Akasa, the U.K.-based PC hardware manufacturing company known for its fanless cases, just announced the latest model of its Euler line of fanless Mini-ITX chassis. According to the company’s X post, the Euler CMX is designed for the latest Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra processors with a maximum TDP of up to 35 watts.

This case is fully passively cooled via the aluminum fins on its case, and it also features dual USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 ports up front, a built-in 220W DC-to-DC power converter, and VESA mounts. The company said that its “built for reliable industrial & POS deployments,” but enthusiasts looking for a completely silent solution for a home media PC will also appreciate it.

The biggest change Akasa did to the Euler CMX is its ability to accommodate “regular-sized” Mini-ITX motherboards, compared to the previous models which were limited to thin Mini-ITX mobos. You’d still need an external AC-to-DC power brick to power whatever you’re building in this tiny case, but its 248.6 x 205 x 78.5mm (9.8 x 8.1 x 3.1 inches) dimension means that you can easily fit it nearly anywhere.

Unfortunately, this case only officially supports Intel LGA1851, LGA1700, LGA1200, and LGA115X sockets, so you can’t put most of the best gaming CPUs from AMD into it. Nevertheless, Akasa lists the Intel Core Ultra 9 285T as one of the CPUs that the fanless case can reliably cool. While it’s not as powerful as the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K we’ve reviewed (which we found to be lacking in the gaming department), it will likely still be a great choice for most productivity and HTPC purposes. You can also put in less powerful Intel Core Ultra 5 T-series chips in this case, which is particularly useful if you don’t need the performance of a high-end processor but want the zero-noise delivered by fanless builds.

As usual, you’ll have to pay the SFF tax if you want to get this fanless case as it costs almost $175 (pre-VAT) on Quiet PC if you want to get one for yourself. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of building a tiny fanless PC yourself, the retail store also offers a complete build starting with an Intel Core Ultra 5 245T CPU, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 500GB SSD for $1,489 (pre-VAT).

The latest entry-level cooler to land on our test bench is from Akasa. The H4 Plus features a single tower heatsink with four direct touch heatpipes and a black and dark blue aesthetic. Some of you may know of Akasa for its SFF and Mini-PC products – like the Gem Pro Raspberry Pi Case. We’ve recently tested the company’s unusually shaped M.2 heatsink, the Akasa Gecko, and found it one of the best on the market for cooling high-power PCI-e 5 SSDs. 

The Alucia H4 Plus won’t make our list of the best CPU coolers, but we’ll put it through testing to see how it performs. But first, here are the specifications from Akasa.  

Cooler specifications

Packing and included contents 

The cooler is shipped with cardboard, molded foam, and plastic to protect the contents during shipping. Included with the cooler are the following: 

• Single tower heatsink
• 1x 120mm fan
• Akasa T5 Pro Grade Plus thermal paste
• Extra fan clips
• User Manual
• Mounting for AMD & Intel CPU platforms

Features of Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus

*️⃣ Slim single-tower design

The included heatsink is a slim, all-black single-tower design.

*️⃣ Full RAM compatibility

The heatsink is slightly recessed, ensuring that the included fan does not interfere with any DIMM slots – all sizes of RAM, no matter how tall, are supported.

*️⃣ Direct touch heatpipes

The Alucia H4 Plus incorporates four direct-touch heatpipes to transfer heat from the CPU into the aluminum fins.

*️⃣ Akasa T5 Pro Grade Plus thermal paste

Akasa includes a tube of its thermal paste with the Alucia H4 Plus, enough for multiple installations.

*️⃣ Extra fan clips

While most users should find the default cooling performance of Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus satisfactory, extra clips are included if you desire to add an (optional, not included) second fan.

*️⃣Simple installation

As you’ll see later in this review, the installation of the cooler is simple and easy to perform.

*️⃣ 1x Black and blue fan

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case. 

Included here is one 120mm fan with a black frame paired with nine ribbed blue fan blades and anti-vibration pads in the corners. In the middle of the fan, above the bearings, Akasa’s logo is displayed on an etched metal circle.

What I don’t like about Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus

❎ High Price

The price of the Alucia H4 Plus is $38.95 USD. Most entry-level single-tower coolers are $30 or less, with Thermalright and ID-Cooling featuring models for as little as $15 here in the U.S.

❎ Louder than many competitors

As you’ll see in the benchmarks below, the Alucia H4 Plus runs louder than many of its competitors on the market.

Testing Methodology, and how my testing differs vs the competition

My cooler testing is specifically designed to emulate the conditions a user would actually experience when using a computer. Some reviewers test coolers using an open bench. I do not like this method, it reduces cooling difficulty. When you use a case, the internal temperature of that case will become higher than that of the room’s ambient temperature, increasing the saturation of the cooler and overall cooling difficulty. Testing outside of a case will give an advantage to weaker coolers, especially those with fans that aren’t very strong. 

Others test using a thermal heatplate. This method suffers from all the drawbacks of an open bench, but also doesn’t accurately represent cooling a CPU. A thermal plate evenly distributes a thermal load across the copper heat conduction square. The problem with this type of testing is that modern AMD Ryzen and Intel Core CPUs have most of their heat concentrated in a few hotspots – and cooling a concentrated source of heat is more difficult than cooling a source that’s spread evenly.

The last thing I do differently from some cooler testers is that I insist on using relatively new CPUs for cooler testing because people building new PCs should be using recent CPUs. Also, thermal density is just different with newer CPUs. Products like Ryzen 3000 “Zen 2” and older 14nm Intel CPUs have lower heat density compared to modern counterparts, due to a combination of using older manufacturing processes and running at lower clock speeds. Using a weaker cooler with an older CPU can make the cooler look better performing than it actually is with current-gen silicon. 

Today's highest-end CPUs, whether Intel or AMD, are difficult to cool in intensive workloads. In the past. reaching 95 degrees Celsius or more on a desktop CPU might have been a cause for concern. But with today’s top-end CPUs, this is considered normal operation. Similar behavior has been present in laptops for years due to cooling limitations in tight spaces.

All testing is performed with a 23C ambient room temperature. Multiple thermal tests are run on each CPU to test the cooler in a variety of conditions, and acoustic measurements are taken with each result. These tests include:

1. Noise-normalized testing at low noise levels

2. “Out-of-the-box”/Default configuration thermal and acoustic testing

     a. No power limits enforced

     b. Because CPUs hit TJ Max in this scenario, the best way to compare cooling strength is by recording the total CPU package power consumption. 

3. Thermal and acoustic testing in power-limited scenarios

     a. Power limited to 175W to emulate a medium-intensity workload

     b. Power limited to 125W to emulate a low-intensity workload

The thermal results included are for 10-minute testing runs. To be sure that was sufficiently long to tax the cooler, we tested both Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE and DeepCool’s LT720 with a 30-minute Cinebench test with Intel’s i9-13900K for both 10 minutes and 30 minutes. The results didn’t change much at all with the longer test: The average clock speeds maintained dropped by 29 MHz on DeepCool’s LT720 and 31 MHz on Thermalright’s Assassin X 120 R SE. That’s a tiny 0.6% difference in clock speeds maintained, a margin of error difference that tells us that the 10-minute tests are indeed long enough to properly test the coolers. 

Testing configuration – Intel LGA1700 platform 

Many factors other than the CPU cooler can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if it suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.

To prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.

Installation

1. First, place the CPU bracket against the rear of the motherboard, and then place the spaces on top of the included standoffs.

2. Place the mounting bars on top of the standoffs, and secure them using the included thumbscrews.

3. Next, apply the included thermal paste to the top of your CPU. If you’re not sure how to do this, we have a thermal paste installation guide you can read for more details. 

4. Press the heatsink against the mounting bars, and secure it with a screwdriver.

5. Use the included fan clips to secure the fan to the heatsink. Attach the fan’s PWM cable to your computer, and installation is complete.

Thermal results without power limits

Without power limits enforced on Intel’s i7-13700K, the CPU will hit its peak temperature (TJ Max) and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers. When the CPU reaches its peak temperature, I measured the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled to best compare their performance.

This review has limited results compared to previous reviews because I only included results from similar single-tower air coolers in the charts, with the goal of making it easier to compare the Alucia H4 Plus to products that it competes against most directly. If you’d like to see a larger list of results, our recently released review of the Levelplay Combat Air C4 has a larger list of results for comparison, but it lacks the results from the Akasa cooler we’re looking at here.

With 214W cooled in this test, the Alucia H4 Plus has middle-of-the-road performance.

To achieve this level of performance, the unrestricted fans run up to 42.9 dBA. This is a little louder than the noise levels of most other single-tower coolers I’ve tested.

Thermal results with noise normalized to 38.2 dBA

Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited and many users prefer a quieter system. With this noise-normalized test, I’ve set noise levels to 38.2 dba. This level of noise is a low volume level, but still audible to most people.

With the noise of the fans limited to 38.2 dBA, Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus narrowly achieved second place in our results for single tower air coolers – cooling 204W during low noise testing.

175W Cinebench results

Most coolers on the market can keep Intel’s i7-13700K under its peak temperature if the power consumption is limited, so for this test, we’ll be looking at the CPU’s actual temperature.

Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus kept the CPU at an average of 85 degrees C during testing (62C over an ambient of 23C). This isn’t necessarily bad, but it was one of the warmer results among single-tower air coolers we’ve tested. Noise levels registered at 40.9 dBA, which is an average noise level for these types of coolers.

125W Cinebench results

The lowest power limit I test with Raptor Lake CPUs is 125W. This is a high enough limit to allow the CPU to maintain its base clock speeds even in the most intensive tests, and most coolers should be capable of keeping the CPU below TJ Max (the max temperature before throttling) – even low-end coolers.

Really, thermals do not matter in this scenario, because even Intel’s stock cooler can handle a load like this with ease. Noise levels, rather than CPU temperature, are the most important factor here.

When it comes to noise levels in common scenarios, the Akasa Alucia H4 Plus measured 39.6 dBA. This is far from loud, but it is louder than most other coolers of this type in our results.

Conclusion

Akasa’s Alucia H4 Plus provides essential cooling performance and has a distinctive look with its black cooler tower and dark blue fan. However, at $38.95, it’s hard to recommend when many quieter competitors are available for $30 USD or less.

Until recently, cooling for storage was at best an afterthought for most enthusiasts and PC builders – it really wasn’t a concern outside of servers jam-packed full of drives. But current-generation PCIe 5 SSDs can transfer more data than ever before, and pushing those speeds can generate a fair bit of extra heat. With these modern drives, not only is some kind of cooling recommended, but it’s generally a requirement to prevent throttling or even crashing in some instances.

Over the past few years, cooling companies have released a wide variety of heatsinks and coolers for NVMe SSDs to ensure that they can maintain their maximum speeds. Heatsinks large and small, with or without active fans, and even liquid cooling solutions are now available for NVMe SSDs.

Here we’re looking at an SSD cooler from Akasa, which many of you may know for SFF and Mini-PC products – like the Gem Pro Raspberry Pi Case. The heatsink we’re looking at is called the Gecko Cooler, and it stands out from the crowd by incorporating a blower-style cooler more commonly used for server GPUs. Does it perform well enough to compete with the best SSD heatsinks for your storage? Before we get to the benchmarks, we’ll take a quick look at the features and specifications.

NVMe SSD Heatsink specifications

Packing and Installation

The Gecko Cooler arrives in a small box, with the primary components packaged in an anti-static bag.

Included with the cooler are the following:

• User Manual
• SSD heatsink
• Top-mounted blower fan
• Thermal pads
• Screws

The installation of the Geck Cooler is similar to most other NVMe SSD heatsinks on the market.

