Intel Ivy Bridge CPU 7-way cooler group test

Review: Intel Ivy Bridge CPU 7-way cooler group test

Final Thoughts and Ratings

With an Intel Ivy Bridge processor, aftermarket coolers are no longer an optional luxury, they're practically a requirement for any user planning to dabble with some form of overclocking.

Our round-up has compared various solutions of all shapes and sizes at many various price points, and though all seven have performed at a level that's well above Intel's reference heatsink and fan, a few stand out from the bunch.

Arctic Cooling's Freezer 13 has proven to be a little bundle of joy; it doesn't look like much, but it's one of the easiest coolers to install, it performs better than its size suggests, and at £20 it's an affordable option for many.

SilverStone's Heligon HE01 is in many ways the complete opposite; it's expensive at £65, and it can get horribly loud, but if your primary concern is cooling performance, it out-shines any other cooler in our group test.

There are plenty of talented options in between - Noctua's NH-U9B SE2 oozes quality and Sapphire's pre-production Vapor-X shows promise - but the stand-out choice is be quiet!'s Dark Rock Pro 2. Sure, it's pricey at £60 and it can be a bugger to install, but when it's up and running it offers a blend of performance and quiet operation that few others can match.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
	Pros Very easy to install No backplate required Thermal paste pre-applied Good cooling performance Keeps relatively quiet Cons Performance drops when overclocking No extra thermal paste provided

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2
	Pros Excellent cooling performance An impressive seven heatpipes Very quiet in use Looks fantastic Cons Awkward to install Will likely cover a RAM slot

Noctua NH-U9B SE2
	Pros Compact design Decent cooling capability Excellent bundle Outstanding build quality Cons Performance limited by size Ugly beige-and-brown fans

NZXT Havik 120
	Pros Good cooling performance Could be attractive in the right chassis Rubber fan mounts work well Cons Gets loud Basic two-year warranty

Sapphire Vapor-X
	Pros Unique vapour chamber technology Looks impressive Blue LEDs are a nice addition Big, but not too big Cons Doesn't quite match the big hitters Final MSRP yet to be confirmed	Engineering Sample No Rating Given

SilverStone Heligon HE01
	Pros Outstanding cooling performance No RAM clearance issues Bundled with a thick 140mm fan Can accommodate three fans in total Six heatpipes Cons Looks bulky and unrefined Can get horribly loud Basic two-year warranty

Thermaltake Contac 39
	Pros Keen pricing Better-than-reference cooling You might like the LED fans Cons Gaps in contact hamper performance Basic two-year warranty Rubber fan attachments are fiddly

HEXUS Where2Buy

Many of the reviewed CPU coolers are available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.

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I've got the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 and my 2500k i5 is solid on 4.7GHz while being one the the quietest in the test.

No idea if it's the best or not, but I'm happy with it! Might get the Artic Cooling's replacement system for my stock GTX 680 too because I'm that happy with their products.

no phanteks?

Great work. I'd been looking for a test like this for ages and ended up getting the Dark Rock Pro 2 based on reputation alone.
I haven't been disappointed, my 3570k idles <25C and only gets to 54C at 100% @ 4.4GHz

I would have loved to have seen the Phanteks ph-tc14pe in that, though I already know it's an amazing cooler <3

Good to see that Arctic Cooling are still doing a pretty good job for the money they ask. Might grab one to see if it brings down my mates FX 8150 a few degrees and cuts down the horrific noise from the stock cooler (over 5000 rpm…60 deg, takes me back to the days of some of the early Thunderbird coolers!).

If it doesn't do enough there I can always use it on my i5.