It’s a small cool, so it’s a small box.

Inside you’ll find the cooler, the accessory box and installation instructions.

I have to say that I was really struck by the color of this cooler, it’ very different than the standard ‘silver’ colored cooler out there today. The fan comes pre-attached for you, and it has a black frame with red blades.

The top says PC Cooler on it, not sure why exactly as we already know what it is right?!

The base has the mounts pre-attached for you as well, you use the same mount for any socket.  You can see the two heatpipes running though the base, it’s a direct touch style cooler that should provide decent cooling performance.

Attached to the base is a smaller heatsink for extra cooling.

The base of the cooler appears to be flat, but it’s not mirrored or smooth. That’s not a big deal though as I’ve learned over the years a smooth, mirror finish doesn’t mean a good CPU cooler.

The fan is held on by rubber grommets that slide into the cooler, it just pulls or slides off easily. It’s a 92mm fan as you can see on the label.

Here’s the cooler without the fan on. The fins are copper colored as you can see, and they are thin and flexible as you’d expect.

If you didn’t notice the cooler fins aren’t flat, they’re more bubbled or spotted.

Inside of the little white box you’ll find two mounting brackets and two smaller bags with the mounting hardware or plasticware inside, along with a tube of thermal compound. The mounts are rings and they’re multi-use, one is for Intel and the other is for AMD sockets.

Specifications:

Effizio EFZ-92HA3

Heatsink Specifications:
Part Number: EFZ-92HA3
Dimensions: 95x82x123 mm
Speed:  800-2000 RPM
Noise: 8-24 dBA
Airflow: 22-48 CFM
Voltage: 5-12 v
Current: 0.15 A
Power: 1.80 w
Bearing Type: Fluid Dynamic

I’m installing this Silenx cooler on my Intel Core i5 750 CPU.

I’m using the Intel Socket 1156 mounts. It’s basically a push pin system that you put together yourself.

To get ready for installation you need to slide the white female pins in to the mounting ring.

You don’t install the black pins until the bracket is on your motherboard, but here’s what it would look like:

Getting the mount installed is easy, just push through the holes in your motherboard then slide the black pins into the white ones to secure the ring to your board.

The next step would be to install the cooler itself, it just clips in place, it’s fairly simple.

The Silenx Effizio EFZ-92HA3 cooler is small, and at least on my motherboard it easily clears the ram sockets. This is a good thing with the prevalence of ram with large sized heatspreaders on it.

The Silenx cooler is rather small in reality but I put it up against some larger coolers for comparison.  The main reason is that’s what I have on hand. I put it up against the Thermaltake Frio OCK, Noctua NH-C14, and the Noctua NH-U12P.

The Core i5 is a quad core CPU so I use two instances of Orthos Stress prime to get load on all four cores. I also use CoreTemp to monitor and log the temperatures of the CPU. In the chart of temperatures below you’ll see just one temperature, that’s the average of the four cores. A single temp makes things a lot easier for charting I think.

Ambient room temperature during testing was 24.7C (+/- .3C).

When I was first getting this review done I was thinking that the Silnex wasn’t going to do that well against the bigger coolers I have, but that’s obviously not the case. When I first put the chart together I was shocked and I had to re-check all of the temps I got, and my math, sure enough they were correct. The Silenx Effizio EFZ-92HA3 performs very well as you can see, it’s not the best of the group but no one expected it to be when being put up against such larger coolers.

The noise level is virtually non-existent, yes it’s that quiet. It added no additional noise to my system, which is a good thing.

Conclusion:
I am truly shocked and amazed by the performance of the Silenx Effizio EFZ-92HA3. I put it up against coolers that are two or even three times the size of it and it came close in terms of performance. 

I really like the looks of this cooler, I’m not sure why, it just looks great. The cooler is very quiet, and it’s easy to install. The mounting system that Silenx uses is very easy to use.

The Effizio EFZ-92HA3 will be able to fit in any system and I’m sure it will provide adequate cooling for you CPU. If you’re looking for a good looking and good performing cooler then you’ll want to seriously take a a close look at the Silenx Effizio EFZ-92HA3.

I have those other coolers, but for now, the Effizio EFZ-92HA3 will be staying in my system as I’m very happy with it.

Pros:
+Excellent performance
+Simple to install
+A good looking cooler
+Well made

Cons:
-None that I could find

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Silenx Effizio EFZ-92HA3 CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

The Evercool Transformer 4 comes packaged in a sealed plastic container.

Inside you’ll find a very brief instruction guide and an accessory box.

The Transformer 4 is a flashy, shiny sliver color with four copper heatpipes going up through the aluminum fins. It has two 120mm fans, one on each side.

The base appears to be flat and you can see the bottoms of the heatpipes there.

Inside the box you’ll find six small bags, two back plates, one bracket an a tube of thermal compound.

Specifications:

Transformer 4 CPU Cooler

Model: HPJ-12025

Features:
-4 heatpipes in 8mm, large aluminum fins with Heat Pipe Contact provide effective cool.
-All-in-one socket design for compatible with both Intel LGA 775/ LGA 1366/ LGA 1156 and AMD K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3.
-User can choose to install one or two 12cm silent fans(PWM Function) according user’s need to achieve great noiseless and cooling capacity.
-Brightly silver and solid appearance.
-Easy installation.

