| Sun: 05/19/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
We're happy to say that based on the test results we have a new CPU cooler to add to our lists of favorites: the Thermalright True Spirit 140. When you compare it to the Gold Award winners from our large round-up, Thermalright has the best overall cooling performance and its noise production is on par with the rest.
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| Sun: 05/19/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
“Primochill has built a reputation by making solid Primoflex LRT tubing. The company’s product lines have grown, adding to Primochill’s portfolio of water cooling offerings. And the latest is on our test-bench today: the Primochill 240mm CTR reservoir, sporting various fluorescent colors and UV actives. It makes a perfect option for modders and water cooling enthusiasts who also want to dress up their system.”
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| Sat: 05/18/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Thermaltake's Water 2.0 series has already come and gone. We were lucky enough to be able to take a look at the Water 2.0 Extreme which we felt was a great cooler in terms of performance but was let down slightly by its very high price tag relative to the competition. Now Thermaltake have progressed to the Water 3.0 series and with have with us today the Water 3.0 Pro. The Water 3.0 Pro is a dual 120mm fan Asetek based AIO cooler that features a 49mm thick, aka double thickness, 120mm aluminium radiator.
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| Sat: 05/18/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Today we will show you the best way to install a liquid cooling set in your desktop PC. We used the Corsair H100i and a Corsair Obsidian 550D chassis.
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| Fri: 05/17/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
We are looking at two different CPU coolers today that stray a bit off the beaten path. Both the Genesis and the Fenrir are tower air coolers in a sense but both add a horizontal plane of cooling fins both utilizing heatpipes that have the ability to flow cooling air to other parts of the motherboard's power elements.
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| Fri: 05/17/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
The new NZXT FZ-200 Airflow Fan Series 200mm fan promise an increase of over 15% more airflow than their previous 200mm fans and are supposed to be able to have more airflow than multiple 120/140mm fans throughout your gaming or enthusiast rig, which should lessen noise considerably.
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| Thu: 05/16/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
We just published a huge group test of pre-assembled liquid cooling sets for desktop PCs. Fully assembled liquid cooling sets are getting more popular, as they come as a closed system which almost guarantees no leaks. Installing the system isn't much more challenging than installing a conventional CPU tower cooler. We compared the best liquid cooling sets to the best air coolers in terms of cooling capacity and noise levels.
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| Thu: 05/16/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Noctua today presented a new revision of its much acclaimed NH-U12DX and
NH-U9DX quiet CPU coolers for Intel Xeon workstations and servers. The new
i4 models support LGA2011 (both Square and Narrow ILM), LGA1356 and LGA1366
based Xeon platforms and now come with PWM fans for automatic speed control.
Fitted with the professional SecuFirm2™ mounting system and bundled with
Noctua's industrial-grade NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-U12DX i4 and
NH-U9DX i4 form complete premium quality packages for quietly cooling Xeon
based workstations and servers.
"Builders of quiet workstations and servers still have trouble finding
quality cooling solutions for Intel's LGA2011 socket with Narrow ILM
mounting", explains Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO), "so we've decided
to update our DX line of coolers to work with both Square ILM and Narrow
ILM based LGA2011 platforms. At the same time, we've added PWM control
and switched the U12 version to the new, slimmer layout of the NH-U12S,
which not only provides better performance but also ensures easier
access to the RAM slots, which was another long time request from our
industry partners."
Supporting Intel’s LGA2011 (both Square and Narrow ILM), LGA1356 and
LGA1366 Xeon platforms, the SecuFirm2™ mounting included with the
NH-U12DX i4 and NH-U9DX i4 has been custom designed for system
integrators who require both perfect contact pressure and quick,
convenient installation.
Both the NF-F12 120mm fan of the NH-U12DX i4 and the two NF-B9 92mm fans
of the NH-U9DX i4 now support PWM for fully automatic speed control. In
addition, the maximum fan speed can be reduced using the supplied
Low-Noise Adaptors for even quieter operation.
Thanks to its slim design with only 45mm fin depth, the NH-U12DX i4
ensures easy access to the RAM slots. When installed parallel to the
slots, it will not overhang the memory on LGA1356, LGA1366 and LGA2011
Square ILM even with two fans installed, thus providing full
compatibility with tall RAM heatsinks.
While the superior cooling performance of the NH-U12DX i4 makes it ideal
for quiet workstation builds, the 125mm height of the NH-U9DX i4 makes
it fully compatible with standard 4U server cases.
Pricing and availability The NH-U9DX i4 and NH-U12DX i4 will be available
shortly at suggested retail prices of EUR 59.90 / USD 64.90 (NH-U9DX i4) and
EUR 69.90 / USD 74.90 (NH-U12DX i4).
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| Thu: 05/16/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Yesterday we published a huge group test of pre-assembled liquid cooling sets for desktop PCs. Today, we examine in detail what the differences are between air and liquid cooling. Does liquid cooling allow for a better air flow inside the computer chassis, and does this lead to significantly lower temperatures inside compared to conventional CPU coolers?
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| Thu: 05/16/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Finally! A mass production liquid cooling system with realistic price tag outperformed not only the best air cooler, but also some of the best of its predecessors.
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"In this review PCSTATS will be testing the 240GB Kingston SSDnow V300 SSD - a 6Gb/s SATA III drive rated by the manufacturer for sequential read speeds up to 450MB/s and write speeds up to 450MB/s."
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| Tue: 05/14/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
"Airflow is driven by a single 120mm PWM fan whose snow white 7-bladed impeller rotates at your basic 2200RPM to 800RPM. Noise output is moderate. Because computer enthusiasts tend to be picky bunch, Evercool have tossed in one extra set of wire fan clips."
