Review: SilverStone Heligon HE02

Introduction

It's fair to say that SilverStone has attempted to re-enter the CPU cooler market in a big way. The company's first new release in almost five years - the Heligon HE01 - is monstrous in size and ambitious enough to attempt to offer top-tier performance from a single-fan solution.

And it largely fulfils that goal. The HE01 doesn't look particularly refined, and it's far from the quietest cooler on the market, but it does a damn good job of keeping CPU temperature down to a minimum.

SilverStone's cooling department is off to a good start, and it's hoping to build on that early promise with a follow-up that's even bigger.

Dubbed the Heligon HE02 and priced at €65 (roughly £53), this gargantuan cooler is even more ambitious; it's a passive solution that claims to be able to cool high-end CPUs - and here's the cool bit - without any attached fans.

Sounds risky when you consider that Intel's third-generation Core processors, aka Ivy Bridge, are known to run a little hot under the collar, but SilverStone's confident enough. The manufacturer states that the HE02 is perfectly capable of cooling chips with a TDP of up to 95W without the need for any fans, and if your chassis has at least one 120mm case fan, it quotes a cooling capacity of up to 130W.

Going by today's latest CPUs, SilverStone's figures suggest that the HE02 will cool any Ivy Bridge processor without the need for fans, and it'll even take care of Sandy Bridge Extreme parts - provided you've a 'reasonable' amount of chassis airflow.

In keeping with the Heligon HE01, SilverStone's packaging retains an eco-friendly look that, while minimalist, is smart in appearance and packed full of all the relevant details - including a complete specification. There is a bit of wiggle room for the cooler inside, however, and though the foam padding provides some protection, it isn't packed quite as snug as we'd like. We weren't surprised to find that one of the aluminium fins was bent when we removed the cooler from the box.

All the accessories - and the manual - are packaged in a box of their own, and as you'd expect, the HE02 supports all of the latest Intel and AMD sockets, including AMD's new FM2. A small tube of thermal paste is provided, as are two sets of fan clips, which allow the user to attach two 120mm fans to the heatsink, if need be.

SilverStone's specification confirms that the HE02 is titanic. Measuring 160mm tall, 170mm wide and 130mm deep, it dwarfs most other coolers on the market... and that's without any fans. Tipping the scales at 990g means it's heavy, too. Let's get the beast out of the bag.