Specs:
Overall Dimension : 130 x 122 x 160 x mm
DC Fan Size : 120 x 120 x 25 mm
Heat Sink Material : Aluminum Fin+Heat Pipe
Bearing Type : Ever Lubricate Bearing (Long Life bearing)
Rated Speed : 800~2200 ±15% RPM (PWM Function)
Noise Level : <17 dBA
Rated Voltage : DC 12 V
Weight : 843.5 g

The other day I reviewed the Evercool Buffalo cooler, here’s the Transformer 4 next to it for size comparison:

One of the features listed is easy installation, it’s not what I would call easy. The first thing you have to do is remove the fans because you won’t be able to install it with them on. II figured why not take some pictures for you with the fans off:

The bracket that attaches to the cooler just rests on the base.

The instructions aren’t exactly clear, there’s only one bag labeled Socket 1156, but you use parts from the bags labeled AMD and LGA775, the white and black washers to be specific.

The Transformer 4 is a large CPU cooler and you don’t use a motherboard back plate with it, I’m not sure I like that idea. To install the cooler you just use four screws put through the back.

Then you use four more washers and the brass threaded screws on the front.

Here’s the cooler installed without the fans attached:

I’m using 12 gigs of ram, two 4 gig sticks of OCZ Gold and two 2 gigs sticks of Patriot Viper. The viper memory isn’t that large, but it’s bigger than the OCZ is, but it still doesn’t fit with the Transformer 4 installed so I lost 4 gigs of ram.

I installed it on the same Corei5 system that I used for the Evercool Buffalo cooler review the other day.

The ambient room temperature was 21.3C (+/- .3C). I used two instances of Orthos Stress Prime to get 100% load on all four cores. I used CoreTemp to monitor and record the temperatures during testing then averaged them out to get a single temperature for the graph.

I compared the Transformer 4 to the Buffalo, Noctua NH-U12P and the Coolit Vantage. Since the Transformer is so large I also thought I’d see how it performed with no fans, I just did it out of curiosity really.

The Transformer 4 performs very well as you can see, about one degree below the Noctua cooler which is impressive.

One thing I can say that’s also great about this cooler is that it’s quiet, nice and quiet. This is certainly my kind of CPU cooler, it performs well and it’s virtually silent while running.

Conclusion:
The Evercool Transformer might be a large cooler, but that size helps it perform very well. It performs just as good as the Noctua I was using previously and it’s virtually silent.

There are a few small issues with the installation process like the instructions aren’t exactly clear, but you can figure it out.

The size of the cooler though will not allow for ram with larger than normal heatsinks sadly.

Pros:
+Very quiet
+Fairly lightweight considering it’s so large
+Good cooling performance

Cons:
-Installation isn’t exactly easy
-Can’t use large style ram
-Very large size

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Evercool Transformer 4 CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Not sure where they came up with the name for the Buffalo, an odd name for a CPU Cooler for sure, but what’s a name matter right?

Instructions are on the side of the box so you won’t find any inside, only the cooler and a tube of Evercol 800 Series Thermal Compound.

The Buffalo uses the plastic push-pin style mounting system. It works for both LGA 1156 and 1366 sockets and you just slide the pins in or out for either socket style.  The cooler features four U-shaped cooper heatpipes that go through a series a aluminum fins. The cooler itself is actually very lightweight and small in size. Not compact, but much smaller than most coolers out there these days. On the front of the cooler is bright red 100mm cooling fan.

The fan is held on by a common metal bracket so you could possibly switch fans if you wanted or needed to.

On the top of the cooler you’ll see the Buffalo logo.

Here’s the base:

The base is copper and it’s fairly flat with faint machine lines in. It’s not a mirror finish but it is reflective.

Specifications:

BUFFALO CPU COOLER

Model: HPFI57-10025

Compatibility:
-HPFI57-10025 FOR INTEL-CORE I7 / I5 (1366/1156)

Features:
-Compatible for all kinds of high-end CPU version.
-Dual heat pipe cooler with high thermal conductive technology and special welding techniques enable seamless connections between fins and pipes.
-User can choose to install one or two 12cm silent fans(PWM Function) according user’s need to achieve great noiseless and cooling capacity.
-By using 10cm fan with more strong air flow and quiet.
-Easy to install for all users.
-Bullfight design to make it unique and characteristic.

Specifications:
-Overall Dimension: 110 x 72 x 142.7mm
-DC Fan Size: 100 x 100 x 25mm
-Base Material: Heat Pipe
-Bearing Type:Ever Lubricate Bearing(Long Life bearing)
-Speed:1800 ±10% RPM
-Noise Level:<23 dBA
-Rated Voltage:12 V
-Weight: 500 g

For installation I installed it on my Corei5 LGA1156 CPU. The bracket supports both 1156 and 1136 by moving the plastic pins into position, out for 1136 and in for 1156. The pins that go through your motherboard are soft plastic and I found that bend a bit with any force making it kind of tricky to install the cooler. It took me a couple tries to get it installed as the pins kept bending and and flaring out so they wouldn’t go through the holes. Eventually I got it installed though. I found that on my motherboard it doesn’t go over the ram slots so I could use ram with large heatsinks on it.