1. Take the base of the unit and apply the bottom-side thermal pad.

2. Place your SSD on top of the bottom thermal pad, then place the second thermal pad on top of the SSD.

3. Place the heatsink on top of the SSD, and secure it using the included screws.

4. Place the heatsink and NVMe SSD into a m.2 slot on your motherboard and secure it.

5. Finally, connect the cord to a PWM header on your motherboard and turn on your computer.

Features of Akasa’s Gecko Cooler

➡️ Blower style cooler

What first caught my eye about the Akasa Gecko cooler is that it features a blower-style cooler traditionally associated with server GPUs. While they call it the “Gecko” cooler, it looks more like a snail than a lizard.

➡️ Aluminum heatsink with fins

The unique blower-style cooler doesn’t do all of the work on its own. The heat is initially transferred to an aluminum heatsink with two large fins on each side and six thinner fins in the middle. Air is pushed through these fins when the blower fan is utilized, but you can install this cooler without the fan if you just want to use it as a heatsink.

➡️ Compatible with most GPUs          

Despite its large size, Akasa’s Gecko can be installed next to most GPUs on the market without compatibility problems. I tested it with both an MSI Ventus RTX 4070 and an ASRock Steel Legend RX 7900 GRE. However, if you have an RTX 4090 GPU that covers the NVMe slot next to your CPU, you’ll need to use an alternative slot instead.

➡️ All-black design

Akasa’s Gecko Cooler features a jet-black aesthetic, with no lighting.

How hot is too hot? Does cooling even matter for an SSD?

With SSD heatsinks, a lot of you are probably asking if it really matters. And if you’re a typical user who typically just loads a few applications and games, you probably don’t need an advanced heatsink with a fan. I’ve run a variety of tests, and for common tasks like loading a game or application, you generally don’t need more than a basic heatsink – at least not with current SSDs and workloads. 

If you need heavy-duty cooling for your drives, you probably already know it. This includes users whose workloads are IO-intensive or involve high-resolution video editing. 

We’re also trying to look to the future here, to an extent. Today’s common workloads might not need anything more than a basic heatsink, but this may change with PCIe 6 and future standards, which will allow for higher speeds (and potentially higher power consumption) in consumer SSDs.

After consulting storage experts across the industry who work for Sabrent, Solidigm, Phison, Micron, and other storage manufacturers, I’ve created an IOMeter script that’s specifically designed to stress an SSD’s controller and NAND, causing it to reach its maximum temperature (also known as TJ Max). The ambient temperature is maintained at 23 degrees Celsius, while these tests are performed. The SSD used is Teamgroup’s Z540 SSD, which is powered by Phison’s E26 controller. 

This test will cause throttling when paired with lower-end heatsinks. For those heatsinks, we’ll be looking at the IOPS of the drive during testing. The more advanced heatsinks and coolers will be capable of keeping the SSD under its peak temperature – for these units, we’ll compare the actual temperatures of the TeamGroup Z540 SSD. 

If peak performance in common scenarios like gaming is your only goal, then most basic heatsinks will offer satisfactory performance. However, users with storage-intensive workloads will require a stronger heatsink, like active Akasa cooler we’re reviewing today, in order to prevent the SSD’s performance from throttling. The impact of this potential throttling can vary; lighter loads won’t be impacted as much, but in the worst-case scenario I tested, I measured a 92% loss of performance without cooling on a PCIe 5.0 SSD. 

You might think that’s the only aspect to consider when looking at a heatsink, but the thermals of an SSD also have a huge impact on a drive’s longevity. Much like other electronic components, extreme variations in temperature cause wear and tear, reducing lifespan. Now let's be real here - most users shouldn’t need to worry about longevity and instead should purchase a drive from a reliable manufacturer, with a good warranty. While this is our general recommendation, there are scenarios where this won’t apply - if you purchased a refurbished SSD at a discount, you can’t expect to have a long warranty.

Finally, there’s the matter of dealing with the hassle of a warranty. While it is nice to know that a failing drive will be replaced by the manufacturer, why create an environment where such a claim is likely to happen? I’d argue that it would be wiser to invest $10 or $15 into a heatsink to extend the lifespan of your SSD so that you don’t have to worry about dealing with the paperwork and time involved in processing a warranty claim. 

In theory, if your NVMe SSD arrives with a heatsink from the manufacturer, you shouldn’t need to worry about a heatsink at all. Most of the heatsinks I’ve seen paired with high-end PCIe 5 SSDs are capable of handling strong thermal loads. However, many drives do not include a heatsink and it would not be wise to run a high-speed PCIe 5 SSD entirely uncooled, as performance will suffer even in common workloads. 

When it comes to heatsinks for SSDs, the important thing to take away here is that it’s best practice to minimize temperature variations for the health and longevity of your SSD. How strong of a heatsink you’ll need is another matter for debate. In common scenarios, most users will be fine with basic heatsinks - but professionals or users with storage-intensive workloads might want to invest in a stronger heatsink.

Testing Methodology

To test the heatsinks, I’ve created a custom IOMeter script with input from experts in the industry. I run an initial test of 30 minutes after installing the heatsink to burn it in. After turning the system off and allowing it to cool down, I run another 30-minute test. I’ll repeat the process for verification and if there is no variance I consider the results accurate. If there is variance, I’ll test the heatsink twice more.

Tests are performed inside of a real case, BeQuiet’s Silent Base 802. I use a 360 mm AIO to avoid having the CPU Cooler potentially impact the results, but there’s an argument to be made that the smallest heatsinks should be tested under an air cooler. We’ll investigate this further in upcoming reviews to see how much – or little – this can impact the results of lower-end heatsinks.

All testing is performed with an ambient temperature of 23 C.

Thermal Results

The thermal results from Akasa’s Gecko Cooler were very strong — some of the best results we’ve seen from an SSD cooler. During our stress tests, the SSD only peaked at 47 degrees Celsius, taking the number four spot on our chart as one of the strongest coolers for your SSD. This level of cooling capacity will ensure your SSD’s storage is consistent and your cooler is ready for any workload thrown at your NVMe drive – no matter how intensive it is.

Noise Levels

When I’ve tested NVMe heatsinks with fans I always tested them with my motherboard’s default setting, shown below. I never bothered to adjust this setting, because none of the units I’ve tested ran louder than my system fans at idle – and I like a nice, quietly running system.

It would be pretty pointless to run any of these heatsink’s fans at full speed. You won’t gain any performance, and this heatsink performs rather well even without a fan. If you are so inclined to run this cooler’s fan at full speed, it will reach up to 39.6 dBA. This is comparable to the maximum noise levels of quiet CPU coolers.

Conclusion

Akasa’s Gecko Cooler features a blower-style fan, and it certainly doesn’t suck. Its thermal capacity is strong (among the best we've tested), ensuring your PCI-e 5 SSD will sustain peak performance even during intensive workloads.

A high-performance fanless PC specialist has listed NUC PCs using the latest passive cases from Akasa. Listings by AtLast! As spotted by Fanless Tech, solutions include systems built into the Akasa Turing AC Pro and Maxwell AC Pro. Both of the cases house NUC 13 Pro innards (with Intel i7-1360P & Iris Xe Graphics) and are said to deliver impressive performance under load.

Intel launched its NUC 13 Pro machines just a few weeks ago. The Raptor Lake-P powered machines were singled out for criticism in a review by The Register for having annoying buzzy fans which "came to life and blew… constantly." Noise pollution can greatly impact productivity, so Akasa's intervention(s) is welcome.

Akasa's Turing AC Pro converts a NUC 13 Pro into a somewhat Xbox Series X-alike tower. In the images above and below, you can see aspects of the design revealing the thermal considerations of the case makers.

In brief, the Turing AC Pro tower case includes two 6mm heat pipes and a pure copper CPU block. Moreover, a substantial aluminum block is provided to keep your M.2 PCIe SSD cool, calm and collected. Systems maker AtLast! Solutions will spec up to a Samsung 990 PRO SSD. Stepping back from the system, you can also see that the chassis is a sizable heatsink with an extensively finned design. The Turing AC Pro measures 95 x 113.5 x 274 mm (W x D x H) - or 2.8 liters, and is said to cool up to 40-watt processors.

Akasa's Maxwell AC Pro is a more traditional compact NUC-style desktop design. This chassis has thicker heat pipes and a larger overall size at 218.5 x 206 x 80.3 mm (W x D x H) - or 3.6 liters but uses aluminum for the CPU block. Again, a thermal kit for the M.2 SSD is supplied, but this time it is a finned model. The maximum TDP for processors used in this case is also said to be 40 watts.

Both of the passive fanless Akasa encased NUC 13 Pros are listed at $1,070 and come packing the Intel Core i7-1360P with Iris Xe Graphics, 8 GB of DDR4-3200, and a 500 GB Samsung 980 PRO SSD. These prices are over $300 more than a NUC 13 Pro barebone sold on Amazon (same processor, but missing any RAM or storage).

PC cases and cooling stalwart Akasa has revealed its new Gecko Cooler for M.2 SSDs. The firm has previously released some M.2 heatsinks, but this is its first active cooler for this increasingly popular PC storage form factor. As well as being a first for Akasa, this seems to be the first blower-style cooler for M.2 devices in general. Blower coolers, and tiny fans, tend to generate characteristic noise profiles that are harder to ignore (often sounding whiney). Despite being called the Akasa Gecko, the design looks more like a snail, which PC component makers, who tend to focus on speed, don’t like to associate their products with.

Akasa’s design is compatible with any standard M.2 2280 SSD. It is constructed in full black livery, from its steel bracket, with aluminum heatsink, and on top of this is affixed the blower cooler assembly which features a 50 x 50 x 15mm fan. When installed on your M.2 SSD, the top of the device is 72.53mm above the motherboard (max compatibility). This 120g cooler is said to be easy to install, but its main claim to fame is that it can reduce your SSD temperatures by 58% compared to a drive with no thermal solution.

Akasa provides some cooling comparisons. In the above chart, a stressed SSD without thermal solution reached around 80 degrees Celsius. But the Gecko-cooled sample remained under 40 degrees Celsius over the same tests.

As mentioned in the intro, blower-style coolers have a bit of a reputation for unpleasant noise. We can’t say much about the actual sound profile without a review unit, but Akasa’s specifications suggest that the active 50mm fan in this design crests at 29dB noise, even as it hits 3,000 RPM. The twin ball-bearing fan delivers a max 3.98 CFM airflow, and a max 8.2 mm-H2O air pressure.

Akasa’s Gecko Cooler looks reasonably well made, and the firm provides a good selection of accessories for fitting. Between the steel bracket and the M.2 SSD you fit the supplied thermal pad, then there is another thermal pad to go on top of the 2280 form factor drive, followed by the heatsink and active fan assembly.

Over the last few months, we have seen quite a few new active and elaborate passive cooler solutions for M.2 SSDs, and even some designed for liquid cooling. At the present time, only those with the most performant cutting-edge PCIe Gen 4.0 and Gen 5.0 M.2 SSDs will need anything better than a modest heatsink to prevent throttling. But with support now on both AMD and Intel's current-gen platforms, we expect to see lots of PCIe 5.0 SSDs arriving soon.

Pricing and availability for the Akasa Gecko Cooler has yet to be revealed. Its passive Gecko Pro brother is priced at just $8, so we don't expect this active cooler to be to cost prohibitive.

Akasa are no strangers to unusual Raspberry Pi cases. Their previous case, the all aluminum Gem Pro, featured a unique “gem” pattern and provided impressive passive cooling for $32. Akasa’s latest case, the $33 Maze Pro is a smaller. less “in your face” case with an unusual maze pattern designed to quickly remove heat from the Raspberry Pi 4. 

The Raspberry Pi 4 has been with us for some time now, and it is well documented that it runs hotter than previous models. Whether your goal is to replace your desktop with a Raspberry Pi 4, consume media or power your Chia farm then a silent case can make all the difference for your performance. Can the Akasa Maze Pro keep our Raspberry Pi 4 cool enough to earn a place among the best Raspberry Pi cases? 

