OCZ Gladiator Max HDT CPU Cooler Review

External Impressions

The Gladiator has 4 U shaped heatpipes giving it 8 vertical pipes for dissipating heat. The fins on the Gladiator Max are quite thick and even feel sturdy. It would have to take a decent hit to bend one of the fins on this cooler. The base of the Gladiator Max has an interesting feature to it.

There are 4 pillars that are part of the cast aluminum base and are connected to the first 4 fins. This should help wick heat away from the aluminum base.

Looking at the top of the cooler we can get a good look at the fin shape. Not sure if there is any reason behind the shape they picked, but it looks better than a plain old rectangle cooler.

The base comes protected with the normal plastic film. I did, however, run into a small annoyance when I pulled the plastic off.

There was a lot of the sticky material left on the base. If missed this could have resulted in less than desirable results or worse made a large mess. So out come the cotton swabs and alcohol.

This goes to show that no matter what you should always clean the cooler base prior to installing it. You just never know. I soaked the base with alcohol for a few minutes and cleaned it of with a few cotton swabs.

All cleaned up we can get a good look at the base. It’s far from a mirror surface but thats the norm with HDT coolers.