Cooling specialist ARCTIC has introduced a new passive cooler for Intel systems. The ARCTIC Alpine 11 Passive is designed for 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156 processors with up to 47W TDP. On the official product page the firm crows about the price of its new passive product, it's just $11.99 plus any applicable regional sales tax.
ARCTIC's new product is made from extruded aluminium. Its rather a simple design and of course doesn't have any moving parts, it's just a singular large vented block measuring 95mm square with a height of 69mm. This half-kilo cooler is supplied with screws, washers and springs necessary to fit your Intel 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156 processor securely. ARCTIC claims the product is dust and maintenance free and backs this up with a 6 year warranty. It has pre-applied a sliver of ARCTIC MX-2 thermal compound for your convenience.
Fanless Tech brought this cooler to our attention and pointed out a not-so-straightforward aspect of the new product. In ARCTIC's specs and promotional blurb the Alpine 11 Passive is said to offer fanless cooling of "all Intel CPUs up to 47 Watts". However if you delve into the 'Technical Data' product tab you will see a stipulation has been added to that headline figure, as follows "*CPUs with a TDP > 35W may reduce the clock during longer periods of full load in PCs with absolutely no fan."
We can't argue with ARCTIC's claim of value. The ARCTIC Alpine 11 Passive is available today, priced at $11.99 plus tax, as mentioned in the intro. In Europe its offered for 13 Euros.