Design of the Akasa Maze Pro 

The matt black, all aluminum case of the Akasa Maze Pro measures 3.8 x 2.5 x 1.3 inches (97 x 65.5 x 35 mm) and provides us with all of the cut-outs that we need for access to the USB, Ethernet, HDMI and power. Above the USB 2.0 ports is a slit designed for the official Raspberry Pi camera to be used, a nice touch that is often overlooked. 

There is no dedicated slot for the official Raspberry Pi display, but with care this can be routed via the slot intended for the micro SD card. Next to the micro SD card slot are a power button, connected to the GPIO and a Wi-Fi window. The Wi-Fi window is an odd thing, but it appears to be an opening to afford the onboard Wi-Fi of the Raspberry Pi 4 the chance of connecting without interference from the aluminum chassis.

The underside of the case is nothing more than a means to close off and protect the underside of the Raspberry Pi. What we are all interested in is the top of this case, and here is where we learn why the “maze” moniker was given to this case. The maze is not something that we will solve with a ball bearing; rather it is a novel way to add an aesthetic flair while providing plenty of surface from which heat can dissipate. Akasa have a history of unusual heat sink patterns, Akasa’s Gem Pro is a striking and efficient case which features a “gem” pattern designed to offer a greater surface area for heat dissipation.

GPIO access is possible, if a little cramped. By removing four screws we gain access to the GPIO (see Raspberry Pi GPIO Pinout) but the direct use of HATs and other addons is out of the question. Using an adaptor cable would mitigate this issue. Using the pins with jumper jerky is manageable, but it will test both your dexterity and eyesight when trying to identify the pins in the darkness of the case.

Building the Akasa Maze Pro

Building the Akasa Maze Pro is simple. In total there are four screws which hold the base of the case to the top, and inside the case we have two “posts” designed to press on the main Arm processor / SoC and the power management IC (PMIC) which is known to operate a little warm. 

There is no cooling for the RAM or VL805 USB 3.0 controller. The Raspberry Pi 4 is mounted upside down to the case lid using four screws that go through the bottom of the case and provide the physical pressure to hold the SoC and PMIC to the posts. Before we fix the Pi in place, we need to connect the included power button to the GPIO.

Using the Akasa Maze Pro

Whether you’re browsing the web, playing games, running a home server, hosting a media player or farming Chia, the Akasa Maze Pro will provide silent cooling for all your basic needs. It even stays cool enough to avoid throttling when you overclock your CPU.

We powered on the Raspberry Pi 4 and left it to settle for five minutes, after which we measured the idle temperature at 34 Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit). We then ran the stressberry automated benchmark and the temperature rose to 44.3 Celsius (111.7 Fahrenheit) and then settled back down to 37.9 Celsius (100.2 Fahrenheit). These temperatures are good, not as good as Akasa’s Gem Pro, but that is a larger case with more aluminum to dissipate heat.

Repeating the test procedure and pushing the CPU to 2.1, GHz we saw the idle temperature rise slightly to 36 Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit). Running the stressberry test and the temperature rose to 54.5 Celsius (130.1 Fahrenheit) well under the 85 Celsius hard limit that triggers the CPU to throttle.

Bottom Line

The Akasa Maze Pro, is an unassuming case that looks good and keeps everything cool without making noise. It is smaller than the Gem Pro and thankfully it also lacks the sharp corners of the Gem Pro. It may not cool as effectively as the Gem Pro, but it provides great cooling for a passively cooled case, which is good enough to avoid throttling even when you overclock your Pi 4. 

Access to the camera and the power button are nice features to have and add some value to the case. The GPIO access is bearable but by no means is it ideal. We can remedy this issue with an extension cable, but this will make the power button non-functional. 

However, at $33, the Akasa Maze Pro is more than double the cost of the Argon Neo, our favorite case, which supports both active and passive cooling and triple the price of the Pimoroni Pibow Coupe 4, which benefits from having a fan but is also an excellent case with easy access to the GPIO pins. In order to really benefit from the Akasa Maze Pro, you have to really love the design, not just the functionality.

Akasa has released an external SSD enclosure called the Vegas SSD Mate that, as spotted by Hermitage Akihabara, features a cooling fan adorned with RGB lighting.

The Vegas SSD Mate is a tool-free aluminum enclosure said to fit both PCIe and SATA SSDs with the M.2 2280, 2260, 2242, and 2230 form factors. Equipping the enclosure with an M.2 SSD should be as easy as lining up the drive and snapping it into place.

Akasa said the enclosure connects to a system using USB 3.2 Gen 2, which means the Vegas SSD Mate's maximum data transfer rate should be 10 Gb/s. It's also backwards compatible with connections based on USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 1.

The same can be said of most recent external SSD enclosures. The Vegas SSD Mate stands out thanks to its fan, which Akasa said "improves and maximises natural air convection to keep the SSD cool and running optimally." (Emphasis theirs.)

Should that be necessary? Not really. Most external SSD enclosures manage their drive's temperatures via heatsinks and thermal pads. A fan might actually prove detrimental to people who don't want their drives to be exposed to debris.

On the other hand, the fan is surrounded by RGB lighting, and there's no denying that people love making their accessories shine with the brilliance of, well, several LEDs. (Akasa didn't say how many LEDs the enclosure features, but it can't be very many.)

More information about the Vegas SSD Mate is available via Akasa's website. The enclosure is currently available via Amazon for $74.99, but at time of writing there are only two left in stock, so either Akasa didn't make many or the demand for an RGB-lit external SSD enclosure is higher than many of us would have expected.

It may read like an early April Fool, but Akasa's latest case for the Raspberry Pi 4 is truly "amazing". The Maze Pro is an all black sandblasted anodized aluminum case with another interesting cooling design that resembles a ball bearing maze game. We say another as Akasa previously released the Gem Pro which featured a "gem" pattern which dissipated heat while looking cool.

Akasa's Maze Pro is no joke, it is a real product sat on our bench for testing. Made from sandblasted anodized aluminum, this all black case comes in two parts. The top part of the case is a typical all metal case with columns of aluminum designed to pull heat from the Broadcom SoC. But unlike other cases which also pull heat from the USB 3.0 host controller, a VL805 chip, the Maze Pro's additional aluminum column is positioned directly over the power management IC (PMIC) and used to keep this chip cool. How this will affect overall cooling, we won't know until we run our benchmarks.

Moving around the case, which measures 3.8 x 2.5 x 1.3 inches (97 x 65.5 x 35 mm) we see the usual cutouts for USB ports, power etc. A cutout for the camera CSI connector is present, but not one for the official display. A neat feature of the Maze Pro is a removable cover for the GPIO that enables access to all 40 GPIO pins but it looks a little tight for use with HATs. Next to the micro SD card cutout is a power button, programmable via a one line install script, this button can safely power off or wake the Raspberry Pi 4.

The Maze Pro is set to retail for £28.95 ($40) and Tom's Hardware will have a full review in the near future and we'll see how it stacks up against the best Raspberry Pi cases.

Akasa has announced the industry's first fanless chassis for Intel's NUC 9 Compute Element platform. The Turing QLX will enable enthusiasts and PC makers to build quiet systems using Intel's gaming-oriented NUC 9 Compute Element modules. 

Intel and its partners brought the first NUC 9 Pro/Extreme Compute Element modules and supporting cases to the market in Q2 2020. But at the time, none of the chassis could offer passive cooling, as reckoned by Liliputing. In late December, Akasa finally announced the industry's first fanless chassis for Intel's NUC Compute Element platform.

The Akasa Turing QLX is a sub-7L chassis that measures 212(W) x 150(D) x 220(H)mm and can support all five of Intel's currently available NUC 9 Pro/Extreme Compute Element modules that are compatible with the Intel West Cove carrier board, including the top-of-the-range BXNUC9i9QNB that carries the eight-core Core i9-9980HK CPU. 

To install a Compute Element into a Turing QLX, all users have to do is to remove their stock cooling and then attach one of Akasa's heat dissipation modules with the appropriate thermal copper tubes. The case is made of aluminum and features extruded fins on the side to maximize its cooling performance. Akasa says that the chassis can support modules with a CPU up to 45W TDP, typical for Intel's high-end mobile processors. 

Akasa doesn't provide any details about what kind of power supply it will ship with the Turing QLX, but it recommends using a low-power graphics card since the chassis was not designed to handle dual or triple-slot monsters for hardcore gamers. Meanwhile, enthusiasts will certainly find a way to squeeze something more or less advanced into this case. 

When Intel first launched its NUC systems about eight years ago, it positioned them primarily for those who wanted compact and quiet PCs and didn't plan to upgrade their system. Over time, the company realized that many of those who would like to use an ultra-portable desktop were also interested in gaming. Still, NUCs barely offered enough performance even for casual games. Intel began to offer NUCs with entry-level discrete graphics processors, but even those systems could not provide sufficient performance for demanding games. Eventually, Intel offered NUCs with a Thunderbolt 3 port that allowed users to plug-in an eGFX box and use any graphics card they wanted. However, even these systems did not support CPU upgrades.  

Finally, Intel realized that it needed an architecture that could provide performance and upgradeability that users come to expect from a higher-end gaming PC and combine it with the simplicity of its NUCs so that users would never have to worry about things like cooling or assembly. Intel's Compute Element concept simplifies PC architecture to just three key components: a Compute Element module which carries a CPU with an active (meaning not quiet) cooling system, RAM, storage, and I/O; an off-the-shelf graphics card, and a special chassis with an appropriate carrier board (to connect a CE to a GPU), power supply and cooling.  

The manufacturer has yet to announce the pricing and estimated availability date of its Turing QLX chassis.        

Akasa is well known for its cooling products and its range of Raspberry Pi products has been expanded to include the Gem Pro, a $32 case designed for the Raspberry Pi 4 which has a unique “gem” pattern. 

The Raspberry Pi 4 is known to run warmer than previous models, but is cooling necessary? If you are pushing your Pi via overclocking, or running complex computational tasks then cooling will keep your Pi running at high clock speeds, without throttling . The Akasa Gem Pro is a passively cooled case, so no noise, but can it keep our Raspberry Pi 4 cool enough to earn a place among the best Raspbery Pi cases? 

Design of Akasa Gem Pro

The Gem Pro is a case that you will either love or hate. Measuring 3.7 x 2.9 x  1.3 inches (95 x 74 x 34mm) and constructed from matte aluminum, the case has a striking gem pattern design that is said to deliver high performance cooling, even under heavy loads. 

The Gem Pro is larger than the Raspberry Pi 4’s 3.3 x 2.2 x 0.6 inches (85 x 56 x 15mm) and inside the case there is a gap between it and the Raspberry Pi. Around the top part of the case, we see precise cut outs which provide access to ports and micro SD card. 

There are no slots with which to route the camera or display ribbon cables. These can be routed via the GPIO cut out but you will require longer ribbon cables. The GPIO cut out is a low point for this case, literally, as it’s so low that it can only be used with an extension cable or via routing wires before assembling the case. This is not a case to use if you want to work with the GPIO, which is a shame given the quality of this case.

Building the Akasa Gem Pro Case 

The all aluminum case is made of two parts. The large top shell is where all of the cut outs for ports and access are located and it is where we see the greater mass used to draw the heat from the board.

The Raspberry Pi 4 and the Gem Pro case are “connected” using two blocks of aluminum. The first is a small block that connects the VL805 USB 3.0 controller to the top part of the case using a thermal adhesive pad and thermal compound which sticks the block to the case. The larger aluminum “L” shaped block covers the power management chip (PMIC) and the CPU package and connects to the top of the case using the same thermal pad and compound technique. 

We’ve seen this method before, SilverStone’s PI02 case uses a similar method, but Akasa has taken the idea further, with pre-cut spaces in the case to attach the aluminum blocks to. The base of the case is a simple panel of aluminum with four machine screws that hold the panel in place. 

