Introduction

Hey Folks , this time we will be reviewing Noctua’s 2 Mid-Range CPU coolers viz. NH-U12S and NH-U14S. These days the trend on forums is such that , if there is no mention of Nocuta in serious discussions relating to CPU Coolers than its considered incomplete; Hmm. Noctua Products are now synonymous with Quality Stuff. Customer Service wise Noctua has been in the lead and with 6 years warranty you could ask for nothing more! NH-U12S is a slimmer version of NH-U14S. This means that, with NH-U12S the real estate surrounding your RAM slots won’t be Hijacked! For NH-U14S that won’t be a problem for LGA2011. With more bulky Air Coolers swapping RAM sticks has been a real big pain in the ass.

NH-U14S features a 6×2 heat-pipe design and U12S features a 5×2 heat-pipe design. Obviously U14S has more Surface area for dissipating heat and 2 additional heat-pipes as compared to U12S. So how much difference is that gonna make, thermal performance wise? Well, we’ll see that shortly. The design of the aluminum fins for both is similar. Its much like a symmetric butterfly design elongated along the horizontal axis when viewed from top. I kinda like this design. The base and the heat pipes, as usual, are copper with soldered joints and have Nickle plated coating.

Fans in Air Coolers are one of the most important part which regulates the air flow through the fins and directly affects the performance of the coolers. The goods news is that NH-U12S comes bundled with 120mm NF-F12 PWM Fan which is one of the quietest CPU cooler Fan around , while NH-U14S comes bundled with 140mm NF-A15 PWM Fan which has performance similar to NF-F12. These fans have very low noise levels and also feature a Low Noise Adapter which reduces speed from 1500 rpm to 1200 rpm to further reduce the noise. And yes , not to mention that these fans support PWM by which the FAN speed can be controlled. Frankly, NF-F12 is one of my favorite CPU Fan. Noctua also bundles extra fan clips and an extra set of custom-designed anti-vibration pads if you want to add a second NF-F12(U12S) or NF-A15(U14S) for creating a push/pull setup. We will see, in our results, if push/pull setup configuration offers any significant advantage over single fan setup for both the coolers.

Compatibility wise both these coolers are good. The SecuFirm2 mounting system used for these coolers offers a, sort-of, broad spectrum compatibility for both Intel(except LGA775/1336) and AMD sockets. These coolers are compatible down to LGA775 and LGA1366 socket with ‘optional’ NM-I3 mounting kit which can be obtained from Noctua for free if you can provide them the proof of purchase , which as far as I recall is needed for both CPU Cooler and Motherboard. For future compatibility Noctua says (on their website) :

“If technically possible, Noctua will also provide upgrade kits for future sockets.”

Well, fingers crossed!

Finally these coolers come with NT-H1 Thermal Compound which is Noctua’s very own ‘professional grade TIM solution’. Equipped with high performance Fans and Thermal Compound – How will these coolers perform as compared to V8GTS , NH-D14 ? We’ll check that out in our results.

The post Noctua NH-U12S & NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review for AMD appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction:

Today we will be looking at Noctua’s Sound and Static Pressure optimized Focused Flow fans. Now Noctua has always been a very great company in making revolutionary heat sinks and fans with a superb built quality which lasts long. NF-F12 are static pressure optimized fans so they are better on heat sinks and radiators. These are PWM fans which means the fan speed could be controlled using the duty mode inside the BIOS of your motherboard.

Here is a snippets from the product page on Noctua’s site:

Teaming up eleven stator guide vanes with a specially conceived seven blade impeller, the NF-F12’s Focused Flow system creates outstanding static pressure and focuses the airflow for superior performance on heat sinks and radiators. At the same time, a wide range of advanced aerodynamic design measures, second generation SSO-Bearings and Noctua’s new, custom designed PWM IC for fully automatic control guarantee astounding quietness of operation. The NF-F12 comes with modular cabling, integrated anti-vibration pads and two speed settings for full flexibility. Its commanding performance, exhaustive set of features and Noctua’s trusted premium quality make it an elite choice for use on air coolers, radiators and other pressure demanding applications.

Specifications:

Product Showcase:

Noctua NF-F12 comes in a premium packaging as all other Noctua products. This is the front side of the box which shows the branding, name of the product and lists some of its main features.

The upper cover on the front side opens up like a flip and gives you a sneak peek at the fan from the back side and shows 3 anti-vibration rubbers. It also explain about the fan and its features in brief.