Ambient room temperature was 21.3C (+/- .3C) during testing. I used two instances of Orthos Stress Prime to get load on the CPU. I used CoreTemp to monitor and log the temperatures and then I averaged them out to get a single temp for the graph.  For comparison I put the Buffalo up against the Coolit Vantage and the Noctua NH-U12P coolers. The Vantage cna be set to three modes, Quiet, Performance and Extreme, I used the middle or Performance setting as it’s a nice balance of cooling and sound.

The Idle temp of the Buffalo is the same as that of the Noctua surprisingly, but the load is much higher than the Noctua. The Buffalo performs the same as the Coolit actually under load. Performance isn’t that bad actually for a cooler this small.

Noise level though is a different story when it comes to the Buffalo. Loudness is a subjective thing, what’s loud to one person is fine for another. My computer is less that three feet away from me off to my right, so I like things as quiet as possible. The Buffalo cooler to me is too loud for my preferences, but it’s not overly loud. I’m sure if I had my PC under my desk it wouldn’t bother me at all, but as is I don’t care for the noise level it adds to my system.

Conclusion:
For its size, the Evercool Buffalo CPU cooler performs rather well. The cooler is lightweight and small in size so it should fit in most ‘normal’ size cases and not interfere with your ram no matter what size the heatsinks are.

The Buffalo is fairly quiet but not silent by any means. I’m sure you could switch fans if you wanted to though.

Pros:
+Small and lightweight
+Decent performance for size
+Works for both LGA 1156 and 1136

Cons:
-A bit loud for my preferences
-Tricky to install

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Review of Evercool Buffalo CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed any CPU Coolers here, so let’s just jump right back into it with one for the Corei5 Socket1156. Today I have the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler for review. It’s essentially the same as the original NH-U12P but now is compatible with more socket types, including the 1156 Corei5 CPU. Noctua is well know for their products, the design, build quality and performance are all excellent. They’ve won many, many awards for their products, so it was natural that they come out with newer versions of their products for the newer CPUs and socket styles. I’ve installed it on my Corei5 750 CPU, and tested it both at stock speeds and overclocked, so read on to learn more…

We’ll start off with the video unboxing for you:

Then we’ve got the still pictures of the cooler itself and the contents of the box.

The cooler itself is very well made. Here’s several views of the cooler:

There are four U-shaped heatpipes in the NH-U12P for optimum cooling performance.

The base appears flat, but it’s not exactly the polished finished that you’ll see on other coolers. Noctua has tested this base style and it works, the base does not have to be perfectly mirror finished to work.

Specifications:

Noctua NH-U12P

Recommended by more than 150 leading international websites and magazines, Noctua’s NH-U12P series has become a benchmark in premium quality quiet cooling. The new NH-U12P SE2 now comes with two NF-P12 fans for further improved performance and adds support for LGA1156 as well as LGA1366 via the latest SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting system. Topped off with Noctua’s award-winning NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-U12P SE2 forms a complete quality package that continues the NH-U12P series’ legacy of superb quiet cooling performance.

Socket compatibility: Intel LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA775 & AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3 (backplate required)
Height (without fan): 158 mm
Width (without fan)    : 126 mm
Depth (without fan)    : 71 mm
Height (with fan): 158 mm
Width (with fan): 126 mm
Depth (with fan): 95/120* mm
Weight (without fan): 600 g
Weight (with fan): 770/940* g
Material: Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminium (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating
Fan compatibility: 120x120x25mm / 120x120x38mm

Scope of Delivery:
-2x NF-P12 premium fan
-Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptor (U.L.N.A.)
-Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.)
-NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound
-SecuFirm2 Mounting Kits
Warranty: 6 Years

Fan specifications:
Model: Noctua NF-P12
Bearing: SSO-Bearing
Blade geometry: Nine Blade Design
Rotational Speed (+/- 10%): 1300 RPM
Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%): 1100 RPM
Rotational Speed with U.L.N.A. (+/- 10%): 900 RPM
Airflow: 92,3 m³/h
Airflow with L.N.A.: 78,5 m³/h
Airflow with U.L.N.A.: 63,4 m³/h
Acoustical Noise: 19,8 dB(A)
Acoustical Noise with L.N.A.: 16,9 dB(A)
Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A.: 12,6 dB(A)
Input Power: 1,08 W
Voltage Range: 12 V
MTBF: > 150.000 h

For installation you’ll need to start with attaching the appropriate mounts to the cooler itself.

Then you’ll need to install the bracket onto your motherboard. I found the back plate is rather thick, and I had to actually bend my motherboard tray a bit to get it in there. The case is a Cooler Master CM Storm Sniper, it has the motherboard tray cut out to make it easier to install CPU coolers.

Here’s several views of the Noctua NH-U12P installed with fan and without. This cooler works fine with my motherboard, an ASUS P7P55D-LE and the taller Kingston HyperX ram. It’s close tot he video card but there’s still more than enough clearance.

My Corei5 CPU was an OEM version so I don’t have the stock Intel CPU Cooler for testing, but I do have the Cooler master Hyper 212 so that’s what I’m comparing the NH-U12P to.

During testing the ambient room temperature was 21.7C (+/- .3C).

I used two instances of Orthos Stress Prime to achieve load on the Corei5 CPU and I used RealTemp to get the temperatures from the CPU.  To get the idle temperatures, the computer was turned on and sat doing nothing for 15 minutes.