Using the Akasa Gem Pro 

After we powered on the Raspberry Pi 4 and left it to settle for five minutes, the temperature at idle was 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and, after running Sysbench CPU workload tests, we only saw the temperature rise to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). This is an exceptional level of cooling. 

The temperature of our Raspberry Pi 4, after five minutes at idle with no cooling, was 40 Celsius. After running Sysbench, the temperature reached 65 Celsius (149 Fahrenheit). So with the Akasa Gem Pro we saw a massive drop in temperature! 

With performance such as this the Gem Pro is a candidate for silently overclocking the Raspberry Pi 4. We overclocked our test Pi 4 to 2.1Ghz, left it to settle for five minutes, and then ran the same Sysbench test. At idle, the Raspberry Pi 4 was at 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) and, under full load, it reached just 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). 

Raspberry Pi 4s start to throttle their clock speeds to avoid overheating at 85 degrees Celsius so, with the Gem Pro, we weren’t even close. The Argon Neo, our favorite Raspberry Pi case overall, provides passive cooling and didn’t exceed 78 degrees Celsius, even when we ran Stressberry, a processor stress test, at 2.1 GHz.

Use Cases for the Akasa Gem Pro 

The Akasa Gem Pro is not a case for anyone looking to build maker projects. The lack of access to the GPIO means that this case is best suited for projects such as media boxes, home servers and desktop replacement. 

Bottom Line

The Akasa Gem Pro is a strikingly designed and solid case for passively cooling your Raspberry Pi. And whether you like that design is really going to be a determining factor in whether you should buy this case. For less than half the price, you can get the Argon Neo, which may not get your CPU quite as cool and isn’t 100 percent metal, but still keeps it under the 85-degree throttling threshold while providing easy access to the GPIO pins and the camera / display connectors. 

The restricted GPIO access on the Akasa Gem Pro is unfortunate. It can be remedied with extension cables but really this is a case for general computing tasks, media consumption or as a home server. The Gem Pro’s impressive cooling ability and unique looks are its biggest selling points. 

Akasa have released their Gem Pro, an aluminum case designed to passively cool the Raspberry Pi 4, and it has a “striking” design about it.

Measuring 3.7 x 2.9 x 1.4 inches, the case is significantly larger than the Raspberry Pi 4 as the mass of the case is used as a heatsink which will draw the heat from the CPU and USB chips via two aluminum blocks. The “L” shaped block for the CPU is of particular interest as it will also partially cover the PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) which is an area that most cases do not ordinarily cool.

On the sides of the case are the usual cutouts for ports, including a cutout for the GPIO which is surprisingly low and will restrict the use of HATs, a breakout board will be needed to connect any components or HATs to the GPIO. The features for this case also list easy access connectors for the camera and display ports, and it looks as though they are routed through a gap just above the microSD card slot. This isn’t an issue for display connections, but the camera ribbon cable will have to be routed around the “L” shaped aluminum block across the length of the board, leaving little slack to frame your photos.

Ultimately a case such as this is all about how effectively it can cool the Raspberry Pi 4, and we will learn more about that once we get one in for review. The case is listed for sale at CPC a UK electronics reseller for £30, approximately $40.

Addressable RGB RAM heatsinks. Yep, that’s the latest announcement from Akasa. Have you ever felt that your system was just a little too dull? That it just needed a bit more pep inside of it to bring it up to date? But didn’t want to spend the extra cash on a new set of DDR4 to do so? Well Akasa’s got your back with it’s latest Vegas RAM Mate RGB heatsinks. 

These aren’t just dummy dimms you install into your motherboard to pad out a dual channel two stick kit, no sir, these bad boys are full on replacements for the heatsinks found on your memory.

Supporting standard height and VLP sized DIMMs (30mm, or 18.3-18.7mm in height respectively), these slabs of illuminated alloy provide what we’re told is a “high-grade aluminium heatsink cooling vest”.

This can be plugged in via either a standard 4-pin, or addressable 3 pin header, and of course, it’s compatible with your choice of proprietary motherboard lighting sync software from the likes of ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, as well.

Each heatsink comes with the heatsink housing (comprised of three separate parts), two thermal pads, a small screwdriver, and an RGB cable for each heatsink you install. All of which is compatible with DDR4, 3, 2 and even DDR memory sticks if you so desire.

Fool Proof?

We can spot a few problems with this idea, and the big one is removing your stock heatsinks. From personal experience, it’s far too easy to kill off memory sticks, or ripping off a chip, if you’re not careful enough. Sometimes a heatgun, and careful use of screwdrivers just isn’t enough to pull off those husky aluminum clad panels from your old sticks, so actively suggesting we replace them seems a bit well, risky to us.

On top of all that, it’s another cable that needs plugging in, and one for each stick at that. In systems that are already awash with all those different cables for different RGB devices, it’s a hard sell for us.

No word on availability or pricing just yet.

39 Thermal Compounds Get Benchmarked And Tested

If you missed part one of this series, take a quick second and check out Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More.

We Are Curious About Two Special Compound Categories

After discussing the theory of conventional thermal pastes in part one, I want to go into a little more detail about liquid metal compounds, and also shed some light on thermal adhesives, both in paste and pad form. Thermal pads are used to mount small heat sinks on RAM chips or MOSFETs.

But let’s start with those liquid metal pastes. While their theoretical thermal conductivity sounds impressive, that one attribute is no guarantee of success. During the course of our testing, we'll be experimenting with a long burn-in phase and comparing the liquid metal compound to Gelid's Extreme paste.

Several years ago, Coollaboratory broke new ground in thermal management by introducing the Liquid Pro liquid metal compound. But while the look (and subsequent application) of Liquid Pro reminded us of a mercury thermometer that didn’t survive a fall, its successor, Liquid Ultra, is better, avoiding some of the first effort's weaknesses. Because Liquid Pro could be so problematic, I'm only presenting Liquid Ultra in the tutorial section. Both compounds show up in our performance charts, though.

Box Contents

In the Liquid Ultra box you get the paste itself, a cleaning swab, two brushes, a sponge, and an instruction manual. That's an impressive-sounding list, but it's really just the bare minimum to use the product, sufficient for a single application. If you want to apply Liquid Ultra a second time, you'll find yourself without the alcohol swab. At least a second brush is included. While we appreciate the inclusion of the coarse sponge, it's barely adequate for removing the compound. Of course, there's a separate cleaning kit available for a hefty price.

Enthusiasts may be torn about this product, and yes, there may even be those who are more courageous than I and use it on graphics cards. However, my personal opinion is that a majority of the people who read this tutorial are new to thermal compounds, and I wouldn’t want to encourage them to mess around with this stuff due to the skill it requires. I also want to point out that you'll probably void your CPU's warranty if you do use Liquid Ultra. After removing the last remnants of it, we discovered that all of the markings etched into the head spreader were gone. If you still want to try this product after reading our tutorial, you can probably expect very good cooling performance, assuming nothing goes wrong.

Surface Cleaning and Roughing

The most important prerequisites for using a liquid metal compound are clean heat sink and spreader surfaces. You can buy the aforementioned kit with the three cleaning liquids, or simply snag some isopropyl alcohol at the drug store. However, stay away from acetone and cleaning naphtha. Even denatured alcohol may contain additives that are detrimental to achieving a clean, degreased surface. Finally, make sure you wait until any remnants of the liquid have evaporated!

If the surface is too smooth, the older Liquid Pro and newer Liquid Ultra may only form loose droplets on your CPU. Thus, in contrast to what you would do for regular thermal pastes, you may consider roughing the heat sink and spreader a little bit. Just remember that you only get enough liquid metal for two tries.

Don't overdo this. If you scrub too hard, the innocent-looking sponge can cause deep grooves. Move in small, graceful circles.

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra: Application

Applying the compound is tricky, which is why we don't really recommend Liquid Pro. Liquid Ultra is a little more like the pastes you're used to, though still a lot "wetter". Its composition is still a point of concern because it corrodes light metals like aluminum and certain alloys. This could have an adverse effect on thermal conductivity, even causing an insulating layer to form. Copper- and nickel-plated surfaces are alright though, as are heat spreaders.

Once you've roughened up your CPU, you can drip Liquid Ultra on it, spreading it around with an enclosed brush. The amount you'll use varies by CPU size, but plan to use about half of the compound on AMD processors and about a third on Intel's. The video shows that you can even add liquid metal while spreading it out. Depending on the mounting pressure of your cooler, you may want to spread the compound more than the video shows. Just be careful; you don't want this corrosive, conductive material to get squeezed out the sides.

The next video illustrates an alternate method that requires less material. What we want to stress, however, is that it is better to put the liquid metal on a CPU away from its processor interface, thus protecting the motherboard from spills. We're putting the chip on our cleaning sponge to make sure none of its pins get bent.

On one hand, the liquid is spread more evenly and less of it is needed. But on the other, more metal balls form. Since they could cause a short circuit, they need to be collected. This method only works when the surface has been roughened, and it yields (marginally) better results.

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra: Application Problems And Clean-Up

The pictures below are staged. But their purpose is to warn you what might happen if you're not careful, or if you don't pull the CPU from its interface before applying the liquid. Even if you're being meticulous, small droplets will separate and run away. So, keep a thin, clean brush handy to deal with them. Don’t spread them or wipe them away; instead, lift them up!

If you have never experienced the sinking feeling of spotting a liquid metal droplet between CPU pins, look at the bottom picture. However, the tiny droplets at the PCB’s edge may be even worse because they're barely visible to the naked eye.

Cleaning with Chemical Agents and a Wire Brush

It's one thing to apply liquid metal. Removing it is an entirely different ballgame. Even popping off the heat sink can be a challenge. It's very easy to pull an AMD processor right out of its locked socket if you're not extra careful. Make life a little easier by starting the process while the processor is still hot, and detach the heat sink by gently turning it left and right. If you roughed both the heat sink and spreader, you're going to be met with resistance. You might be best off mounting a smooth heat sink on a roughed spreader. This combination seems to come apart most easily.

The cleaning agent from Coollaboratory's cleaning set works, but it won't get everything off. Thus, you still have to use the wire brush. Scrape, apply more solvent, wipe, rinse, and repeat. As you might guess, this takes some time.

In the end, you'll probably wind up with two scratched-up surfaces. Luckily, I bought two closed-loop liquid coolers, allowing him to continue testing conventional pastes with a smooth sink.

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra: Performance Measurements

If you want to know if this solution is worth its high price, the best we can do is answer with a non-committal maybe. Enthusiasts requiring an expensive, hard-to-apply thermal compound to lower Tcase by 2 or 3 degrees Kelvin (which could mean as much as 5 degrees Tcore) might want to consider their build goals. After running our own tests, we can state with some confidence that the supposed improvements of 5 to 7 Kelvin Tcase are overoptimistic. If you see that big of a gain, it's because you weren't doing something right with the paste you were using before. In order to create a more fair measurement, I compared one of the best conventional pastes, the GC-Extreme from Gelid Solutions, against Liquid Ultra. One-eighth of an ounce of GC-Extreme may be good for five or more applications; Coollaboratory's Liquid Ultra allows three, at most. Even without the expensive add-on cleaning kit, you're still looking at the difference between less than $2 per use and more than $4. You're also looking at five seconds of application time compared to three minutes or so. And we still haven’t taken increased risk into account.

Measurement Results

While Liquid Ultra isn’t compatible with aluminum coolers, we're lucky in that the Core 2 Quad Q6600's old boxed cooler sports a copper slug.

It is amazing how well conventional thermal paste fares compared to liquid metal. A more familiar paste sports a lower difference between burned in versus not burned in, but at a mere 1°C ΔT, the Liquid Ultra certainly proves itself in the same league. Whether we run the interval test or the 24-hour stress test, only Gelid's paste manages to get slightly better as time passes.

