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FINAL NOTES AND TESTING
Finally we have the heatsink installed, and ready for some temperature testing.
Here we can note that there is ample room for another fan if need be, and also room for the cooler to be configured in a horizontal configuration. We used this orientation so that the air exiting the cooler would provide some cooling benefit to the motherboard cooler.
Users must be careful to orient the device in a manner that will not conflict with their RAM slots if they are using RAM with very tall fins. In that case a sideways orientation will be needed to prevent blocking of the nearest RAM slot to the cooler. For normal sized RAM sticks, this would not be an issue.
The cooler performed admirably in our testing. With the room temperature at 21C these results (also in Celsius) are excellent. For lower temperature, there is also the option of using more powerful fans as well. It is pretty impressive that with 1600 RPM fans that the cooler had these great results.
CONCLUSION
When we initially received this product and it was noted that the included fan was only 1600 RPM, I was very skeptical to be honest. A cooler with a 1600 RPM fan just doesn’t strike me as something that would be ‘in my category’. Overclocking and performance are very large considerations, and frankly one wouldn’t think a 1600 RPM fan could manage to hold down the temps that we require.
As we started looking into the device and the several innovative features as we were setting up, there was a feeling of ‘well…maybe.”
Things such as the fin alignment, the dimpled fin surfaces and the auxiliary heatsink on the top of the contact surface really started to set in as features of a very well thought out device. The exposed heatpipes for greater heat transfer also really stuck out as something that would translate to real performance.
The attention to detail and the leveraging of every possible method of performance enhancement really paid off for SilenX in this respect. We were very surprised with the performance with the low RPM fan, and when they say it is silent, they mean it! It is very quiet and unobtrusive when it comes to noise levels.
There is the option to connect more, or faster, fans to this heatsink if one were to really being pushing the limits with the processor. For 90 percent of the users out there, this stock solution will afford them great, quiet performance with an easy installation.
Considering that some of the more popular heatsinks can easily run 60 dollars without a fan, this cooler definitely scores huge in the bang-for-buck category. Coming in at $32.99 at many reputable resellers this is sure to be a big hit for Silenx.
For this price point, one would be hard pressed to find a complete solution, with the fan and even the TIM, that would come close to the great ratio of performance and silence that this unit provides. Efficiency integrated into design is the key to this class of heatsink, and SilenX definitely pulls off a winner here!
Concise professional review as always Paul.
A few questions. Would it be possible to turn the heat sink 90 degrees so that the warm air would exit through the rear case fan, or is there a clearance issue on that eVGA board? I can’t be sure if there is a clearance problem, or not, from the angle of the photo.
Second, if turning it 90 degrees would create a clearance problem, wouldn’t a person be better off to flip the fan around so that the warm air pulled from the heat sink would exhaust through the top of the case?
As it is now, the warm air from the heat sink would be blown directly into the graphics cards. The last thing high performance graphics cards need these days is warm air.
you make an excellent point about the graphics cards hammeister! I do use watercooling on my cards, so that wasn’t taken into much consideration for my personal usage, but it should be for illustrating to other users their desired setups.
There would be absolutely no clearance issue at all if it is placed either way with this board. One could even have the air exhaust to the top, as the fan can go either direction, on either side of the heatsink.
The only constraint would be the first RAM slot if using ram with extra long fins, but most ram would be fine. this would also only manifest itself in the configuration shown.
Thanks for your input hammy, i will take that into consideration on my next heatsink review. Any feedback is appreciated and will only help to make future reviews even better 🙂
Hi, im thinking about buying this cooler and putting it on my fatality z77 professional-m. but im very concerned about if it will fit with my 4 corsair vengeance RAM sticks. i wanna run it with 2 fans (1on each side ofc) blowing out of the back of the case. i know, you would have to test it to answer this questuion but pls give me your estimate about this. that would be great.
I have another question, did you this push/pull (2fans), and exhaust hot air from the back of the case. And maybe by any chance do you know is the fan manufacturer, it seem quit nice fan, to be able to put so 86CFM and be quiet at the same time !