Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA great fan, great fins, but poor contact surface.
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2017
Overall, I like it, but for the price i would have hoped for a flatter surface.
Setup Essentials:
i7-7700K, samsung 950 256GB M.2, 4x G.SKILL TridentZ 3200MHz 8GB, Asus z170-a ATX, wireless adapter in 1st pci slot
OC: Stable Full-Load, 4.945 GHZ at ~94C, 4.6 GHz at ~82C, both with hyper-threading,
disabling dropped both by around 15C (4.6 = ~67C)
Pros:
- Fan is silent, rubber grommets, nice motor
- metal fins seem to be constructed well, sturdy, hole/slit patterns
- PWM 4-pins
- 4 pipes is all anyone needs nowadays with consumer grade wattage, this is great for allowing for space relative to the 612.
Cons:
- contact surface was not at all flat
- contact surface was ground with a sandbelt type grinder at a grit significantly less than my 220 DMT diamond plate
- However, see note on heat transfer below.
*Attached images show:
1) a semi-raw version sowing 2 spots where i first noticed how uneven the surface was. This occurred because I wanted to refine the poor grit.
2) a photo taken about 20 minutes into the 220 grit plate grinding. I was slow, but this was also a seriously uneven surface.
3) final product at 6000 grit, figure i would go all the way since i was already doing it. I didn't get 100% of the surface flat because it would have taken another hour.
**I should note that most CM coolers have a rough surface, but the waviness was worth docking a star....or 2.
***The 7700K has more issues within itself than the cooler. hyper-threading causes large variations in core temps, and they all run high. I might delid at some point. Therefore I am not blaming my high temps on the cooler, and received a product that is well priced for what I paid for. The fact the the 7700K has trouble transmitting the heat to the cooler is the real issue.