Asked whether the 1.5 °C ΔT, which the Liquid Ultra holds over Gelid's GC-Extreme with a closed-loop cooler, or the 2.7 °C  ΔT, which it does in the boxed cooler test, are worth extra effort and cost, my personal answer is no. But of course, some enthusiasts swear by the liquid metal. Most folks don't need the stuff; it's really for the overclockers functioning at the very top of their game.

Thermal Adhesives: Arctic Silver And Akasa

Thermal adhesives binds surfaces together, acting as a thermal compound in the process. They're available both as pastes and in pad form, and may be necessary for mounting small heat sinks on memory packages or voltage regulation circuitry. Obviously, conventional pastes don't work in those cases, since the weight of a heat sink causes them to slide right off.

Adhesive pastes have better thermal properties than pads, but they are accompanied by a significant drawback: once thermal adhesive paste cures, you cannot remove the heat sink from the component without damaging something. We've seen too many pictures from folks who've torn off RAM packages or cracked MOSFETs in half. You can try a trick to avoid this: mix thermal adhesive with regular thermal paste. We'll discuss this shortly.

Paste: Arctic Silver Alumina Thermal Adhesive

Arctic Silver's Alumina is a classic among thermal adhesive pastes, but heed the above warning: once applied your heat sink won't come off again. But a similar non-adhesive version is also available, and you can mix about two parts of the adhesive with one part regular paste to achieve a compromise. Your sink shouldn't be affected by gravity or vibrations, but it should still come off if you need it to. After popping it off, remnants of the adhesive will remain on both surfaces, which you'll want to clean with a sponge.

Adhesive Pad: Akasa AK-TT12-80 Thermal Adhesive Tape

It is easier to use an adhesive pad, if you don't mind the compromise in thermal conductivity. But for making sure that RAM packages and MOSFETs don’t get too hot, pads are typically good enough. If you ever plan to change or remove the heat sinks you're attaching, use an adhesive pad rather than paste.

Pastes: Akasa And Alpenföhn

Akasa 455

Model 455 is basically the entry-level product from Akasa. However, it is quite thick and thus not suitable for beginners. A low price cannot make up for the paste’s difficult application.

Akasa Pro-Grade 460

This paste barely differs from the Akasa 455, described above. It is not any easier to use, and the results we measured are only slightly better. Since it's also more expensive than the 455 paste, its purchase is questionable.

Akasa Pro-Grade+ 5022

This is another product from Akasa that costs more than the one we just looked at. While the performance measurements we generated are again better than the previous two compounds, and it is somewhat softer, this is still a thick paste. Warm it up a bit, though, and it can be applied more easily, yielding very satisfactory results.

EKL Alpenföhn Schneekanone

Schneekanone translates to Snow Cannon, which sounds like a whimsical name promising icy-cold CPUs. While your processor certainly won't hit temperatures that low, this paste's thermal performance is still pretty good. However, its price is too high and it's not very easy to use. While it is more expensive than the classic Arctic MX-2, it isn’t any better. Fortunately, enthusiasts in the U.S. won't need to worry about this, since EKL's Alpenföhn Schneekanone isn't available here. 

Pastes: Arctic And Arctic Silver

Arctic MX-2

This classic compound started the premium paste frenzy. It is still a good entry-level choice, too. Inexpensive and easy to use, its thermal performance is in the upper mid-range. And for what you pay, MX-2 seems like it's meant to keep competitors out of the lucrative thermal paste market.

Arctic MX-4

While MX-4 is more expensive than the MX-2, it surprises us by offering only barely better results. This paste may have its strengths, but it's not your best option for high-power applications like GPUs. It's also tougher than Arctic's MX-2, making it more difficult to use, and less attractive to novices. The thermal performance we recorded puts MX-4 into the upper mid-range, but it also doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, at $1.75 per gram, it is one of the least-expensive pastes.

Arctic Silver 5

Buyer beware: The brand Arctic Silver is not the same as Arctic. This is one of the few pastes on the market that still sports silver as an ingredient. However, it shows its age and does not keep up with the best pastes out there today. Based on its performance, it seems overpriced.

Pastes: be quiet!, Corsair, And Dimastech

be quiet! DC 1

As with a number of other manufacturers, be quiet! merely puts its label on an OEM product. That doesn't necessarily indicate poor quality, so long as the OEM maintains certain standards. And as it turns out, the DC 1 is a solid paste for beginners, ending up in the upper mid-range. Its handling is similar to MX-2, while its performance is a notch better. While we like the product’s quality, we cannot say the same about pricing. Amazon currently offers 3 g for close to $10.

be quiet! (Paste Bundled with be quiet! Heat Sinks)

We're curious about the pastes that heat sink vendors bundle with their coolers. Since cost is always a factor when it comes to value-adds, we want to know whether it makes sense to toss the included stuff and buy aftermarket compound instead.

In this case, we are positively surprised by the freebie. It should be good enough to complement be quiet!'s coolers, which employ high mounting pressure. Under those conditions, the paste comes in a mere 0.6 °C higher than the DC 1, mentioned above.

Corsair (Paste Enclosed With Corsair Coolers)

This time we're looking at thermal paste bundled with Corsair's coolers. The be quiet! and Corsair compounds achieve similar results, though Corsair's paste is perhaps slightly thicker. It's still pretty easy to use though, and we like what we see from our thermal performance results. In this case, it probably wouldn't make much sense to toss the tube and spend good money on something else.

Dimastech HTX-EE

This compound is one of the most difficult to use, and you should only apply it after warming to 110 °F or so. Its performance results are barely better than what you get for free with some heat sinks, though, and so we're left a little disappointed. We're not saying that this is a bad paste, but for the money you can find better options. This stuff is so thick that we were afraid our heat sink's screws would strip their threads as we tightened them.

Pastes: Coollaboratory

Coollaboratory Liquid Pro

This is the grandfather of liquid metal compounds, and it still holds the record for thermal conductivity. Unfortunately, it also requires the greatest degree of skill to apply. Only experienced, gutsy professionals should use it, and even then, it's both expensive and difficult to remove. Liquid Pro cannot be used with aluminum heat sinks, but can be used with copper- and nickel-plated ones.

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra

This latest offering from Coollaboratory is somewhat easier to use than its predecessor. But that only means it's a little easier to apply than Liquid Pro. Its thermal attributes aren't quite as good as a result of the different composition. However, Liquid Ultra is still better than any conventional paste. At the end of the day, you'll have to decide if one or two degrees of improved cooling performance is worth the effort and risk. Again, you cannot use this stuff with aluminum heat sinks, though it is compatible with copper- and nickel-plated ones.

Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad

While these pads can be handled and cut to size easily, the devil is in the details. During burn-in, you have to ensure that the Tcase temperature reaches at least 140 °F, which equates to a Tcore of about 80 °C (176 °F). Some AMD CPUs throttle back at 140 °F, and even our FX-8350 had a hard time holding the required temperature long enough for a successful burn-in. Older AMD processors may be on the brink of meltdown at 140 °F. Without a successful burn-in, however, this product's thermal conductivity is worse than the cheapest paste. It took disconnecting all of my fans to burn the pads in. Naturally, doing this involves some risk.

Coollaboratory Liquid Cleaning Set

High prices and tedious clean-up make Coollaboratory's products very hard for the newbie to use. They're great for experts who want to leave zero overclocking headroom unexploited, though you'll probably find this cleaning kit necessary.

Pastes: Cooler Master

Cooler Master IC Value V1

This is the least-expensive paste from Cooler Master. It's really easy to use, but doesn’t work any better than the random no-name compounds we've tested. While the price is right, performance leaves a lot to be desired. We can only recommend this product for experiments like this one. Fortunately, it's pretty hard to find in the U.S., so there's a good chance you'll never encounter it.

Cooler Master IC Essential E1

This mid-range compound from Cooler Master is approximately twice as expensive as the entry-level product, but is it twice as effective? Our results put the two pastes fairly close together; only in the GPU-oriented test are the differences substantial. But even so, this paste is fairly average, the amount you get is paltry (a mere 1.5 g), and the cost per gram is substantial. IC Essential E1 isn't a price/performance winner. It is easy to use, though.

Cooler Master Extreme Fusion X1

This is Cooler Master's high-end offering, which sets out to outclass the company's older pastes. It achieves this goal, finishing a close second to Gelid's GC-Extreme. Just be sure to warm up the paste before you use it.

Cooler Master (Paste Bundled With Cooler Master Coolers)

Initially, I suspected that the paste bundled with Cooler Master's heat sinks was the same as be quiet!'s, given almost identical syringes. However, spreading the pastes, which are also the same color, revealed different viscosity. That either means we're dealing with distinct products or the same product from widely varying production lots. Variance does happen, particularly when it comes to inexpensive products.

Be that as it may, Cooler Master's paste sports a higher viscosity and winds up trailing be quiet!'s in the test results. It was still better than some pricey aftermarket compounds, though.

Pastes: Gelid Solutions, Noctua, And Phanteks

Gelid Solutions GC-2

We're going to start with Gelid's most budget-oriented solution. Its thermal results are respectable, landing it in the vicinity of Arctic's MX-2, MX-4, and Arctic Silver 5. But it's also noticeably thicker, making it harder to manipulate at room temperature. Nevertheless, this is a solid product that sells for less than $1/g, making it the price/performance leader.

Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme

GC-Extreme is the best thermal paste in our round-up, maintaining a slim lead over the runner-up as long as you're using a heat sink with high mounting pressure. If this compound was a little softer, it'd be even more ideal and wouldn't require warming before application. Heating it up a bit does pay off though, and we recommend it for overclockers and enthusiasts. Due to its high viscosity, it's perhaps less ideal for beginners.

Noctua NT-H1

This paste is almost a classic by now, and it still gets widely recommended. Rightfully so? Our testing reveals that its price/performance ratio is almost as good as Gelid Solution's GC-2, and its thermal parameters are even better. Noctua's solution ends up in the upper mid-range of our contenders, and a low price makes it hard to pass up unless you're a hardcore overclocker.

Phanteks TH-NDC (Paste Bundled With Phanteks Coolers)

The paste that Phanteks includes with its heat sinks contains nano particles of diamond, approaches the thermal performance of Gelid's GC-Extreme, and can be applied as easily, if not more so. It is somewhat similar to Cooler Master's Extreme Fusion X1, but can be applied even by novices. A big shout-out to Phanteks for bundling TH-NDC with its coolers.

Pastes: Prolimatech

Prolimatech PK-1

If we were judging based on price, we certainly wouldn't call this an entry-level thermal compound. But how does it perform? Nano aluminum sounds pretty compelling, but the benchmark results are what matter to us. The PK-1 paste performs well enough, but doesn't blow us out of chairs. Really, it's the price that kills it. There are better alternatives out there, even if Prolimatech's entry-level solution is generally quite user-friendly.

Prolimatech PK-2

Yes, Prolimatech offers more than one thermal paste. The PK-2 compound in the green box sports better performance than PK-1. While it doesn't appear among the front runners, this paste is still in the upper mid-range.

Prolimatech PK-3

Prolimatech’s highest-end paste is more expensive than its other two models. Perhaps that yellow packaging is intended to suggest gold? This is a good thermal compound, but it's not the best one out there. It's also thick like the GC-Extreme, a product that the PK-3 can approach, but not quite reach. Warm this paste up before using it.

Pastes: Revoltec, Scythe, SilverStone, And Thermalright

Revoltec Thermal Grease Nano

No, this isn’t nail polish for female hardware enthusiasts; it's a liquid paste that's applied with a brush attached to the lid. Unfortunately, Revoltec's Thermal Grease Nano doesn't test particularly well. While it's easy to apply and remove, we measured lackluster thermal properties. Enthusiasts will want to stay away. At least it is inexpensive.