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| Mon: 05/13/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Looks like the latest generation of self contained water coolers are FINALLY squeezing the air cooled tower heatsinks out of the list. Bunch of new heatsinks added to Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsink chart - check it out and spread the word if you known anyone else who might find it handy.
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| Sun: 05/12/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Today we are going to look at the latest all-in-one CPU water cooler from Cooler Master, the Eisberg Prestige 240L which competes with the latest models from the likes of Corsair and NZXT. The Eisberg range is targeted specifically at enthusiasts and boasts a number of exciting features that differentiate it from the competition.
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| Sun: 05/12/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Noctua today announced the availability of an
alternative mounting option for its NH-L9a low profile heatsink. The new
option does not make use of a backplate and thus now permits to install
the NH-L9a on AMD mainboards that have components in the area at the
rear side that is reserved for the backplate in the AMD specifications.
The new mounting parts will be provided to NH-L9a users free of charge."The SecuFirm2™ mounting system of the NH-L9a complies strictly to the
AMD specifications and guarantees 100% compatibility with mainboards
that follow these specifications", explains Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua
CEO). "We've been overwhelmed with the great press and customer feedback
on this cooler, but unfortunately, some mini-ITX mainboards do not
follow the AMD specifications, so the NH-L9a could not be installed on
these. We have now designed an alternative mounting option and will
provide the new parts to customers who need it free of charge."
Since their introduction in late 2012, Noctua's NH-L9 series low profile
coolers have already won more than 100 awards and recommendations from
the international press. The NH-L9a's original mounting system uses a
backplate as per the AMD specifications in order to assure perfect
contact pressure and to prevent the mainboard from being bent. However,
this system is incompatible with mainboards such as the ASRock
FM2A75M-ITX or FM2A85X-ITX, which do not use a stock backplate and have
components on the rear side, inside the area which, according to the AMD
specifications, is reserved for the backplate. The new, alternative
mounting option makes use of four separate spacers instead of the
backplate and thus allows to install the cooler on these mainboards.
Customers can obtain the new mounting parts from Noctua's customer
service free of charge after providing a proof of purchase (scan, photo
or electronic copy of the invoice) of both a Noctua NH-L9a heatsink and
an AMD mainboard that is incompatible with the original mounting system.
In addition, the new NM-APS3 spacers will from now on be included within
the NH-L9a's scope of delivery, making it compatible with mainboards
such as the ASRock FM2A75M-ITX or FM2A85X-ITX out of the box.
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| Sun: 05/12/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Alpenfohn are a quite reputable German brand known for their high quality enthusiast cooling products and their range of fans is certainly no exception. Alpenfohn boast about the "German Engineering" that goes into their fans and we wonder whether those Germans have what it takes to match up to that Austrian Engineering that Noctua seem to have dominated the enthusiast fan market with.
The Alpenfohn Fohn 120 and 140 Wing Boost Fans are high quality pieces of engineering and differ significantly in design from most of the fans you are probably used to seeing.
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| Sat: 05/11/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
The Katana 4 performs better than the Cooler Master Hyper T4 and Hyper TX3, both in terms of cooling and noise. The Scythe Ashura cools very well when its fan is turning at high speed, but it's also noisy. When the fan is at low speed, the cooler is completely quiet, but also cools poorly.
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| Sat: 05/11/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Larger radiator and a large 140 mm fan, fortified pump and longer tubing, user-friendly software for management and monitoring – will that be enough to outperform the best air cooler?
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| Fri: 05/10/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
Noctua today released a higher speed PWM version
of its award-winning NF-A14 140mm fan. Its performance-oriented 1500rpm
top speed and comprehensive speed control options make the NF-A14 PWM an
elite choice for users who strive to strike a perfect balance between
excellent cooling capacity and superb quietness of operation, be it on
watercooling radiators, on heatsinks or in case ventilation.
"Our NF-A15 and NF-A14 fans have been very well received by customers
and hardware journalists alike", says Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO),
"but we got many requests for a square frame PWM version for use as a
case fan and on watercooling radiators. We can now meet this demand with
the new NF-A14 PWM."
Introduced in late 2012, Noctua's NF-A15 and NF-A14 140mm fans have
already received more than 50 awards and recommendations from leading
international hardware websites and magazines. So far, only the round
frame NF-A15 was available with PWM support for automatic speed control
though. While the NF-A15's round frame is ideal for use on CPU
heatsinks, the new NF-A14 PWM now combines PWM support with the A14's
square frame that lends itself to use as a case fan or on watercooling
radiators.
Like the NF-A14 FLX and ULN models, the new PWM version complies with
Noctua's AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) standard and features
sophisticated aerodynamic design measures such as Flow Acceleration
Channels. Noctua's custom designed NE-FD1 PWM IC and reference class
SSO2 bearings guarantee superb running smoothness and excellent
long-term stability. Topped off with modular cabling, a Low-Noise
Adaptor and 6 years manufacturer's warranty, the NF-A14 PWM is a premium
choice for the highest demands.
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| Thu: 05/09/2013 | Topic: Cooling / Heatsinks PermaLink |
"If you’ve ever built your own system you know that you need good fans and one such company that makes them is Noctua as if you’re an enthusiast you know this. If you’re looking for quiet and reliable fans that are on the cutting edge of cooling technology, then you go with Noctua plain and simple. Today for review I have one of the latest fans from Noctua, the NF-S12A FLX, the FLX means Flex or flexible meaning that you can control the fan speed and it gives you three choices 1200rpm, 900rpm or 700rpm depending on what your uses are for the fan. These make a great choice for either CPU air cooling, liquid cooling or even just case cooling. Read on to learn more… "
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