The back side of the box shows the specifications, warranty and description of fans in many languages.

On fliping the back side on we can see all the features and technologies in the fan.

Inside the box we get the fan itself with accessories inside a plastic packaging and a user manual.

Along with the fan pre attached with the anti-vibration pads on the edges, we get a Y-cable, a Low Noise Adapter which brings down the fan speed to 1200 RPM, an extension cable of 30cm and 4 anti-vibration rubber to attach the fan to case if you wish.

Noctua NF-F12 looks just like other fans except its focused flow frame which helps the air to be directed in one straight direction.

This is the back side of the fan.

Juts a look at the fan from an angle.

The PWM connector of the fan obviously with 4 pins.

A look at the focused flow frame which helps the air to go in one straight direction.

The 3 gaps you can see on the focused flow frame blade increases the turbulence of the air which means more air pressure.

A closer look at the anti-vibration pad on the edge of the fan.

The inner surface microstructures inside the main frame create a turbulent boundary layer when the fan blade pass over it.

The direction of the airflow indicated at the bottom of the fan.

The 4 wires of a PWM fan. Black – GND(Ground), Yellow – +12V(+12Volts DC), Green – TACH(Tachometer which monitors fan speed.), Blue – PWM(Pulse Width Modulation).

Test Setup, Performance, Power Consumption & Acoustics:

Test Setup:

Cooling Custom Liquid Cooling (CPU Water Block: EK Supreme HF Full Nickel, Tubing: Primochill Primoflex LRT, Pump: Swiftech MCP655, Reservoir: Swiftech MC RES-Micro Rev 2, Radiator: EK XTX 360, Fans: Noctua NF-F12 VS Scythe GT AP-30 4250 RPM)

The FX-8150 was tested with different clock speeds at different voltages at ambient temperature of 22C.

The radiator used is a 360 RAD so 3 of both the fans were used.

For putting load on cpu I used OCCT lin pack with AVX and ran each test for 30 minutes.

FX-8150 4.2GHz @ 1.25V, 4.5GHz @ 1.3375V, 4.7GHz @ 1.368V

• Custom Liquid Cooling with Noctua NF-F12 fans
• Custom Liquid Cooling with Scythe GT AP-30 4250 RPM fans

Performance:

The performance on this fan is impressive with a good amount of static pressure. The focused flow frame really helps the fan to direct the air in straight direction which reduces the wastage of airflow unlike the conventional fans. Unfortunately I don’t have any scientific equipment and conditions to measure the airflow or rather show the air moving in straight direction.

As you can see in the graphs there is a difference in the temperatures but the Scythe GT AP-30 spins at much more RPMs than NF-F12. NF-F12 spins at max RPM of 1500RPM whereas Scythe GT AP-30 spins at max RPM of 4250RPM. No doubt the Scythe GT AP-30 will outperform NF-F12 but at the cost of higher noise level and power consumption as well.

But Noctua NF-F12s are only useful when using it on lower or moderate fin density radiators say max of 20fpi and if used with higher fin density radiators then the radiators must be thin. Its simply because more the obstruction less the airflow at low fan speed.

Power Consumption:

Noctua NF-F12 consumes 0.6W whereas Scythe GT AP-30 consumes 6W at maximum speed. Hence power consumption on NF-F12 is very low.

Acoustics:

Noctua as we all know is very good at making silent fans. All the silent freaks out there will just love these fans. You practically don’t hear any noise at all. The vibration compensators provided with the fans also help a lot in reducing the noise a bit. With a low noise adaptor the fans spin at 1200RPM and you won’t hear anything since its noise level is less that 20dB anyway.

Conclusion & Final Verdict:

Conclusion:

Awesome fans from Noctua with optimized static pressure as well as low noise and power consumption. Even with low fans speed and low noise their performance is amazing.

Pros:

• Outstanding performance at low noise and fan speed
• Very good built quality
• 6 years warranty indicates a long life span
• Very low power consumption

Cons:

• Not so good for higher fin density radiators
• Looks may be a concern for some people

The post Noctua NF-F12 Focused Flow 120mm PWM FAN Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Hello again guys! Today we will be looking at Cooler Master V8 GTS CPU air cooler. This is a compact triple tower cpu cooler with 2X140mm fans in the middle. It has a look of transformer robot face and has red LED lights. It looks very good and is one of the best coolers that will show off the rig if it has a windowed side panel. It has 8 heat pipes and uses a horizontal vapor chamber technology.

