| Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler | |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cooling | |
| Written by David Ramsey | |
| Thursday, 24 February 2011 | |
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Page 6 of 6
CPU Cooler Final ThoughtsI've noticed high-end air coolers trending towards one of two basic designs: a rather thick fin array that supports one or two fans, as typified by the Thermalright Venomous X and the Prolimatech Super Mega, and a thinner fin array with dual higher-speed fans included, as with the Cooler Master V6 GT. The Thermalright Silver Arrow is a third design: two relatively thin arrays separated by enough space to fit a fan between them. This is also the design used by Noctua's NH-D14 cooler. Unlike most other companies that manufacture heat sinks, such products are all Thermalright offers. There are no cases, power supplies, or other computer-related things, just heat sinks, mounting kits, fans, and related items. And all the CPU coolers they do offer are aimed at the desktop computer market; there are no low-profile server coolers on their web site. Whether or not this laser-like product focus is good or bad I can't say, but judging from the performance of their heat sinks, Thermalright's obviously doing something right. I think the Silver Arrow represents the ultimate air cooler than can be built and still fit within the constraints of an ATX motherboard and a standard computer case. I suppose one might argue that a solid copper version could have slightly better performance, but I don't think it would be worth the weight and price penalty. At 825 grams, the Silver Arrow, although heavy, is lighter than many of its competitors, some of which break the kilogram barrier. With Intel's official maximum heat sink weight at a mere 450 grams, moving your system with 1,000 grams or more of metal hanging sideways off the motherboard can be a dangerous proposition. It's almost ironic that coolers like this are becoming available just as processors transition to designs that may ultimately render them unnecessary; even overclocked to 5GHz, an Intel Sandy Bridge 2600K doesn't need anywhere near this level of cooling. Still, it wouldn't hurt, and as I noted earlier, there are still CPUs out there that can benefit from it.
While the cooler's design approaches perfection and its performance is beyond reproach, I only wish for a few little details to be addressed. The accessories come in multiple, cut-to-open plastic bags, which makes keeping track of bits you're not using (or when you swap the cooler between an AMD and Intel system) a pain. If the cooler's in a case, it can be clumsy to insert the retaining bar, since you have to fit it between the tall fin stacks and your access to the sides of the cooler will be limited by your case and internal components. Last, there's no standard way to connect two PWM fans on a CPU cooler. Cooler Master provides a 4-pin Y-cable for the PWM fans on the V6 GT cooler, and it seems odd that Thermalright didn't, especially give the price of the cooler. Fortunately, such cables are readily available from Newegg if you need one. Thermalright Silver Arrow ConclusionPlease remember that these test results reflect our experience with each cooler on a specific motherboard, with a specific processor, BIOS revision, BCLK and voltage settings, and test programs. The results of this test cannot be directly compared to other tests since many factors will have changed. The construction quality of the Silver Arrow is among the best I've seen: the fins are polished and perfectly aligned, the base is flat and well-finished, and even the ends of the heat pipes are capped. The only concern is that the cooler's size may preclude its use with some motherboards and cases. Thermalright eschews LEDs and other bling and lets the cooler's massive presence speak for itself. The blue-and-taupe color scheme of the fans is a little odd, but works with the cooler. Performance-wise, there's little to say other than that this is the best air cooler I've ever tested. The fact that the included fans are very quiet is just a bonus. There's just basic functionality here, with nothing like the color-changing LED accent lights on the Cooler Master V6 GT. The value proposition is a little harder to asses. This is a very expensive cooler, at $82.99 at FrozenCPU.com. Thermalright's own Venomous X cooler performs almost as well, is $15 cheaper, and won't present any of the potential fit problems the Silver Arrow will. But I suppose the Best of the Best can command a price premium, and if your system's cranking out enough heat to make use of this cooler, it's worth your money. Pros:
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Comments
Not trying to be too nitty here, but the copper alloy referenced for the base material must be C11000, or alloy 110, which is 99.9% pure copper. Probably a typo? But to the nickel plating, I'm wondering, what corrosion? Cathodic? I thought the CPU surface was a non-conductive surface. Other than that, the thermal paste should insulate against what little moisture may be lurking around.
