I had a hard time to install this cooler. The mechanical dimensions are all over dimensions and the mounting may require a lot more space than anticipated.
At first I was tempted to return the cooler:
1. I believe it will be in many cases a pain in the neck to install this cooler unless you own a big ancient computer case with lots of room.
2. The heat pipes are routed in such way that I have a hard time to believe that it will fit into any installation that has all Memory slots occupied.
3. I sacrificed two of my memory chips (Vengeance 8GB Tot) to fit the cooler without breaking anything or putting stress on the device in question.
4. The cooling performance is not a miracle. I tested pretty much the cooling performance with a close eye on ambient temperatures. The result is: the Cooler master with the support of four additional fans keeps the CPU temperature at approximately 15 Degrees Celsius above the ambient. e.x. (outside the box) ambient is at 27 Deg. C my FX 8 Core will run about 42 Deg. C.
5. The top of the Cooler may be too tall and prevent you from closing your Case. If you are able to place the side panel and latch it with whatever your method of securing is, MAKE SURE IT DOES NOT APPLY PRESSURE TO THE MOTHER BOARD, since this will, over time kill your mother board due to mechanical stress. I was somewhat lucky with this.
ALL OVER:
I would not buy this item unless I have exactly figured the measurements and am sure it will fit in any aspect.
If your memory sockets are mounted close to the CPU socket (Memory with heat spreader are too tall) forget about it. It will not allow you to install all memory.
If your case is an Mini ITX CAUTION it may not provide enough over head space.
Study the dimensions make measurements as close as you can get before deciding.
Otherwise you'll be packing it up and ship it back.
I have to admit, that the cooler runs quite, at least with the ~990 RPM's at idle. I measured about 1800 RPM's for max. and did not hear an increase in noise.
My old DEEP COOL 3 heat-pipe half the size with 80mm fan kept my system at 50 Deg. C (about the same ambient) with a second Video Card installed.
The two video cards would run at about 66 - 68 Deg. C which is actually cool for the cards, however will add to the ambient temperature inside the enclosure and thereby keep everything a little higher in temperature.
Bottom Line:
I can keep the CPU at 8 deg. C (50-42 Deg. C) lower with this $60 item as supposed to my $24 old cooler.
Economical and technical there is no advantage, I don't over clock or run Graphics and CPU intensive applications. Can only imagine where this would put the temperature.
In other words, the money was thrown out of the window since it really provided very little difference to my previous cooler.
Since I made the decision to purchase, I'll keep it because I was able to mount it after loosing 8GB RAM. ( It also is a pain in the neck to remove it again... )
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Customer reviews
You're going to want low profile memory for this thing. Very good cooler. Keeps core i5-2400 within 26-38C and core i5-3570K within 28-34C (max 55C under load). Install is trial and error, and you're going to want to make sure your memory can fit under it. I recommend finding LOW PROFILE sticks. XMS3 will do fine under it, but big sticks like Corsair Vengeance will be virtually impossible unless you're only using two sticks. Other than that, your cooling will match that of Noctua fans. If you like style and aesthetics, and you have low profile RAM, get this thing. The little stripe-light looks incredible. The fans are detachable for easier installation (in fact, the instructions tell you to take the fans off for better install procedures). Make sure that the fans are pointing the right way when you're done.
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