Scythe (Paste Bundled with Scythe Coolers)

Our tests with bundled thermal compounds continue. While Scythe's OEM manufacturer is unknown, at least the plastic bag has Scythe's name on it. The benchmark results come back average. They're not particularly good or bad.

SilverStone (Paste Bundled with SilverStone Coolers)

This is what you'll find when you pop open a heat sink from SilverStone. Although the syringe resembles the bundled pastes from be quiet! and Corsair, we come away with slightly different thermal results. The benchmark numbers aren't amazing. Rather, they fall into a range we'd consider pretty average. I wouldn't feel compelling to spend extra on aftermarket thermal compound, though doing so would yield better performance.

Thermalright Chill Factor III

For some reason, I only received a two-gram tube of this paste; the standard tube includes four grams. We generated some fairly average results with Chill Factor III as well. Consider this compound suitable for average users and beginners.

Pastes: Xigmatek

Xigmatek PTI-G3606

Xigmatek’s entry-level paste is called PTI-G3606, and it sells at a mid-range price. Measured thermal performance is acceptable and its ease of use is even commendable. At the end of the day, this is a solid product at a fair price for mainstream hardware enthusiasts. It's simply not what we'd recommend for more hardcore overclockers.

Xigmatek PTI-G4512

Xigmatek's premium thermal compound doesn't even cost more than its entry-level offering. But the trade-off for better thermal performance is higher viscosity. Before using it, warm this paste up. Although it's not really for beginners, we do get a good price/performance ratio out of the PTI-G4512 from Xigmatek.

Xigmatek (Paste Bundled with Xigmatek Coolers)

This is another paste bundled with a cooler we picked up off the shelf. In our tests, the freebie fares slightly worse than Xigmatek's low-end aftermarket stuff, but not by much. It's an average compound that you shouldn't feel compelled to shy away from.

Pastes: Xilence And Zalman

Xilence X5

According to our team in Germany, it appears that Xilence went out of business. Not that it matters much to our U.S. audience; the company's ZUB-XPTP.X5 thermal grease wasn't readily available here anyway. At least we have benchmark data for the compound in our charts for anyone overseas with it. In short, Xilence's X5 is suitable for entry-level systems. Just don't use it on an overclocked processor or a PC in Dubai.

Zalman ZM-STG1

Unfortunately, this one turned out to be a dud in our testing. Zalman's ZM-STG1 is easy enough to apply with a brush, but its effectiveness is sub-par. We'd consider it a notch above Revoltec’s competing compound, but not much higher. Overall, our measured price/performance ratio is a disaster.

Zalman ZM-STG2

The ZM-STG2 paste is priced comparably, but much better than the company's ZM-STG1. That doesn't make this offering good, per se. Surprisingly, both pastes share similar ingredient lists. The ZM-STG2 simply isn't watered down with too much silicone, and it remains tougher, even after burn-in.

Pastes: Just For Fun

Toothpaste

I made the mistake of buying a premium toothpaste with blue stripes through it. A cheap white paste would have probably fared better. Yes, you can use this stuff as a thermal compound, though its long-term stability is questionable and we wouldn't recommend it for overclocking. If all of the shops around you are closed, though, and you want to play a little Battlefield 4 on a new machine, you could probably get by for a couple of days.

Denture Adhesive

If you don't brush your teeth but do live with your grandma, denture adhesive could stand in for toothpaste during those same couple of days. Again, this is not a long-term solution. But then again, neither were grandma’s teeth (or yours, if you don't grab some toothpaste). Be careful with this adhesive. After burn-in, the cooler may stick to the heat spreader and prove hard to remove.

Results: Closed-Loop Liquid Cooler; High Mounting Pressure

I already described our test setup in Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More. What follows is a performance chart on the liquid-cooled system employing high mounting pressure.

Results: Air Cooler; High Mounting Pressure

Likewise, we covered this configuration in Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More. The following chart represents thermal performance of an air-cooled system employing high mounting pressure.

Results: CPU Air Cooler; Low Mounting Pressure

One last time, we covered this configuration in Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More. This chart reflects our air-cooled machine with lower mounting pressure.

Results: Air-Cooled GPU; Medium Mounting Pressure

Our last bit of testing comes from applying these thermal compounds to GPUs, and the results are significantly different from what we saw cooling our CPUs.

The failure of some pastes may be explained by rapid hardening, and a second test with two additional cycles didn't change the outcome. What do we learn from those failures? While value-added pastes may work well with the CPU coolers they were bundled with, they may not behave well under the higher temperatures generated by powerful GPUs, and shouldn't be used with them.

It's Not As Easy As Picking A Favorite...

In the end, it doesn't necessarily matter how much you paid for your paste, or what thermal conductivity its manufacturer claims on the package. More important is the how: your application method makes or breaks this process.

Some of the pastes we tested remain classics, and are even relatively inexpensive. It only follows, then, that we'd caution you against spending big on a brand new paste that'll only make a temperature difference of 1 to 2 Kelvin. If that sort of delta plays a significant role in your overclock, you're courting disaster. Sufficient airflow through the enclosure should ensure that you're never dependent on a particularly high-performance thermal compound.

More hardcore overclockers tuning their systems competitively, or quiet computing enthusiasts who spin their fans down as low as possible for better acoustics might want to give more thought to their paste of choice. Even a majority of power users, however, should focus on a paste’s ease of use, leaning toward the softer compounds. A flawed application typically impacts thermal performance much more than the difference between pricey and value-oriented pastes ever could.

I don’t want to lift any one thermal compound up onto a pedestal, and I'm no fan of award inflation. Sure, I could drop a couple of favorites, but the assessment would be highly subjective because some folks weigh ease-of-use and performance differently. Moreover, a lot of these pastes perform a lot alike. We can still draw several conclusions from our work, though.

• Novices should gravitate to softer pastes and use the "lentil ball" application method
• Experts can warm up thicker pastes, making them easier to apply
• Softer pastes should be used with coolers that attach via low mounting pressure
• Pastes bundled with most CPU heat sinks are good enough
• Different rules apply for GPUs; you need to pick the compound you use on your graphics card very carefully
• While the legends spoken of liquid metals have a basis in fact, they are exaggerated

That’s it from my side. But let me also point out that our Thermal Compound Charts will be maintained with results from any new products that surface. What will I do with all the partially-used syringes and paste packs? Honestly, I don’t know. There's enough of this stuff around to last a lifetime...

Akasa is showing off a new CPU cooler at Computex, the Venom IV. The cooler itself appears fairly simple, but there is actually more to it than meets the eye. The aluminum fin stack might look a bit messy from up close, but this is actually done on purpose -- the fins are shaped asymmetrically and use planes. This is meant to increase heat dissipation.

The heat gets fed to the aluminum fin stack through a total of four 6 mm thick copper heat pipes. They are U-shaped, and the bottom bend of each heat pipe makes direct contact with the CPU. They are spread out evenly through the aluminum fin stack for better heat distribution.

The Venom IV comes with a 120 mm S-flow fan, which with its particular blade design, should provide up to 30 percent more airflow at any given RPM. The fan is PWM controlled and can spin at speeds ranging from 600 RPM to 1900 RPM, during which it will make up to 28.9 dBA of noise and push 83.63 CFM.

Akasa gave no word on the units' pricing or availability, though it will work on all modern CPU sockets, including LGA 1150.

Featured at Akasa’s booth at this year’s Computex is the company’s new range of CobraPower value power supply units. The series features an 82 percent rating, a single +12V rail design, active PFC, a silent 135 mm cooling fan, and a partially modular design where the PCIe, SATA and Molex connectors can be removed.

The Akasa CobraPower PSUs will be available in capacities of 650 W, 750 W and 850 W with a currently unknown price and release date.

While we already saw the Akasa Newton NUC enclosure in March, it is only now that the case has been officially revealed by the company. The enclosure itself will come in two versions, both with three colors from which to choose. The first version will support the D33217GKE board, while the second one will support the D33217CK board. The difference lies in the connector layouts, since the latter drops an HDMI port in favor of a Thunderbolt port. The colors that will be available are black, silver grey, and gold. All of the bodies are crafted out of aluminum and are anodized to give them the color.

The body of the enclosure itself acts as a heat sink as well, so the units are fanless. Thus, they are fully silent since the NUC platform doesn't have any other moving parts. Furthermore, the enclosures will feature VESA mounts as well as a Kensington lock.

Following the release of its successful Euler chassis, Akasa will be expanding its range of passively cooled enclosures with the release of the Galileo and Newton cases later this year. Though details are still scarce at the time of writing, it is known that the Galileo chassis will have a height of only 37 mm and be designed for thin mini-ITX motherboards. Additionally, the case will be constructed of aluminum, be natively VESA mountable, and be completely enclosed to prevent the buildup of dust.

The Newton is designed for Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) family of devices and offers a "rugged construction" and native support for VESA mounts.

Akasa is expected to make a full revealing of the aforementioned two cases and will provide more information during this year's Computex, which will be held in Taipei from June 4 to June 8.

_{Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback}

PSU Manufacturers, Designers, And Labels

Update: 1/23/13: Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback and a number of reader questions about the actual origin of certain power supply brands, we thoroughly revised our Who’s Who of PSUs, originally published in November of 2010 and last refreshed in May of 2011. Since the article is frequently quoted and linked to, we’re updating it rather than publishing the newest entries. As such, much of the content remains unchanged from the previous version.

Today’s revision adds many new manufacturers and brands, though. It also expands the number of models in several product families. Indeed, much has changed since our original article appeared more than two years ago, and we’re happy that readers in our forums and around the Web appear to be better informed and more discriminating when it comes to picking out a new power supply.

At the same time, manufacturers also appear to have re-evaluated some of their practices, and we’ve seen newer models use better components, resulting in higher quality overall.

We want to extend a special thanks to our community, as many of our readers and forum members have contributed much helpful information and valuable data to this analysis.

Several companies also joined in for the first time, volunteering information on their product lines. Sadly, for now it still appears that this is the exception rather than the rule. Many of our emails asking for information were met with silence. On that note, we acknowledge that we’re not infallible. Should you come across any omissions or errors, big or small, we invite you to send us your feedback so we can keep expanding and refining this list, ensuring it remains current and as inclusive as possible.

This article first appeared on November 12, 2010, and has since been added to and updated.

Who’s Who?

Let’s start by dividing the manufacturers into three large groups so we can better understand the database and how these companies are connected:

1. The OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)

OEMs manage all of their production internally. They either exclusively design and manufacture their own PSUs (like Enermax) or design and manufacture their own brands, as well as manufacture PSUs designed by other companies (such as FSP, HEC, and SeaSonic). Some of them focus heavily on worldwide exports and provide a range of models, which are then sold under different labels. It's common to find otherwise-identical models marketed under many different names and labels. The industrial areas around Shenzhen, China, are the cradle of the lowest-priced PSUs sold all over the globe.

2. Designers: Without Their Own Production

The second group of companies also develops and designs their own products. However, they have to outsource either some or all of the manufacturing to other companies. One example of this is Be Quiet. Those familiar with the brand noted how Be Quiet P7 models were suddenly much better than the disappointing P6. The answer was simply a manufacturer change, from Topower to FSP. Other examples of designers include SilverStone, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Tagan.

3. The Labels: With or Without Any Technical Involvement

Arguably, this group could be subdivided. Some importers of foreign PSUs that resell models under their own labels have a certain influence over the quality and choice of components, while others simply bring in some very cheap products, change the label, and resell them.

This third group is the most interesting one for price-oriented customers, though also the most uncertain for quality. You're as likely to score a bargain by getting a relabeled high-quality product at a lower price as you are to be disappointed by being too tight-fisted. Some good examples of products to watch are new models from Aerocool, which are essentially the Cougar units from Compucase/HEC with a discounted price and completely restyled exterior.