A Quick Look at Features:

Specifications:

Product Showcase

Box:

Box contents:

Top view:

Angled view:

Front view:

Side view:

Nickel plated copper base plate & heat pipes:

Inside the cabinet:

In the dark:

Test Setup, Performance & Acoustics

Test Setup:

The FX-8150 was tested 4 times with different clock speeds at different voltages with all of the cpu coolers at ambient temperature of 22C. For putting load on cpu I used OCCT lin pack with AVX and ran each test for 30 minutes. All the testing was done with the side panel closed.

FX-8150 4.2GHz @ 1.25V, 4.5GHz @ 1.3375V, 4.7GHz @ 1.368V, 4.7GHz @ 1.38V.

• Cooler Master V8GTS
• Noctua NH-D14

Performance:

The horizontal vapor chamber and the 8 heat pipes does the job well. V8 GTS was pulling the temps down at a consistent rate whereas the temps on NH-D14 were pulled down slowly as the overclocks were increasing. By saying rate of pull down temps I mean to say the time cooler takes to come back to the idle temps from load temps.

V8GTS clearly beats NH-D14 by 3C on 4.7GHz @ 1.38V test i.e at higher thermal loads.

Acoustics:

Cooler Master V8 GTS is very loud as compared to its rival Nocuta NH-D14. CM V8 GTS is barely audible in noisy environment. Gamers who spend most of their time using their headphone won’t worry much about the cooler not being silent. Tried to take advantage of fans being PWMs but sadly as the fan speeds were turned down the performance went down drastically and was not worth. Also I would have been happy to check the power of the heatsink but neither I have any 140mm fans nor any mounting mechanism for that.

Conclusion & Final Verdict

No doubt the V8 GTS looks good and it is good for show off. It performs very well specially at higher workloads. But the price could have been less.

Pros:

• Great looks
• Good build quality
• Performs very good at higher thermal loads

Cons:

• Expensive
• Noisy fans

Video Review:

Here’s the video version of this review –

The post Cooler Master V8 GTS CPU Cooler Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction:

Hello guys! I am Prathamesh Patil back with another review for you. Today we will be looking at Cooler Master Seidon 240M. When the name comes Cooler Master we obviously know that they are very good at making cabinets, power supplies and coolers for cpu both air and water. They also make excellent quality of gaming peripherals like keyboard, mouse, mouse pads and gaming headphones.

The Seidon 240 is Cooler Master’s latest, incredibly compact watercooling kit that aims to bring watercooling to the masses. It comes factory filled, sealed and tested with a two year zero maintenance guarantee. The performance 240mm radiator is designed for dissipating huge heat from overclocked CPU. Thanks to a 120mm PWM fan with a wide RPM range Seidon can operate silently or unleash a powerful cooling storm at your command.

Overview & Specifications:

Overview:

• Factory filled with coolant, then sealed and pressure tested – requires zero maintenance for years.
• Waterblock made with UltraFine Micro Channel enlarge the contact surface between cold plate and coolant.
• Durable and powerful water pump – dissipates heat effectively and maintains temperatures through stable water circulation.
• Performance 240mm radiator is designed for handling high wattage overclocked CPU.
• Double 120mm PWM fan with a wide RPM range to fine tune and balance fan noise and performance.

Specifications:

Product Showcase:

Test Setup, Performance & Acoustics:

Test Setup:

The FX-8150 was tested 3 times with different clock speeds at different voltages with both of the cpu coolers at ambient temperature of 22C.

For putting load on cpu I used OCCT lin pack with AVX.

All the testing was done with the side panel closed.

FX-8150 4.2GHz @ 1.25V, 4.5GHz @ 1.3375V, 4.7GHz @ 1.368V.

• Noctua NH-D14
• Cooler Master Seidon 240M with max pump and fan speed
• Cooler Master Seidon 240M with max pump and fans @ 1700RPM
• Cooler Master Seidon 240M with max pump and Scythe GT AP-30 4250RPM fans

The reason I tested the Scythe GT-AP30 4250RPM fans on the same setup was to check the efficiency of pump and radiator. These fans have a very high static pressure of about 9.X mm H2O. The fan orientation was pull and the radiator was kept at the roof of my case as an exhaust. Do push or pull, both will yield u same results.

