66-9192
Email : alpha@micforg.co.jp

http://www.micforg.co.jp/index.html

  Well I have been talking about this for a while and I finally can fill you all in.  The pictures of this cooling solution popped up a few weeks ago off a Japanese OC site but little info was available so I did a bit of research and this is what I have come up with.  The heatsink I have been calling the "Monster" is really the model P125M60 from Alpha Corporation of Japan.  It seems Alpha has been in the business of manufacturing aluminum products for some time along with a few other specialty items, anything from fishing reel spools to exotic heatsinks for large commercial applications.  They do produce a few different heatsinks for the OEM arena but it is the exotic extreme cooling setups such as the P125M60 that I think most of us are interested in.

  I sent an email to Alpha a few weeks ago expressing my interest in getting a hold of one of these badboys and promptly received a response from Tetsuji Kataoka who is a company representative that is opening a US office in California.  Mr. Kataoka was very interested in cooperating with me and said that as soon as he returned from a business trip he would send a sample to me.     He also stated that this type of product was designed basically at the request of Japanese overclockers to fit their needs and it is not meant to be a "standard" type cooling solution.  I take that to mean that it is a "hotrod" part and it is to be used with no expressed warranties or guarantees.    A few weeks later my favorite UPS man showed up at the door with a package and thats where this review begins.

  Upon opening the 12"x7"x7" box (ya, that big) I found various layers of bubble wrap and plastic ziplock bags containing many small parts and fasteners, two 60mm 12v fans, 2 metal fan grills, an aluminum shroud, and a great big pin fin heatsink.  Just to say something about the Japanese I have never received a package with this many parts packed as neatly as this was.  That may not sound like saying much but it is just an example of the high quality that everything is done with.  Also in the box were various small papers which appeared to be instructions and other related information but it was all in Japanese and thats one language I have not mastered.

  I closely inspected all the parts and I was surprised to discover that the P125M60 was designed to mount onto a Celeron or a PII and all required hardware is included for both.

If you look at the picture on the left closely you will notice eight mounting

holes and two very small holes for indexing pins.  The four outer holes are for

Celeron mounting and the inner set of four are for the PII.  The indexing pin

holes are also for mounting onto the PII processor, the pins were removed with

pliers because they interfered with the Celeron.

  A standard type stainless steel retaining spring plate is used to hold the heatsink to the Celeron through which small machine screws pass then into the heatsink itself through aluminum standoffs.  It is a very secure method though it was a bit tedious lining up the screws with the holes while trying not to disturb the thermal compound I had applied to the processor.

The aluminum shroud is fastened to the heatsink with four more small screws

on the sides.  The shroud provides the mounting holes for the two 60mm 12V fans.

  As in the above pictures the aluminum shroud is then installed.  This shroud helps to duct the air though the heatsink as the fans are mounted in a manner to exhaust through the top.  The shroud is mounted to the sides of the heatsink then the fans are mounted to the shroud.  The shroud covers most of the heatsink except for the very bottom from which fresh air is drawn into the heatsink fins.

The 60mm fans are then installed.  On my sample I used two Sunon fans for the

photo on the left because the supplied fans did not have any connectors.  I later

used two fans from a VEK12 that had 3 pin mobo connectors.

  The two 60mm 12V fans that were supplied with the P125M60 did not have power connectors on them so I used two Sunon fans then later two fans from a VEK12.  All the fans were rated the same.  The whole assembly is pretty heavy and unfortunately it does not have the "ears" we are used to on Celeron coolers that clip into the processor brackets on the mobo.  The BX6-2 in my reference system has a very tight slot1 connector so I just inserted the processor and it was held in place very well with no additional support though bumping the case around would undoubtedly loosen the whole thing.  With the case closed up I began a few benchmarks tests and some temperature measurements.

Here it is on the mobo.     Notice I have the two Global VEK12 fans on

the heatsink in this picture (they are mounted reversed here).  Also if

you look real close you can see the two black wires for the temperature

sensors that I used.  I did not used the supplied metal fan grills on my installation.

  After booting up the system I decided to run the "Blowout" demo looped for Half-Life that I used for many of the other heatsink tests I have done.  After a good 30 minutes of looping the demo my cpu temperature was 27.8C!!!  Thats at 504MHz (2.0 volts), and a  full 6.7C less than the Global WIN FAB24 at a room temperature of 25.0C!!!  Thats only 2.8C above the ambient air temperature.  Folks this is earth shaking news here.  This thing can handle any thermal load a Celeron could ever throw at it.  I also ran the demo at 527MHz all night and it was completely stable which is something I could only accomplish with peltier cooling before.  558MHz will POST but Windows98 locks up at the last moment.  I can run Windows98 at 558MHz if I use the SoftFSB utility but any 3D applications will still lock up even after playing with the L2 latency settings.

  My opinion of the P125M60 is that it is one hell of a cooling solution.  Many will say that something this extreme is a waste but I say that if your planning on pushing 504MHz or greater then you could only benefit from it.  The heatsink is a pin fin design and has approx 1632 square cm of fin area, compare that to only 151.2 square cm of fin area on the Global WIN FAB24 and you start to see why the P125M60 works so well.  A huge fin area and two big 60mm fans will keep you cool all day long under the most demanding conditions.  It did not present any clearance problems with my BX6-2 mobo though it did make getting to the fan1 header a little difficult.

The picture on the left shows the Global WIN FAB24, Vek12, and

the P125M60 heatsinks.     The picture on the right shows the

Global WIN FAB24 and the P125M60 both mounted onto a Celeron 300a.

Now for the bad news...

  It seems that Alpha may never offer the P125M60 outside Japan.  Alpha does not sell direct though perhaps if enough folks show interest maybe a reseller who provides their products internationally (at least in the States) will carry the P125M60 from Alpha and make it available though I dont know the details on how this might happen.  Another thing is I have no idea what something like this would cost.  I would imagine it would be expensive even compared to the expensive "Celery Sandwich" coolers that a few places are currently marketing.     The expense alone may make it attractive to only the most extreme OC enthusiast.   I was also a little disappointed in the lack of and motherboard mounting setup.   Although my board holds the setup securely, it would loosen easily if I had to transport the system anywhere.

  Since pictures of the P125M60 surfaced it has been a bit of a mystery but I hope I have been able to offer a bit interesting information.  I was very fortunate to get a hold of the P125M60 I would like to thank Alpha and Mr. Kataoka with the assistance they have provided me in creating this review.

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Copyright © 1999 by John Bogush