Results

Ambient temperature remained at 19C throughout.

As you can see from the results, it idle’s lower than the Coolink Silentator, but its maximum temperature is higher than the Silentator on max speed. The cooler is actually quieter than the Coolink at full tilt so leaving at this speed is not a problem. That said, there is literally a degree or two in it which isn’t enough to categorically say that this cooler is worse.

The fact that it doesn’t make as much noise as the Silentator on max, goes to show that the extra thought that went into the fin pitch, distance etc. really does make a difference.

If you want the best cooling however, you can use your favoured fan which is likely to be higher CFM and lower dBA. Unfortunately, unlike the Coolink Silentator, Thermalright don’t supply more vibration mounts and more fan wire clips meaning that you can’t mount another fan on the other side, unless you want to mod one on.

As the cooler is so big, I decided to try passive usage. The cooler idled at around 45C but load testing reached 62C and still rising slightly (after 10 minutes) before I decided that my curiosity isn’t enough to warrant a piece of expensive fried silicon. If you use your PC for DVD watching and internet browsing – and you have sufficient case ventilation – there is no reason why you can’t use this cooler passively.

UPDATE: According to one of our readers, the base of this heatsink isn’t as good as it appears. If you take the time to lap and polish the base, you’ll find that there is a slight bump in the middle which most likely points towards the heatpipes being soldered on AFTER the base has been machined. The soldering process could warp the base slightly and case this bump. Removing it apparently gives you an extra 2-3 degree difference in the temperatures.