Performance:

Acoustics:

To be honest the pump wasn’t that loud so I kept it running at full speed. Fans are very loud when they run at maximum speed of 2400RPM so I decided to turn them down to a point where they won’t hurt ears. The sweet spot was at 1700RPM. These fans are PWM fans so I plugged them directly onto motherboard fan headers and set the fan speed to 1700RPM by using duty mode in the BIOS. Now I didn’t have any scientific way to calculate the noise level like using dB meter coz I don’t have one. So I didn’t make any number comparison.
The loudest of all was Cooler Master Seidon 240M with max pump and Scythe GT AP-30 4250RPM fans.

One thing could be done is by using a fan speed controller we could set the duty of the fans as per temperature rise, so that they are loud only when the temperature go high. But the stock fans that we get with the unit were loud as well. The most silent is obviously Noctua NH-D14 which never hurt your ears even when fans are at maximum speed. Silent coolers without compromise in performance. Cooler Master seriously need to provide better fans with the unit. Their pump and radiator has the potential to perform better with better fans.

Conclusion & Final Verdict:

Conclusion

Pros:

• Was able to hold down the temperature on the load even at higher overclocks.
• Good pump and powerful radiator.
• Easy to install.

Cons:

• Fans are loud when spinning at full speed.

Video Review:

Here’s the video version of this review :

The post Cooler Master Seidon 240M CPU Cooler Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Close loop liquid coolers are becoming more of a crowd favorite these days when it comes to aftermarket cooling solutions. These solutions are easy to install,fuss free and comparatively more silent than air coolers at the same range. Now this being a lucrative market every manufactures wants a piece of this pie. We have a product from one such company today.

Presenting Corsair H90 140MM Closed loop Liquid Cooler.

So with that aside lets see what we have in our hand today.

We will dive into the specification then a bit of photo shoot. then we will dive into performance data, so hold on..

The post Corsair H90 140MM AIO liquid cooler review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction

Over the recent years we have observed that the practice of using aftermarket cpu cooler has flourished in India. Now this aftermarket cpu cooler basically comes in two flavors,i.e air and water cooler respectively. The advantage of using aftermarket cooler is to reduce processor temperature and overclocking. You all know how bad the stock coolers are.

Air coolers in most cases are cheaper than the water variant,air coolers are also hassle free,easy to use in most cases. Well I must mention that there are some advantages of water coolers too,though they are more expensive and requires some maintenance they actually perform better than most air coolers if not all.

Still air coolers are more popular amongst Indian users since they are cheaper and maintenance free.

So today we have Deepcool GAMMAXX S40 in our hand and I’m going to make review of it. Now those of you who don’t know about Deepcool I’m going to give a short intro about Deepcool, the brand was established in 1996, they used to make desktop and server coolers for ODM partners, with rapid expansion of personal computer market Deepcool expanded its business into desktop cooling products and laptop cooling accessories, today Deepcool have a wide range of cooling products of different price segment.

Now lets have a look at the features and specification of the cooler.

The post Deepcool Gammaxx S40 CPU Cooler Review appeared first on OCFreaks!.

Introduction

Hey Everyone , Today is a proud day for us, for today we have with us here the first AIO water coolers from India! Here are the pictures of the unboxing of the SVG Tech HOC 40 and HOC 20 AIO Water Cooling Kits.

Testing and Review will follow in a week or so once i get some breathing time and get down to testing these babies.

Initial impressions are very positive, What i like so far is as follows.

1. Quality Full Copper Radiator. Optimised for low and medium speed fans .. im counting approximately 8-9 FPI.
2. CNG Connect..very nice to see the ability to add more blocks.The connector itself feels fairly secure and should be leak proof. Just dont go around yanking on it or unplugging it when the pump is running.
3. Pump seems to be of high quality and very similar to the Corsair units ( Very good )
4. The Tubes are pretty long and of good quality.
5. The Paint finish seems to be pretty durable and of good quality too.

What i do have some reservations about are the following , and im sure we will get the answers to these questions too.

1. The Durability of the CNC connect but that can only be determined over time.
2. Pump longevity , But again it looks a lot like the new Corsair pumps and if it is anything like them then we should we perfectly ok
3. Pump Power, Will it have enough grunt to push through say a high restriction GPU block ? ( again can only be found out in testing multiple blocks )

The post SVG Tech HOC 40 and HOC 20 AIO Water Coolers Unboxing appeared first on OCFreaks!.