Trystan
I've always used the stock cooler that came with my CPUs because my logic was that those coolers are designed to work with those CPUs and I don't over clock therefore did not need a bigger cooler.However, I started having over heating issues on my PC. My guess was maybe the stock CPU cooler just wasn't doing its job as well anymore. I'd start up a game and within a couple minutes my PC would shut down and then start back up.After doing some researching my two options were either get a new PSU as a failing power supply can cause the issues I was having or I could buy a new CPU cooler since I noticed that my computer was idling mid to high 50 degree Celsius. And would jump to the high 60s and mid 70s under gaming load.Obviously I went for the cheaper option and bought this bad boy. Let me just say outright that I wish I had bought this or a similar cooler a lot earlier.As you'll read in other reviews this thing is really quiet. The stock CPU upon pressing the power on my case to turn on my PC would spin up to max and slowly drop down to idle speeds as the PC booted up. Not really too big of a deal but it was quite a noticeable noise upon start up. However, with this CPU I no longer have that noise. I caught myself the other day pressing the button and pausing because I wasn't sure if the PC was actually booting or not because of how quiet it was. Even as I sit at my PC and take my headset off and try to hear the PC I hear nothing. No more fan noise. I used to not mind the minor fan noise that came from my PC, but compared to how quiet it is now those stock coolers are loud.Another thing im quite impressed with is just how well it cools. I went from idling in the mid 50s down to low 40s and sometimes even lower into the high 30s if I have my AC on and my room is cooler. Just idling is almost a 20 degree difference on my system. And of course under load it maintains an almost 20 degree difference between stock and this cooler.I've yet to hit 60 degrees while playing any game since I've installed this cooler. It barely gets above the mid 50 degree range under load and I've tested multiple games and over a longer period of time and it maintained its temp in that range. I've kept an eye on temps ever since I've installed it and over the course of a week or so temps have not returned to pre cooler levels. So you know its not a fluke.My biggest complaint is that the instructions that it comes with aren't exactly crystal clear and it took me a minute or two to sit and make out what exactly the pictures were supposed to be depicting. However, a quick video search on youtube cleared things right up and I got it installed. Over all not too complicated of an install. Its all fairly straight forward once you understand what to do. One thing to keep an eye on is the size of this bad boy. While it wasnt quite as big as I was expecting, it is still pretty big. Make sure you look at its dimensions and know the dimensions of your case to ensure that it will fit in with the panels on.This cooler does come with some thermal paste with which to apply and install the cooler but I had some higher quality stuff laying around from a previous mother board upgrade/replacement so I used it instead. I'm not sure of the quality of the thermal paste that comes with the cooler but I'd probably spend a couple extra bucks and buy you a high quality paste alongside your order of this cooler just to be safe.I should note that previously I only had 2 case fans installed in my case. Both of which were exhaust fans. When I ordered this cooler I ordered a double pack of the fans found at this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F6S10KK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1So this cooler isn't the sole upgrade I did and I have since ordered another single pack of the fan I linked and a molex adapter so I'll now go from just 2 exhaust fans to 3 intake and 2 exhast. My point is, your differences may not be as drastic as mine as I've made other cooling upgrades to aid this cooler, even then the cooler itself has proven to be putting in work. I wish I would've gotten one sooner.5 star would recommend and would buy again if I ever did another build.
Feiku
I was unlucky enough to recieve a defective version of this product. The screws on the bracket that hold the cooler on top of the processor had been reversed. After spending several hours of being very confused, I realized the product was actually just defective. I notified amazon who sent me a replacement with 1 day shipping. In the meanwhile, since I still wanted to use the product, I removed the permanent washers over the screws and reverse them and was able to apply the cooler properly (albeit with very damaged washers). It still worked perfectly. When I got the replacement, I just took off the "altered" bracket and put on the new one.Anyways, besides that here is the review:Pros:Overall: HUGE IMPROVEMENT in temps. Great! I loved it.- Processor cores used to run at 80 degrees C when gaming when overclocked, 70 C overclocked, and 50~60 C idle. After the I installation, cores dropped down to 20 C idle to 35 C MAX. GREAT cooling. I had the original heatsink that came with my processor and the improvement was fantastic (Intel i7 950)-Overall CPU temp dropped from 50 C to 10-15 C. Super awesome.-Runs quietly- Installation is fairly straightforward. I had never installed a heatsink like this before but figured it out quickly.Cons:Overall: No cons for me really, but here are some that may exist for others:- I received a defective bracket the first time around so that was a bit confusing; the screws were reverse and I had to use pliers to remove and reverse the screws so it would work until Amazon sent me a replacement.- it DOES wiggle a little bit when you move it around on the CPU but it isn't too bad and it does not affect it's performance at all, although I can see how that can be a bit disconcerting to some; it does not really sit that firmly on the bracket.- Improper installation can cause drastic differences in results so you have to make sure you follow the instructions properly. For example, at first I had the fan facing the wrong direction and by reversing the direction my temps dropped significantly. Also read other stories about people using the wrong pin hole on the bracket causing a loose fit and resulting in no temp drops. So read the manual carefully.- Installing the bracket by pushing in the screws can scare some who feel like they may damage their CPU. You won't. But again, I can see why it may be disconcerting.- It is a bit large. It fit fine in my medium-sized case but if you have a very small case and/or motherboard with not much space around the CPU it may not fit right. It fit just fine in mine (MSI x58 Pro-E) but some motherboards with ram sticks that are very close to the cpu might have difficulties fitting
Sonia MagalhaesSonia Magalhaes
had this for 1 year. Never had issues with it. Many times i accidentally slept with the pc on with my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), Which uses alot of CPU usage. Never had an issue.Very quiet too. Pc never overheated. Great for price