In the following charts you’ll see one temperature only, this is an average of the four core temperatures.

I ran two different tests, one with the CPU at Stock speed of 2.6GHZ and one with the CPU slightly overclocked to 3.2GHZ.

I tested the NH-U12P in three different configurations, single fan, two fans and with no fans to see how it performs in different configurations.

Clearly the Noctua NH-U12P performs better than the Hyper 212. Oddly enough there’s not much difference between running one fan or two on the NH-U12P, I did expect better temps with two fans.

I also grabbed a screen shot from RealTemp for the no fans test to show you the distance to TJunction. (Ignore the Minimum temperatures in the picture as RealTemp recorded those when the system was just turned on, and not a true idle state)

You can see it’s well below the max temp for this CPU.

Next up is the overclocked temperatures.

Here we see the Cooler Master Hyper 212 really fall behind, even the Noctua with no fans performs better. We also see the same thing running one or two fans, similar temps. From what I can see though it’s better to run one fan with this cooler really.

Again here’s the screenshot from RealTemp regarding the Tjunction distance with no fans.

Again well below the threshold.

The Noctua fans are virtually silent, when using one even at full speed you can barely hear it. When using two it is audible but not loud at all.

You can also use the low noise adapters to lower the fan speeds to make things even more quieter and still achieve similar cooling performance.

Conclusion:

The Noctua NH-U12P performs admirably well. You can run the NH-U12P without fans and still get very good cooling performance, but you’ve got to remember to have good airflow in your case to achieve this. Not everyone will see the same results as I achieved in my testing. The NH-U12P can be used to easily overclock the Corei5 750 on air, I’m sure I could have easily achieved even more of a higher overclock with this cooler.

The thick back plate does bother me a bit, it makes installation a bit more difficult really. Depending on the distance between your motherboard and tray you might actually be pushing up on the motherboard from behind because of the thickness of the plate.

Pros:
+Decent cooling performance
+Fairly easy to install
+Very well made

Cons:
-Back plate is rather thick
-Not much difference using one or two fans

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

This product was given to TestFreaks for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Keeping your computer cool is essential. A CPU that gets too hot can shut down the machine, or worse, lead to permanently damaged hardware. With that being the case, a well-functioning CPU cooler is a crucial component to keeping your system running smoothly.

It seems like the choices out there when it comes to cooling products are nearly endless. When I received today’s review item, a Dynatron G950 Genius cooler, I didn’t intend to leave it in my machine. My first impressions were that it was huge, a little overbearing, and I was happy enough with my Alpine 64 Pro cooler that was installed in this particular tower.

Then I installed the sucker, booted up my computer and changed my mind. This thing really does the trick.

The G950 Genius comes in a standard looking CPU box. Nothing terribly fancy, just a few shots of the item and the normal spattering of specs and technical info. Inside, it is caged between two pieces of plastic on either side with the part bag tucked underneath. The part bag has screws, thermal paste, and mounting equipment for every type of socket that this cooler supports. The instruction manual just floats around the case.

For me, cooling is a particularly big deal. I’ve had far too many computers in my life that would shut themselves down while I was in the middle of doing something because of overheating. My “office,” which is really the corner of a living room, is a giant desk. The computer tower sits underneath, and there are all sorts of hardware things and heat-generating stuff all around. The nearest A/C unit is in the next room, so the ambient room temperature is never as controlled as it should be. It’s not the greatest computer environment, and as such, I require not only a well-ventilated case, but a powerful CPU cooler.

As I said, my initial impressions of the G950 Genius were skeptical. It is on the larger side, measuring 124 x 148 x120mm , and bigger doesn’t always mean better. It is covered with aluminum wave-fins and has four U-shaped heatpipes with a center mounted 120mm fan. The cooler is powered by a standard PWM cable. It’s also not nearly as heavy as it looks like it should be – that’s the joy of aluminum, folks.

The fan is supposed to be an energy saver and save up to 30% power, and its process blows cool air through the heatsink’s fins. It is also a quiet fan, operating at 19 dBA at normal speed.

The base of the cooler sits directly on the CPU for maximum contact and heat dissipation. It is a very smooth finish. There is no pre-applied thermal paste, but the cooler does come with a small tube to apply to your CPU.

Specifications:

Dynatron G950 Genius Desktop CPU Cooler

Universal CPU Cooer compatible with all leading desktop processor platforms, including Intel Core i7 LGA 1366 , Intel LGA 775 and AMD socket AM2, AM2+ and AM3

-Intelligent H.C.C. (Heatpipe Contact CPU) Technology: Heatpipe contacts CPU processor directly and optimizes heat transfer rate
-Smart heatpipes oriented against gravity
-Silent and powerful PWM Function 120mm fan delivers quiet cooling at a whisper-quiet 20 dBA during normal operation
-Center mounted 120mm fan which blows cool air through the fins of the modularized heat sink enabling ultimate dual-directional cooling of the heat created by the CPU
-Innovative Energy-saving fan saves up to 30% power
-Superior heat dissipation CPU power 130W to over-clocking 150W
-Push-pin design for easy-standard installation
-State-of-art aluminum high-density wave-fin design maintains excellent air-flow management
-Heat sink engineered to maximize dissipation surface
-Excellent 25% Enhanced Cooling than Intel® Stock CPU Fan

CPU Socket Intel® Socket LGA 1156, LGA 1366, LGA 775
AMD® Socket AM3, AM2+, AM2

CPU Support Intel® Core i5, Core i7, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium D, Pentium 4, Celeron D, Celeron
AMD® Phenom II X4, Phenom, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, Sempron

Overall Dimension 124 x 148 x120mm

Weight 795 g

Material Aluminum Fin with 4 x Ø 6mm Heatpipes in HTC structure

Fan Dimension 120 x 120 x 25mm

I installed this cooler onto a AMD Phenom II X2 Callisto, AM3 socket. Motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM Micro ATX, and this is all within a Xclio Blackhawk case.