I'll go ahead and guess that the clamping of 40 to 70 pounds you reference is inch-pounds not foot-pounds. This is a pretty large range, even for a high carbon alloy steel, 43%. Normally there is only about a 20% range unless you're discussing non-ferrous alloys, but then the range is even smaller. Nevertheless, in inch-pounds it would be about right for a low-carbon screw, in this case a 3-4mm or #8- #10 diameter.
Wow. That's one huge rad !
But trust me, please, as I work with metals and fasteners every day (except holidays and weekends, and dumb brain fart moments when I should be enjoying the very good work you do in reviewing computer hardware). If you ever need some relevant information on joint design, technology, metallurgy, or pre- or post tensioning advice, please contact me. If I don't have the answer off the top of my head, I have personnel with doctorates in metallurgy and mechanical engineering at my disposal. You will get the answers you may need.
Thanks again for your review.
But I was missing the NH-D14 as main competitor of the Silver Arrow as they are playing in the same league.
But anyway, great review as always
However I already read one or 2 reviews on internet where they compare them and it looks like silver arrow is on pair or beats NH-D14 with ~1-2 degrees...
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"That" is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It also bodes ill for the people making aftermarket coolers. As usual this was a good look at a nice product that I'll do without as my present Asetek and Corsair H2o coolers do a fine job on my i7's.
And if the first fan is "pull", the second must be, too, since there's not enough room to put both fans in the middle of the cooler.
Since the performance of the cooler was amazing anyway, I didn't worry too much about it.
This is looking like my best option at this point, but I don't want to buy it and then find that I can't mount a trio of corsair dominator sticks on the board.
The NH-D14 has the best mounting system in my opinion.
Regards.
1. $42 shipping was cheapest option from frozencpu.com
2. I large tower cases, installing in multi-SLI MoBos don't work. If mounted in its intended configuration .... blowing to rear, the find hit the GFX Card in PCI-E Slot No.1 .... same thing w/ the Antec Kuhler 620 btw .... that cooler cost me $18 in shipping there and back :). I was able to mount it horizontally (blowing up), while less than ideal, it works ... at $42, I wasn't gonna ship it back.
3. I installed it w/ two fans, bought a 3rd, didn't fit. The fans we got, aren't the fans shown here .... they were an ugly green w/ gray blades (since painted black)
4. Fins stay at pretty much room temperature ...
5. Bought a PYM Fan Cable Splitter (also from forzencpu.com). This one was an Akasa "Smart Cable" model. Last build I bought a different brand, both times had them sleeve it. First builds splitter shorted out my fans ... was replaced with a working one but replacement would not control fan speed. The 2nd one, the Akasa didn't work at all. machine would not boot w/ it connected.
6. As for performance, it's hard to tell as unlike BNR, I don't have lotsa things to swap it out with. Using a i7-2600 in an Asus WS Revolution w/ twin 560 GTX (900 Mhz models). Here's the results (VCore under load in ( ):
Stock 51,53, 53, 51 (1.224) LLC = Auto
4.0 Ghz 52, 54, 55, 52 (1.016-1.024) LLC = Auto
4.2 GHz 54, 56, 57, 55 (1.256 - 1.264) LLC = Auto
4.4 Ghz 56, 60, 60, 67 (1.280 - 1.288) LLC = Auto
4.6 Ghz 62, 66, 68, 65 (1.360 - 1.368) LLC = High
4.8 Ghz 71, 77, 79, 72 LLC = (1.408 - 1.416) Ultra High*
I should note that on many builds I have seen temps drop after a few bits of thermal cycling. Most noticeably, if I set upa desired OC as my target .... then purposely run it at a higher oC to get higher temps, going back to my target now has lower temps. My guess anyway is that the 1st time the TIM hits its highest temps tends to "cure it" a bit. Have seen this on just about every build I have spent a lot of time with.
I may add to this once I get another shot at this. 80C is "my self imposed limit" and unless I can figure out a way to drop voltages a bit, I won't be delving further into bigger OC's.