After many tests and inspections of budget models (by us, our readers, and friendly computer stores), we would advise you to steer your piggy banks clear of the labels Rasurbo, Inter-Tech (Sinan Power, Coba), Tech Solo, LC Power, RaptoxX, Tronje, Xilence, Ultron, World Link, Q-Tec, etc. We were able to identify some of these models without looking at the UL number simply by checking out the installed components. These were almost exclusively the simplest work of such manufacturers as Enhance, World Link, Andyson, Topower, Casing Macron, and Channel Well.

Lack of protection circuits, low efficiency, and bad build quality were major points of criticism. The lowest of the low was a European label called Hardwaremania24, targeted at OEM PCs. While still in standby mode, the PSU heated to about 176 degrees Fahrenheit, spent the next six hours billowing smoke, and finally made what might be described as a trumpeting sound before dying. The host computer was never even turned on. After analyzing the PSU, we found no protection at all save for a single slow fuse.

Firecracker Or Power Plant?

How do you identify a bad power supply before buying it?

• Extremely high wattage claims at comparatively low prices are suspicious. There are simply no decent 750 W power supplies for $50. For every product class based on performance and features, there must be a minimum price. When a product is significantly below that price, be cautious. You can get a "400 W PSU" for $20, and such fire hazards are installed in budget PCs every day by unscrupulous companies that know exactly the risk they're handing off to buyers.

• Check the specifications. For example, if a PSU claims high performance on the 3.3 and 5 V rails while the 12 V rail numbers are low, then you know something is wrong.

• The manufacturer does not specify any combined maximum performance, but instead only shows the maximum load for each rail separately. This is done without specifying how much real power would be available if all rails are used at the same time. Avoid PSUs without this information.

• Be careful with juicy marketing expressions and commercial lingo: Super, Extreme, Gaming, Combat, etc. Using superlatives to describe something quite normal should arouse suspicion and have you double-check specification details.

• Passive rather than active Power Factor Correction (PFC) leads to lower power efficiency.

• Very few or short power connectors and cables might be an issue. A 750 W PSU usually has four PCIe connectors for graphics cards (2 x 6-pin and 2 x 6+2-pin), so think twice if a model only offers two (or at least consider your upgrade options).

• With cheap PSUs, the quality of the cable insulation may be poor, or the cables may not be insulated at all. The power cable grommet may also be insufficiently padded.

• Be careful if there are few or no indications of protection circuitry. If the PSU specification only says OPP (overload protection) or perhaps SCP (short circuit protection), this points towards a normal fuse. If the specification also says OVP (overvoltage protection), this probably means that it is equipped with a simple metal oxide variable resistor. These security measures by themselves are absolutely insufficient and cannot replace any kind of digital safety chip. 

Unfortunately, you can't always tell at first glance whether you're dealing with a high-quality PSU or whether there's nothing but disappointment waiting behind the pleasant facade. Therefore, we decided to open up two budget PSUs representative of what you can find in many of today’s OEM PCs and illustrate the points and features you should be examining.

A First Look At the Inside: Primary Capacitor and PFC

First, look at the storage capacitors in the primary circuit. These act as buffers and help protect the PSU and computer from voltage fluctuations. The electrolyte used in them is key, because it evaporates or dries out through a combination of heat and time. As a general rule, capacitor lifetime is halved for each 10 degrees Centigrade increase in temperature over the specified normal load. Using higher-quality capacitors that can handle 105 degrees instead of 85 degrees (C) should almost double their lifetime, greatly contributing to the PSU's durability.

A PSU equipped with a big choke like in the photo above is a clear indicator of passive Power Factor Correction (PFC). Only more sophisticated active circuitry allows for factors close to the optimum value of 1, while passive components can reach 0.7 to 0.8 at best. The type of power factor correction indirectly suggests the expected efficiency of the power supply. Although PFC and efficiency are casually unrelated, devices with active PFC are also usually more complex and modern, meaning you're more likely to get better efficiency from them.

Protection Circuits

Even without opening the PSU, a data sheet can reveal some of the safety measures taken (or not) by manufacturers. A decent PSU should contain the following safety measures:

• OCP (Over Current Protection): protection against power spikes
• OVP (Over Voltage Protection)
• OPP (Over Power Protection): overload protection, sometimes called OLP 
• OTP (Over Temperature Protection): protection from overheating 
• UVP (Under Voltage Protection) 
• SCP (Short Circuit Protection) 
• NLO (No Load Operation): this isn’t exactly protection in the same sense as the other features, but it allows the PSU to power up and function normally, even with no load.

Without this information, you have to look inside the PSU to find out what you need to know.

We found no protection at all on this unit, except for a simple fuse. Sadly, this PSU is still available on the market under a couple of different labels.

Passive components do not guarantee sufficient protection. Without a digital security chip, the computer hardware is severely exposed to risks.

The security chip PS223 from Silicon Touch is popular, and you should avoid PSUs not using it or similar products, such as the PS332S.

Cables and Short Circuits

You can tell a lot about your PSU by looking at its internal wiring. A lack of heat shrink tubing, carelessly exposed solder joints, and components fastened with a glue gun are symptomatic of cheap and hazardous manufacturing. If unprotected cables are placed next to hot components, a PSU failure is nearly assured.

Boards

A final quality indicator is the circuit board material. Impregnated laminated paper (like the yellow boards in the pictures) is a sure sign of cost cutting. Fibre materials are much more durable and, perhaps more importantly, non-flammable.

How Do You Recognize The Manufacturer?

UL Numbers From Underwriters Laboratories

"Underwriters Laboratories, an independent firm working with product safety certification, has been active in the field of product testing and preparation of safety standards for more than a century. UL evaluates more than 19 000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually. Every year more than 20 billion UL marks are placed on products from 66 000 different manufacturers. The UL Group and its network of service providers include 68 testing and certification labs worldwide, serving customers in 102 countries."--From the About UL page at ul.com

Essentially, this means that all PSUs sold on the North American market must be marked with a UL number. This number should identify the actual manufacturer of a product. However, not every PSU has such a number. UL number omission on a North American product might indicate poor quality.

Step 1: Reading the UL Number

To find the UL number, there's no need to open your PSU or de-solder anything. Simply open your PC and look at the power supply's label. The UL number usually begins with an "E" followed by a string of numbers. See the three examples below.

If your PSU has such a number, you can move onto the next step, finding out what it means.

Online UL Number Query

Now let's find out more about your PSU. Go to the UL Online Certifications Directory and enter the UL number in the UL File Number field. If the number exists in the database, you should immediately see the result. If not, the number is invalid, fake, or the manufacturer no longer exists.

Link: Online Certifications Directory

PSU Makers: 0-9 And A-B

Companies: 2The Max Asia Pacific, 3Y Power Technology, Ablecom, ABS, AcBel, A.C.Ryan, Achme, A-Data, AeroCool, Ahanix, AHCOF, Aikou, Akasa, Amacrox, AMS, Aopen, Andyson, Antec, Aopen, Apevia/Aspire, Apex, Arctic Cooling, Artesyn/Astec, Astec Int. Ltd., Asus, Athenatech, ATNG, Atrix, Avance, Axle, AXP, Azza, Be Quiet!, Bestec, BFG, Bgears, Boser Technology Inc., Broadway.

PSU Makers: C-D

Companies: C-Young, Casecom, Casing Macron, Channel Well, Chenbro, Chieftec, Chill Innovation, Club 3D, CompUSA, Coba, Codegen, Comix, Conda, Cooler Master, Cooling Well, Coolmax, Cooltek, Corsair, Cresun, DAR, Dbetter, Deer, Dell, Delta, Dongguan Zhangmotou, Dynapower, Dynex.

PSU Makers: E-H

Companies: E-Star International, Eagle Tech, Elwin Technology Ltd., Elec, Emerson Network Power, Enermax, Enhance, Enlight, ePower, Etasis, Etopmay, Flextronics, Fob, Focus, Forepoint, Fortrex, Fortron, Foxconn, Foxlink, Fractal Design, Frisby, Fujitsu Siemens, Glacial Power, Gigabyte, Global Bright Intl., Globalwin, Gold Pal, GrowUp Japan, GPS, Great Wall, GTR, Guizhu, Hama, Hardwaremania24, HC, HEC, Highscreen, High Performance Group, High Performance PC, High Power, Himere, Hiper, Hipro, HP, Huntkey.

PSU Makers: I-M

Companies: ICP, Ikonik, Impervio, Inter-Tech, In Win, IOK, I-Star, Jada, Jeantech, Jet, Jehovah, Jersey, Jiumeng, Jiu-Peng, JOU JYE, JPAC, Just PC, Kaibo, Kaisen, Keega, Key Mouse, KinEagle, Kingwin, Koolance, L & C, LC-Power, Leadman, Leadway, Levicom, Li Shin, Lian-Li, Lite-On, Linkworld, Logisys, Mad Dog, Mapower, Masscool, MaxInPower, Maxtro, Mean Well, MGE/XG, Micor, Minlong, Mitac, MSI, Mushkin, Mutantmods.

PSU Makers: N-R

Companies: NesteQ, Newton, Nexus, Nipron, nMediaPC, North P, NorthQ, NOX Extreme, NZXT, OCZ, Okia, Pangu, PC Power & Cooling, Point of View, Powercase, PowerCooler, Powerex, Powerleap, Powerman, Powertek, Powmax, Procase, Q-Technologie, R-Senda/Rsenda, Raidmax, RaptoxX, Rasurbo, Recom, Revoltec, Rhombutech, Rocketfisch, Rosewill, RSD.

PSU Makers: S-T

Companies: San Hawk, Sansun, Sanyang, Scythe, Seasonic, Seventeam, Sharkoon, Shinlion, Shuttle, Sigma, Shanda, SilenX, Silverpower, Silverstone, Sinan Power, Sino Tech, SinTek, Shanda, Sirfa, Sirtec, Skydigital, SMD, Solytech, Sohoo, Soyo, Sparkle Computer, Sparkle / Sparkle Power, Spec Research, Spire, Startech, Sunbeam, Sun Pro, Sunfone, Sunyo, Super Flower /SFC, Supertalent, Sytrin, Tagan, Taiwan Youngyear, Task, Techsolo, Thermaltake, Thortech, TMC, Tommade, Topmay, Topower, Top-Power, Towin, TS-Power, TTGI, Tuniq, Tyan.

PSU Makers: U-Z

Companies: Ultra, Unitek, Vantec, Win-Tact, Wintech, Wiseframe, XClio, Xigmatek, Xilence, Xion, X-Spice, Yesico, Zalman, Zippy.

Photo Gallery: Who’s Who?

Now we want to use three examples to show what can hide behind a label, and that it is in fact possible to get verified quality at a decent price.

Obligatory Conclusion

We want to stress two things in particular:

A PSU is not necessarily bad because it is cheap. But the lower the price, the more you'll likely have to skimp on safety and performance features. A high-quality PSU contains more expensive components. If you buy cheap, you might have to buy twice--or more.

A PSU is not automatically inferior because it was made by a contractor with which you aren't familiar. These companies make all kinds of products, from luxury brands to pure garbage. Again, it's a question of hitting different production targets. Is the product built for quality or aggressive cost reduction? The responsibility always lies with the buyer to recognize and reject products that are obviously unsuitable.

In the light of the previously presented tables of manufacturers, some quality issues, such as those seen with Be Quiet's P6 series, present an additional aspect to consider. We can also see that companies like Super Flower are often underestimated because they are not seen and accepted as the large manufacturer, which in fact they are.

We thank our readers again for their help.  We will continue to collect new results and regularly update the lists. They are, after all, a rough guide to what goes on behind the scenes in the power supply industry.

It had two cases, one is the solid aluminum Euler, which comes without fans, making it an entirely passive solution.

The second case is the Cypher that has a hole for airflow. These will appear at the end Q3/start of Q4.