Installation required me to remove the motherboard mounting bracket I was using for the Alpine 64 Pro and attach mounting brackets to the cooler that would be used instead. This required the use of a screwdriver to attach the mounts.

Once the motherboard mounting bracket was out, installation was a simple case of screwing in the cooler’s four thumb screws into the holes on the board. No screwdriver is needed at this point (why can’t they all be tool-free screws?)

The side comes pretty close to the RAM, but on this board, just about all coolers do. Shouldn’t be an issue. There are no other clearance issues posed by this cooler, which means despite its size, its more tall than it is bulky and doesn’t bother your other equipment.

So I bet you’re wondering how it cooled, aren’t you? That’s why we’re all here, right? To get right to it, tt wasn’t a few minutes after I turned back on the machine that I realized this cooler would be staying inside. Here’s some figures:

Idle Temperature:
Stock cooler – 31-32C
Alpine 64 Pro – 30-32
G950 Genius – 22-23C

Load Temperature (Using Prime95 stress text for maximum heat output):
Stock cooler – 46-48C
Alpine 64 Pro – 43-44C
G950 Genius – 33-35C

I was blown away by these temperatures. This cooler keeps my CPU at nearly the same temperature during 100% load as the previous cooler does at idle. It also does this with less noise, as the fan is very quiet. The thermal compound provided with the product seems to be doing a great job.

Orthos Stress Prime yielded the same results.

I even let Prime95 run overnight running heavy heat tests and the CPU temp never crossed the 35C mark. Wonderful, I tell you, just wonderful. Apparently the very direct connection between heatpipes and CPU really do work well for this cooler, and its construction vents the heat away in an extremely efficient manner. I very rarely ever see a computer operate at such low temperatures, especially in my home where temps are usually a few degrees higher than they should be.

Conclusion:

It may be big, but it’s big in a way that isn’t cumbersome or obtrusive on the other pieces of hardware in your case. The simple fact is that the Dynatron G950 Genius CPU Cooler does a really solid job of keeping the CPU cool.

Dynatron isn’t the widest known brand in the world, but they certainly make a solid product here. For the fact the product sells for around $40 or less, it does a wonderful job of cooling the CPU. I’m very impressed.

Pros:
+Cools great
+Quiet operation
+Large but easy to install
+Well made
+Lots of parts to fit any situation

Cons:
-None

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Dynatron G950 Genius CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

Keeping our computer systems cool is very important, but if you really care about your computer then you’ll want to not just toss some fans in there, you’ll want complete control over them and have a way to monitor the temperatures in your case. A little bit ago I took a look at the NZXT Sentry LX fan controller, and it’s not a bad product, but it’s big, taking up two 5.25″ bays. Today for review I’ve got the new NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller, it features a touch screen, and the ability to control up to five fans, monitor five temperatures in your computer, and it all fits in a single 5.25″ bay. So continue on to learn more about one of the best fan controllers on the market today…

The NZXT Sentry 2 comes in a tiny little box with a picture on the front and information listed on the back.  Inside we find the Sentry 2 packed well, included with it is a brief instruction sheet, screws, adhesive strips, and a couple extra temperature probes.

The Sentry 2 has a very minimalist design to it, just basic black, beveled in towards the screen with the NZXT logo barely visibly at the top center. It’s a 5.25″ bay device so it’s small as well, and it’s short in depth, it doesn’t go far into your case. There are two screw holes on each side that are reinforced with metal.

Looking at the back we can se the PCB, and it’s connections:

The Sentry 2 comes with dual power connections so you can use either a 3-pin or molex connection to power and control the fans. This is a nice feature as not all fans have the 3-pin connection on them. Power for the Sentry 2 comes from a standard molex of course. Each of the fan connections are numbered and the temperature probes are numbered as well to correspond to them.

Specifications:

SENTRY 2

5.25″ Touch Screen fan controller
Introducing the Sentry 2, a full system fan controller with an advanced touch screen interface. Sentry 2 easily installs in a 5.25: bay and is compatible with any fan that uses voltage control. The innovative touch screen features ultra fast selection and response time and displays all pertinent info including temperature readout in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Sentry 2 allows users to control up to 5 fans with the option for manually tuning individual fan speeds or letting the automatic controls take over to correspond to a specific temperature. The controller’s advanced functionality sounds an alarm to alert the user should the temperature exceed a preset amount and stores saved settings even after it is turned off. Designed to maximize efficiency, the Sentry 2 supports 10W per channel and creates less heat than traditional temperature displays.

