Phononic HEX 2.0 Thermoelectric CPU Cooler

I first noticed this cooler while looking through benchmarks. I had to google it because it wasn't something well known and a brand and name I was familiar with. Naturally it came as a surprise that it was a HSF with a thermoelectric function to actively pull heat from the cpu. I've heard about them prior, but the difference was the performance associated with this particular cooler. It was always near the top of all cooling configurations (not including custom loops), competing even against AIOs with both 120mm and 240mm rads.On paper it was impressive. So i decided to take a leap of faith and try this cooler out, it was a difficult choice especially at this price point. But i dont mind paying a little more, so long as the product works and is essentially worth the time and effort. And I can clearly say that I was not disappointed in the overall assessment of this cooler.I've compared this with a Noctua d-14, Dark Rock Pro, and a h100 on an overclocked cpu at 4.8ghz, and comparatively it has worked much better than the Noctua, Dark Rock Pro, and is within 3-6c of the AIO.I won't delve too much into the performance because it is there. The Hex 2.0 does it's job wonderfully, it even has an app that allows you to control the Phononic LED colors which are RGB as well as allowing you to set your cooling preference.With that said there are a few things to note.The 92mm pwm fan that it comes with can get loud. I replaced this with a silent equivalent and have noticed a major decrease in fan noise maintaining the same performance. If you are overclocking on this you will definitely want to replace it.It needs it's own 6 pin and also needs to be connected via micro usb to have full rgb control. That's more cables than I would like but it is doable.The screw driver included is too short. I used a screwdriver that i received from a Noctua purchase, but will be purchasing a slim one for future use, so don't bash me too much on this quirk.Not enough RGB. The logo itself is about the size of a dime and I would like to have seen some of plastic fan shroud be included in that. Also, the fan shroud can be a bit awkward. My first thought was that it could be better imrpoved to provide a smooth open and closing function.Do I regret my purchase and is it worth the investment?I definitely do not regret my purchase.This product, while not revolutionary, is one of the best in it's class. It's compact size is perfect for mini itx builds. It works as advertised and is much easier to mount than other coolers. It looks sleek, it's built well with a few minor future improvements, and I can see it lasting for years. It will probably be the last cooler I will buy for quite some time as it has a smaller overall footprint than AIOs, while maintaining similar cooling power. Other tower or SFF coolers will not be able to reproduce the cooling results the Hex 2.0 provides.Some of you may be on the fence about buying a cooler now that AM4 is right around the corner, but I assure you that Phononic will support the new platform. I have emailed and received a response from Phononic, regarding this and it will be available in a matter of weeks. Whether it will be provided for free with proof of purchase or sold as a separate product I do not know. I may send a follow up e-mail to get an answer to this. I have seen Noctua selling their AM4 brackets separately on Amazon for about $8.This cooler has performed and exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to seeing what other products Phononic will bring to the competition.If you need a small cooler with similar performance to liquid cooler alternatives, this is the product.

I had my doubts on using a peltier device for active cooling, but it does work really well. Intel 7700K @ 5.2 Ghz under 100% load steady state average temperature is 75C I saw brief "glitch" peaks to 85C.(common to get 10-15C noise in the temp form this processor) I am using the fan this unit came with at 50% effort, and my case fans in use were 200mm and a 140mm both around 500 RPM, 200mm in the front 140mm in the rear 3 inches from the hex cooler. So the case fans help some but the cooler has made a noticeable improvement from the two 140mm massive Noctura forced air heat sink I was using. This has made my machine significantly quieter as well. The software does the job, and it does not have to be running anymore once the settings are set, kudos on the not having to have yet another app run at startup. However this is tailored towards power users and custom PC builders, I would like to see an app that gives more information and enables you set a temperature. It has 4 settings kind of like a cheap Walmart fan. The mount hardware supplied seems adequate and solid. When I installed it, I did not get reassurance that the heat sink plate made contact with the processor, usually you can feel the springs loading up as you tighten them down. I had to remove the unit just to make sure the paste had come in contact with something. The tall standoffs barely clear my motherboard capacitors and inductors while the heat sink barely just makes contact with the processor. But it does, and it is good enough to be very effective. The usb connector on the unit is a micro USB and an interface cable comes with it for internal motherboard usb connections. If you use a lot of usb and you need all of them like me you may have to pull the pins out of the molex connector housing and insert them into another peripherals connector housing, as the mother board connections usually come in pairs and this is a single usb. Surprisingly I did not notice more heat being generated by my machine, I know there is it is the principal behind peltier devices, but it was negligible enough that my room doesn't feel any warmer. I bought this for a gaming rig I may just buy them for my servers as well.

I'm sure this thing toasted my new i7-6700. Well, I think the software did it.I wrapped up a new build with the Hex 2.0 a few days ago. Installed Win10, Nvidia driver, then left the computer on all day. That afternoon, I installed the Hex firmware update and set the thing to Smart Sense. Then, when I started installing Steam, the PC crashed, bootlooped and wouldn't even stay stable in the bios. I swapped the i7 out for a Celeron (with the Intel heatsink/fan) and it booted right up - no crashes, no loops. So, I bought another $400 processor, an i7-7700K this time, and paired it with a Masterair MA610P, a standard heatsink/ fan.My Hex 2.0 is in a box now, in pieces, except for the fan. I'm going to use it.Lastly, or I guess firstly, there was a bent fin on the heatsink when I first opened the box.Update:Do yourself a favor and just buy an AIO. Since this thing cooked my $400 i7-6700k, my 4.2GHz i7-7700k has been trucking right along with a Corsair AIO at 5.2GHz and never topping 70C. I'm stable, playing AAA games and have no concerns about the state of my CPU. Like the title of my review says, If TEC was the way to go, everyone would be doing it... You know what power users are doing? Water cooling. Do that.