CPU coolers - 29 articles
Contains reviews about air, water and other types of processor cooling technology.
You can see all manner of designs and technology these days on CPU coolers ranging from the weird and wonderful, to the more conservative and stylish. But it is the technologies behind the cooling that matters the most to any hardware enthusiast. One technology that has offered impressive performance in the past is the HDT design, where the heatpipes actually touch the CPU. This should deliver ...
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When it comes time for an enthusiast to upgrade his or her processor, it's usually quite a momentous occasion. Lots of planning goes into the perfect choice of hardware, and it's not uncommon for a cooler upgrade too; as faster usually means hotter. Therefore they usually go for something something much beefier than before – not one which looks similar to the stock Intel model. It’s odd saying ...
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With more and more emphasis being put on the cooling proficiency and the quietness of cooling products, many people are beginning to look try different ways to keeping their PC chilled at a reasonable noise level. One of the most popular methods is to purchase a passive cooler, I.E. one without a fan. But can these fanless coolers really live up to their fan-covered ancestors?
That’s the ...
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As the computing industry has evolved over the years, people have begun to care more and more about what their PC looks like, as well as how it performs. But it’s not like what it was like several years ago, where the ‘cool’ happened to be flashing neon tubes and fans that glow various colours. The tacky disco era has moved on now, it’s now the age of pure quality that performs well, is silent ...
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Noiseblocker have created some pretty immense coolers in the past, notably among them is the Coolscraper series which combines high performance cooling with ultra silence. Now they've sent me the much anticipated Coolscraper 3. Lets see if it lives up to the high standard that we have come to expect from Coolscraper over the past few years.
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Scythe have produced some insane coolers in the past, most notably perhaps, the Scythe Andy. Oddly named, but whopping in size and surface area. Now though, they've come out with something bigger, badder and hopefully better; the Sycthe Zipang, its monstrous. With 12 copper heatpipes, and what is in essence, two heatsinks, I'm hoping for some awesome temperatures from this one.
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CPU cooling has always been important for the overclocker, but due to dual and quad cores it's becoming increasingly important for the casual user too. Water cooling and phase change are both great ways of cooling a CPU; however the extremes of these methods are both very expensive and can be rather risky. This is the reason why Air Cooling is still used today, though don’t label it as boring, ...
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CPU cooling starts with the stock HSF you get with your new processor, but these are loud and poor at removing heat from the overclocked silicon beneath. As a result, the consumer demands more, and the manufactures provide; mostly in the form of tower coolers.
Today I have the hip-hop Gigabyte G-Power 2 Pro which features ‘atmospheric blue LED lighting’ and a 120mm fan. Lets see how it ...
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There are so many heatsinks out there that choosing your preferred CPU anti-perspirant is a mine-field. While it be component conflict, case issues or price, there are factors that immediately make some offerings impossible to use.
Today I have the newest heatsink to fly from the R&D department doors at Noctua; the NH-U12P which is an amalgamation of several proven Noctua products onto a new ...
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Cooling for your CPU has slowly moved away from the bizarre shapes and sizes hoping to remove an extra degree or two, and shifted to tower coolers which naturally sit above motherboard surface components and provide much more surface area for heat to be lost.
The ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 is no different, and it’s built by a company that have shown their silent coolers to be more than adequate ...
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As everyone knows, water + computers normally equals disaster and RMA all round. But in some cases, the power of H2O can be used to your silicones benefit.
There is a fine line between effective watercooling and relying on people believing that it is by definition better than air. Chilling by water is much more involved than a simple HSF combo, which normally holds people back from taking the ...
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Heatsinks for modern processors are slowly getting bigger and bigger, in fact many are too big to fit in a standard case. There is an obvious limit on the amount of metal that you can strap to your core before limitations creep in (motherboard component conflict, case size, weight etc.).
As a result Thermalright have come up with the IFX-14 (Infernal Fire eXtinguisher) which not only supports ...
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While CPU’s are continuing to get more and more power efficient and cooler, the heatsinks that are strapped on top continue to get larger. The current trend seems to be large, tower heatsinks with plenty of heatpipes sending heat to the fins. Today I have the ThermalRight Ultra 120 eXtreme heatsink that features the ability to mount a slow spinning 120mm fan.
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Scythe have been making some of the best coolers around for a couple of years now and they have always been rather large and excessive; but very effective. Today I have with me something that is again, rather excessive and with some of the strangest box art I have ever seen; the Scythe Andy Samurai Master.
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We’ve taken a spy at ZEROtherm's GPU cooling range, and we're impressed; now its time for their CPU offerings. Today I have their range of butterfly coolers which may frighten the masculine but if their silent and cool well no-one will notice your lack of manlihood…
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Water cooling has always been appealing to the HTPC crowd as it gave them a near silent cooling solution for their pride and joy. However, WC kits can often be ugly and bulky which means that internal kits are often the order of the day. Today I am testing the Silverstone Tundra TD01 which aims to provide an eye catching solution to silent cooling that will fit right in with your other living ...
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Jetart are a reasonably unknown company that has done a fair bit of work with us in the past with good results; their graphics cooling solutions managed to destroy Artic Cooling’s attempt making Jetart the best aftermarket cooling for your card. Now I have the privilege of reviewing their second make of their external water-cooling unit; the AK2000.
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Thermalright have been making quality heatsinks for awhile now and usually lead the pack with new innovations to make the humble PC users’ life easier. Today we test the SI-120 with follows their lastest line of ‘Light ‘n’ Easy’ products. Weighing in at 400g, it certainly is light, but is it easy?
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