Features
* Touch screen interface
* Five fan control through an intuitive interface
* Ultra fast selection and response time
* Display temperatures in both F and C
* Light switch turns off the meter when sleeping
* Automatic and manual modes of control
* Full compatibility with all types of fans using voltage control
* With a minimum of at least 10 Watts per channel, the Sentry 2 will support almost all high end fans
* Tuned accuracy with only a tolerance of one degree
* Sound alarm to alert when the temperature is over
* Stored settings, the Sentry keeps your settings even after power off

Installation of the NZXT Sentry 2 is very easy, you just need a free 5.25″ bay and you’re set. I wasn’t sure it was going to fit in my case, the Cooler Master Black Label Cosmos, because I’ve got a 120mm fan inside of the bay that keep things cool, but since the Sentry 2 is small it fit just fine.

A couple screws and installation is basically complete, though you’ll need to put the thermal probes where you want them as well. I installed two of them on my CPU Cooler, as the Sentry 2 is controlling both fans, then the third probe went onto my ram since the Sentry 2 is controlling the Kingston Hyper X Fan that I have in my case. The probes are numbered to correspond to the numbers on the Sentry 2 and the fan numbers. The last two fans I have the Sentry 2 controlling are the top exhaust fans, but I used their probes to keep track of the temperatures of my video card and PSU.

One quick note, and it’s not specific to the Sentry 2, but every product like this that I’ve come across, is that the tape that comes with it just never seems to be sticky enough, after a few days or so the tape always comes off. Eventually some company will realize this and come up with a better adhesive for this temperature probes.

Using the Sentry 2 is easy, just touch screen. The fan graphic is a button, you tap it to change the fan you are trying to control. The plus and minus buttons are also touch sensitive to adjust fan speeds up and down, and there is a small touch area in the center of the Sentry 2 that allows you to switch between auto and manual fan control modes. The temperature is also touch sensitive, touching it switches between Celsius and Fahrenheit.

I’ve got a brief 30 second video for you demonstrating the Sentry 2, just touching the display to give you an idea of how it works:

If you had the volume up, you’d have noticed that it beeps every time you touch it.

I did check the accuracy of the temperature probes and it’s close. I used my Thermohawk 200 infrared thermometer to check temps. An example would be that the Sentry 2 display read 29C, and the Thermohawk read 30.2C, so it’s close, good enough to give you an idea of the temperatures in your case.

The NZXT Sentry 2 is probably one of the best fan controllers on the market, I couldn’t really find anything wrong with it, it’s well made, easy to us and works great.

Conclusion:

The NZXT Sentry 2 5.25″ Touch Screen Fan Controller is one of the nicest fan controllers I’ve had the chance to review. It’s small in size and very easy to install and use.

If you’re limited to space as I am with my case, then you’ll very much appreciate the single 5.25″ bay design of this product. Before the NZXT Sentry 2 arrived for review I was controlling my fans with in-line resistors, this works, but doesn’t give you any real control, now I’ve got control of my fans and I can monitor temperatures as well.

I can easily recommend the Sentry 2 as a must-have accessory for your PC.

Pros:
+Very easy to use
+Well made
+Small size
+Looks great

Cons:
-Tape isn’t very sticky

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

NZXT SENTRY 2 5.25" Touch Screen fan controller is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

The temperatures of our systems are always something we worry about, especially our CPUs, with summer just around the corner bringing higher temperatures, it’s time to clean out those cases and maybe even get a new CPU cooler to make sure it stays cool. PC Cooling isn’t just for enthusiasts anymore, even the average Joe knows that he needs to make sure his system stays cool to operate at maximum efficiency.

Up on the review block today I’ve got a massive CPU cooler from Cooler Master, this isn’t just any cooler though it features a TEC that kicks in when the temps get high. The V10 is large, it features three different heatpipes coolers inside the stylish shroud, and it extends or your ram slots to help keep them cool as well. The V10 is a cooler that will make sure your CPU and ram stay nice and cool during the hot summer months.

We’ll start off with an unboxing video for you, check it out and move on:

and here are several still pictures for you:

Specifications:

Cooler Master V10 CPU Cooler

Extreme Innovative Engineering Design
-Design and construction is inspired by today’s supercharged engines, producing enough power and torque to give full control of the massive heat produced by the latest CPUs
-Generates more than 200W+ cooling power, Cooler Master\’s V10 over powers any cooling engine on the market
-Compatible with the newest socket (LGA1366)
-Full coverage of DRAM & CPU cooling for best cooling performance

Optimal Cooling Technology
-Unique triple heat sink design for supreme cooling performance
-10 heat pipes (6 for main body; 4 for TEC) maximize heat transfer
-Dual PWM fan ensures huge airflow over the heat sinks
-Full coverage of DRAM & CPU for best cooling performance

Hybrid TEC Solution
-TEC is intelligently activated once CPU reaches extreme temperatures

Model: RR-B2P-UV10-GP
CPU Socket: Intel LGA1366 & 775, AMD 754/939/940/AM2
Dimension:(L) 9.32 x (W) 5.11 x (H) 6.36 inches
or (L) 236.5 x (W) 129.6 x (H) 161.3 mm
Weight: 2.65 lbs
Heat Sink Material: Cu base, AL fin, 10 heatpipes
Heat Pipes Dimensions     6mm
Fan Dimension: (L) 4.73 x (W) 1.00 x (H) 4.73 inches
or (L) 120 x (W) 25 x (H) 120 mm
Fan Speed: 800~2400 R.P.M
Fan Airflow: 90 CFM (max)
Fan Air Pressure: 2.94mm-H2O
Bearing Type: Rifle Bearing
Fan Life Expectancy: 40,000 hours @ 25 ℃
Fan Noise Level (dB-A): 17 dB-A (min)
Connector: 4-Pin
Fan Control: PWM
Operation Temperature: 25 ~ 70 ℃
Power: 70W (max)
Rated Current: 9.8A (max)
UPC Code: 884102003295

I installed the Cooler Master V10 in my main system with an Intel C2Q 9650 CPU, in a Cooler Master Black Label Case. Now I really didn’t have any issues with the size of the V10, but if you’ve got a small case you might run into problems.

You motherboard will need to be removed from the case for installation, there’s no doubt about that, even if you have removable motherboard tray you’ll still be doing quite a bit of work.

The first things you’ll need to do is install the correct mounting hardware, for me it’s the LGA775 variety, this is easy, a few screws and rubber washers and you’re done.

With my particular EVGA board, there’s a funky little chip on the back that gets in the way when installing back plates, luckily though Cooler Master thought of that and included an alternate method of installation using nuts on the back of the board.

Here it is installed in my case, you can see it’s big and takes up quite a bit of room.

I did run into an issue with getting the motherboard secured down, the screws along the top edge are very hard to reach once the V10 is mounted, especially those underneath the V10 near the ram slots, it took a bit of work to get those tightened down.

Since the V10 is so large, it also comes very close to the chipset fan on my motherboard, if yours is larger then you’ll have a real problem, and those sticks of ram with large heatsinks on them will most likely not work either.

Before I installed the V10 in my system I was using the Cooler Master Black Label Hyper Z600 cooler, so I figured why not compare those to each other. The Hyper Z600 is a very good cooler in itself, it cools well, but the fan can get loud under load, something I don’t like.

Onto the testing, ambient room temperature was 25.2C (+/- .3C).

To get load on the CPU I used two instances of Orthos Stress Prime with affinity set to the four cores so each instance used two cores for full 100% load on the CPU. I used CPU-Z to log the temperatures and I averaged them out to get a single temperature for the graph below.

As you can see the V10 does drop the temperatures a bit, about 2 degrees over load and idle. I was also expecting the V10 to get loud under load but it didn’t, it was the same volume under idle and load, which is fairly quiet.

Since this is such a large cooler with a TEC involved I was expecting a larger temperature difference, but you have to take into account the Hyper Z600 is also a good cooler in its own right.

Conclusion:

The CoolerMaster V10 is a great CPU cooler overall, it will do well at keeping your CPU and ram cool even in the hottest of environments and loads.

Yes it is big, being so large it can make installation take longer and bit rather difficult. The V10 is not a cooler for small cases, and it won’t work if you’ve got a large chipset cooler or ram with large, tall heatsinks. These are things that you’ll need to take into account before purchasing.

Pros:
+Well made
+Good cooling
+Quiet

Cons:
-Large and heavy
-Can be difficult to install

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Cooler Master V10 CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

NZXT makes some great products, there’s no doubt about that at all, but what they’re known for is cases really, but they’ve ventured into the accessory part of it all as well recently. Not long ago I took a look at the NZXT Avatar mouse and found it to be one of the best mice I’ve used, NZXT also has cooling products as well, for both our PCs and laptops.

So today for review I’ve got the NZXT Sentry LX aluminum dual bay fan controller, along with the inherent NZXT quality, it’s got a nice large, colorful and bright LCD display that not only shows your system status, such as temperatures and fan speeds, but the time and date as well. You can control up to five fans with the Sentry LX with manual control or let the Sentry LX do it for you with auto control. Included are five long fan power cables, and five temperature probes to help you keep an eye on the temperatures in your system.

First we have the video unboxing for you, then of course pictures!

Specifications:

SENTRY LX

Aluminum dual bay fan controller
NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce the Sentry LX, a high-performance aluminum fan controller. Sentry LX boasts a robust feature set providing gamers and PC enthusiasts with the optimal setup for monitoring and adjusting temperatures throughout the PC.

Simple Installation: Sentry LX slides easily into any dual 5.25 drive bay

Complete Control: 5 Temperature Probes keep tabs on all areas of your system while the 5 Fan controllers adjust the fans’ RPM speed

Auto/Manual Modes: Allows users to automatically adjust the fan speeds to correspond to a specific temperature or manually set your system for extreme overclocking capabilities or absolute silence

Temperature Alarm: Instant notification if temps rise above a designated point

Intuitive Interface and LCD Display: NZXT’s ergonomic interface design allows you to customize your airflow on the fly

Sleek Design: Aluminum plated front panel is designed to match any high-end chassis

Features
* Large dual 5.25" LCD screen
* NZXT designed intuitive control, set and change fan speeds and settings on the fly
* Auto/Manual modes, let the LCD take control or set fan speeds to your liking
* Temperature alarm
* Aluminum finish
* NZXT Designed graphical interface, easy to read and understand
* Saved Settings, calendar and fan settings are stored even during system off so settings don’t need to be redone
* Supports up to 4Watt per channel

Installation is fairly easy, the only problem is just how long the wires are, it’s a good thing and a bad thing really as you’ll have to do some cable management if you want things to look neat inside of your case. Of course though those long wires allow you to control all of your fans wherever they are located in your case, the same goes with the temperature sensor wires as well, they’re very long, and you can place the sensors anywhere you wish to really. Overall installation is easy really, if you can install an optical drive then you can install the Sentry LX, it just fits into two open bays. Some people might complain that it takes up two bays, but if you’ve got the room I think it’s well worth the space it takes up.

I installed the Sentry LX inside the NZXT Zero2 PC case, here’s a picture with a bit a cable management done, not the best job but it works for me.

I stuck the temperature sensors in various places inside the case that I thought might be useful to be monitored:

The panel itself is very bright and colorful with animated fans and ‘progress bars’, of course there’s a clock with day of the week and month,day and year as well there, something I like having on the display personally. The buttons on the side are nice and large so they’re easily accessible when you want to change things or switch between modes, also programming is easy as well.

Conclusion:
If you’re in the market for a fan controller then the NZXT Sentry LX is what you want in your system, it’s easy to use and install, it has nice long cables, it’s well made and it look great.

The Sentry LX is easily one of the nicest fan controllers on the market today.

Pros:
Easy to install
Easy to use
Looks great
Very well made
Auto and manual modes
Nice long wires

Cons:
None to be had

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

NZXT Sentry LX is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog

 

Today I’ve got part two of the Limited Edition Cooler Master Black Label Set, the HyperZ600 CPU Cooler. It’s essentially the same as the original Z600, but just black colored. It’s a large and heavy cooler featuring six heatpipes and the ability to use two fans for maximum cooling performance or use no fans for a truly silent system.

So continue on to learn more…

Of course I’ve got a video unboxing for you, check it out and the still pictures then continue on:

Specifications:

Black Label Hyper Z600 CPU Cooler

Hyper Z600R is designed for both active and passive cooling. Superior cooling performance is provided by the unique X design and 6 copper heat pipes. The Hyper Z600R is designed to cool the latest Quad-core processors even without a fan in 0dBA silent mode. In active mode, the Hyper Z600R accommodates up to 2 fans for enhanced performance in overclocking and gaming.

Features:

-The interlaced fins maximizes the dissipation surface to provide superior cooling performance
-Unique "X" design creates lower back pressure to make air pass through heatsink quickly and guide more air pass through the heatsink
-Mirror-coated copper base and 6 heat pipes
–Mirror-coated copper base ensures 100% contact with the processor to maximize the heat conduction. It could draw heat from CPU to the heat pipes immediately
–6 heat pipes transmit and spread heat over all the fins rapidly
-Optimum fin space allows air pass through heat sink quickly

Dimension: 127.28 x 127.28 x 160 mm
Material: Cu base, 6 heat pipes, Aluminum fin
Weight: 2.3 lbs
CPU Socket: 1) Intel Socket LGA775 2) AMD Socket (Socket 940/AM2/AM2+)
CPU Support: Intel Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium Extreme Ed., Pentium Dual-Core, Pentium D, Pentium 4 Extreme Ed., Pentium 4 HT, Pentium 4, Celeron Dual-Core, Celeron D AMD Phenom, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon X2, Sempron <

Heat Pipes Dimensions: 6mm
Fan Speed: 2000 RPM
Bearing Type: Long Life Sleeve
Fan Noise Level (dB-A): 19 – 21 dBA
Connector: 3 pin with 4 pin adapter
Air Flow (CFM): 69.69 CFM

Installation requires the motherboard be removed from the case as the cooler fastens from the back of the mobo.

First thing you’ll have to do is attach the CPU mounting bracket for your socket type, mine is LGA775 of course.

Then you’ll need to attach the fan bracket, this involves three pieces and four regular coarse threaded fan screws.

I could not use the backplate with my motherboard as there is a small chip in the way, luckily Cooler Master included an alternate way of mounting, small plastic washers and nuts that can be used to secure the cooler to the motherboard.

Once installed I didn’t have any clearance issues at all, the cooler fit fine on my board.

Here it is installed in the Cooler Master Black Label Cosmos case:

For testing I used my Q6600 CPU with an EVGA NF680i Motherboard, and I put it up against a Noctua NH-C12P and the CoolIt Domino CPU Cooler.

Ambient room temperature during testing was 21C (+/- .3)

To achieve 100% load on a quad core I used two instances of Orthos Stress Prime with affinity set to the cores.

The following picture is just an example of the testing:

CoreTemp was used to log the temperatures so I can then average them out to get one average temperature between the four cores.

As you can see the CM Hyper Z600 has very good cooling abilities, and the included fan is very quiet as to not add any additional noise to your case.

Conclusion:

The Cooler Master Hyper Z600 is a CPU cooler with very good cooling abilities, it’s very well well made, with an interesting design. The fact that you can mount an additional fan or even run with no fans should help it appeal to most every type of use out there.

The HyperZ600 is a very large and heavy cooler, so it most likely will not fit in all cases and configurations, you’ll need to make sure that it will fit in your case. You’ll also need to remove your motherboard from the case for installation so it can take quite a bit of time to get it installed.

Pros:
Fairly easy installation
Decent cooling performance
Looks cool

Cons:
Large and heavy
Motherboard must be removed for installation

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

Cooler Master Black Label Hyper Z600 CPU Cooler is a post from: Testfreaks | The Blog