The company also had on demo some CPU coolers. One is the Nero LX, which will be Intel and AMD compatible.

Another is the Venom Medusa, with two 140mm fans and eight 6mm heatpipes. Those seeking controllable fans with some bite will take notice of the Piranha.

Read more from @MarcusYam on Twitter.

LGA 2011: No Boxed Solution, Pick Your Own Instead

It seems strange to us that Intel no longer includes a cooler with its fastest retail CPUs. This is, after all, the same company that seems to insist that we include our original boxed cooler any time we send in one of our purchased processors in for a warranty exchange. Instead, it now suggests that enthusiasts spend extra money on something that resembles Antec’s Kühler H20 620, but actually costs as much as the larger Kühler H20 920: Intel's own BXRTS2011LQ sealed liquid CPU cooling system.

The rationale behind this move does make sense in that the Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K are multiplier-unlocked products that specifically target overclocking enthusiasts. Enthusiasts typically won’t settle for anything as underpowered as its RTS2011AC downdraft cooler, and Intel doesn’t think hanging two pounds of copper and aluminum up to six inches from the surface of a motherboard is a great idea. And while that kind of leverage tugging on your expensive motherboard is probably ill-advised under the harsh conditions of shipping a machine cross-country, systems that are handled gently and don't get moved often tolerate the weight of big, heavy coolers without a problem.

We invited every major CPU cooler manufacturer (that's right, all of them) to show off their LGA 2011-compatible heat sinks, and fourteen responded with products ranging from $30 to $99. That takes either a great deal of confidence or a great leap of faith from the budget cooler companies, since everyone participating in this piece knew that we'd be basing our evaluation on overclocking. The wide price range allows us to really test how much we need to spend on cooling, and how much we can benefit from spending more money than necessary.

Following up on our earlier picture story, here’s a brief overview of each cooler’s basic features, grouped by price first and arranged alphabetically. Please pay special attention to each cooler’s base height, which is measured with the intake fan at its highest position, along with thickness and offset. If the fan overhangs your DIMM slots, its base height (plus around 0.3" for the CPU/LGA package) represents your maximum supported DIMM height.

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Since higher fan speeds typically increase cooling capacity at low cost, some of the more expensive models attempt to provide the best balance of cooling and noise. Today’s tests includes both heat and noise measurements, and we’ll even compare heat to noise, heat to price, and heat/noise to price!

Installing Akasa's Venom Voodoo

With glory shots covered in our previous picture story, today’s article focuses on installation, testing, and results. We begin with Akasa’s sharp-looking dual-fan Venom Voodoo.

Akasa’s installation kit covers everything from AMD’s Socket AM2 to Intel’s latest LGA 2011, with screw-in standoffs separating today’s installation from the also-possible LGA 1366.

All the base plates go back in the box thanks to LGA 2011’s integrated cooler support, into which we threaded Akasa’s custom cooler standoffs.

The Intel-style top bracket is still required, and attached to the top of the Venom Voodoo’s base using four screws from the bottom.

We like simple installations, and were pleased to find that the cooler drops straight on at this point. The heat sink’s concave side should face the cooler’s intake fan, while the exhaust fan clips to the other side.

Yellow and black signify danger, which is why it’s frequently used by both bees and construction crews. In this case, the danger might be to your competitors as you show off the power of your overclocked Sandy Bridge-E-based PC!.

Installing Arctic Cooling's Freezer i30

Arctic Cooling’s extremely simplified installation kit eliminates any LGA 1366 support plate in favor of LGA 2011-specific screws.

This could have even been considered a Sandy Bridge-only package if not for the fact that the included LGA 1155 hardware also fits LGA 1156. Even still, we're ignoring both of those interfaces in today’s installation.

Metal spacers fit over the LGA 2011’s integrated screw posts (foreground) before attaching each of the Freezer i30’s two adapter brackets (background).

With its fan removed, the Freezer i30’s integrated cross bracket screws onto its adapter brackets.

Plugging in the fan’s motherboard lead and clipping it to the heat sink completes Arctic Cooling’s Freezer i30 installation.

Installing Cooler Master's Hyper 212 Evo

Cooler Master didn’t have a retail package available when it sent this Hyper 212 Evo sample, but instead included just the cooler, an LGA 2011 installation bracket, and a small tube of thermal paste.

The bracket folds to allow easy insertion between the heat sink’s base and fins.

The unfolded bracket simply screws into Intel’s integrated LGA 2011 support plate. A steel pin in the base’s aluminum top plate engages groves on the bracket to keep the cooler from twisting.

Plugging in the fan and clipping it to the cooler completes the installation of Cooler Master’s Hyper 212 Evo.

Installing Coolink's Corator DS

The Corator DS we received is an LGA 2011-specific model, containing nothing more than a set of nuts and standoffs to connect its universal-pattern Intel LGA brackets.

Standoffs screw into the LGA 2011 interface's included threads (foreground), and the cross brackets are then screwed onto them (background).

The Corator DS’ factory-mounted bracket then screws onto the cross brackets from the kit. What appear to be spring-loaded screws are actually threaded tubes, with a hexagonal cap and a #2 Phillips socket atop each.

The Corator DS’ single fan clips between its twin radiators, and plugging it into the motherboard power header completes the installation process.

Installing Corsair's Air Series A70

Corsair’s installation kit resembles Akasa’s, but with two key differences. First, a clip-style bracket is used for AMD interface compatibility.

The second difference is far more pertinent to our installation: there are no special standoffs for use with Intel’s LGA 2011 integrated mounting plate. Instead, Corsair relies on a little-discussed feature of the LGA 2011 design to support this product:

LGA 2011 motherboards still have LGA 1366 mounting holes. These holes are covered by the factory-installed gasket, but we can see the gasket peeking through the holes in the photo above. These holes are likely intended to prevent damage from overly-long mounting screws when using the integrated support plate.

Corsair told us to simply pop the bracket’s hold-down screws through the gasket, but these screws weren’t sharp enough to go through easily. We instead poked slits in the LGA 2011 gasket using a pocket knife, and inserted the mounting screws through those slits.

The screws now stand atop the LGA 2011 interface the same way they did on our LGA 1366 motherboards.

As with Akasa, Corsair’s mounting bracket bolts atop the A70’s base using screws from its underside.

Nuts apply tension between the cooler’s bracket and support plate using those protruding screws.

Plugging the fans into their motherboard headers and clipping them onto the heat sink completes the A70's installation.

Installing Deepcool's (Gamerstorm) Assassin

Deepcool's Gamerstorm brand brings us the Assassin, which is also distributed by Logisys. Although you can find this cooler by searching any of those names, we found the deepcool-us.com server more reliable than gamerstorm.cn.

The Assassin installation kit includes a support plate for Intel’s LGA 1155, 1156, and 1366, plus AMD’s Sockets AM2 and AM3. LGA 2011 users can throw the big plate back into the box, though, as separate screws and spacers allow the upper brackets to be screwed directly to their motherboard’s integrated support plate.

The split plastic spacers are too thick to fit properly, but a little wiggling achieves the approximate position (foreground). Each cross-bracket is then screwed onto the spacers (background).

The Assassin heat sink’s hold-down is then attached to the cross brackets using spring-loaded screws. This process is slightly more cumbersome than competing solutions because the hold-down bracket isn’t attached to the cooler.

Plugging the fans into motherboard headers and clipping them onto the sink completes the Gamerstorm Assassin installation.

Installing Enermax's ETS-T40

Enermax's ETS-T40 fits Intel’s four-bolt LGA interfaces and replaces AMD’s four-bolt brackets. Four special standoffs add LGA 2011 to the support list.

Either set of cross braces (background) can be fit atop the LGA 2011 standoffs (foreground). Threaded studs on both sets of brackets engage clamping bolts for the top bracket.

Two pins in the top bracket position it precisely atop the ETS-T40’s base. We found that the two nuts that tighten this bracket cannot be completely tightened, though the space between it and the cross brackets is minimal.

Plugging the fan’s PWM connector into the motherboard’s header and clipping it onto the cooler’s face completes the installation of Enermax’s ETS-T40.

Installing Gelid's GX-7

Gelid had not yet added the LGA 2011 installation kit to its GX-7 at the time we asked for review samples, but instead sent its $5 accessory kit for our installation.

Two brackets attach to the GX-7’s base using included screws.

Spring-loaded screws then apply even tension to the brackets, using LGA 2011’s integrated cooler support plate.

Connecting the fan to a motherboard and clipping it to the heatsink completes the Gelid GX-7 installation.

Installing Noctua's NH-D14

The SE2011 (Special Edition 2011) version of Noctua’s NH-D14 contains only the parts need to support Intel’s latest processor interface.

Universal-pattern Intel brackets mate to LGA 2011-exlusive studs using included nuts.

Spring-loaded nuts assure even pressure as the NH-D14’s integrated clamping bracket screws onto each bracket’s studs.

Connecting the fans to our motherboard’s PWM headers and clipping them to the sink completes the installation of Noctua’s NH-D14 SE2011.

Installing Phantek's PH-TC14PE

Phanteks adds a diverse installation kit for Intel’s older LGAs and AMD’s four-bolt sockets, but LGA 2011 installation is made far easier through the use of its integrated support plate.

Four standoffs (foreground) space two cross brackets (background) above the socket, with threaded studs on each cross bracket made to engage the cooler’s hold-down strap.

Bolting the PH-TC14PE’s hold-down strap to the base keeps it from flopping around when installing the heat sink. Spring-loaded nuts at the end of that strap provide even pressure across the base as they're screwed onto cross brackets.

Plugging the fan leads into motherboard headers and clipping them onto the radiators completes the installation process for Phantek’s PH-TC14PE.

Note that both fans are 140 mm (5.5 inches) and can be clipped at several heights. DIMM clearance required us to raise the fan around ½” from center. Depending on the height of your DIMMs, this option may extend the fan beyond the closing point of your case’s side panel.

Also note that the fan clips touch metal components on the back of our video card. We tilted the card slightly to eliminate potential short circuits, but you might not have this option in a chassis.

Installing SilenX's EFZ-120HA5

SilenX's installation kit includes a top bracket that fits all popular desktop CPU sockets (LGA 775 to 2011, AMD Socket 939 to AM3+), a base plate that supports most popular performance-oriented processor interfaces (except for LGA 2011), and an extra set of mounting screws for LGA 2011’s integrated cooler support plate.

SilenX's universal top bracket screws to the sides of the cooler with its ears pointing towards the bottom, as shown.

The EFZ-120HA5’s top bracket is then attached directly to the LGA 2011 cooler support holes using spring-loaded screws. This is the point where everyone who doesn’t have LGA 2011 can start crying about all of the extra steps they're forced to endure.

The most difficult-to-install part of the EVA-120HA5 kit is its fan. First, four T-shaped rubber tacks must be pulled through the fan's mounting holes (on its back side). The top of the T must then be slid into groves on the heat sink.

Unfortunately, the fan’s hole spacing is slightly wider than the heat sink’s height, leaving each T dangling precariously, as only half of its length is supported by fins. The Ts are soft, the fins are rough, so the lightweight fan isn’t likely to shift. But getting it centered takes a couple of minutes.

With its fan’s power lead plugged into our motherboard’s header, SilenX's EFZ-120HA5 installation is complete.

Installing Thermalright's Archon SB-E

The Archon SB-E includes the cooler and AMD/Intel universal installation kit from Thermalright’s Archon Rev.A, plus an LGA 2011-specific standoff set.

While other platforms get to this point using long nuts and a separate support plate, LGA 2011 standoffs screw directly to the motherboard’s integrated cooler mount.

The Archon SB-E’s top bracket is installed onto standoffs using small screws.

Self-adhesive vibration dampening pads are most easily stuck to the cooler before attaching it to the motherboard.

The cooler is then clamped down to the hold-down plate using an included strap.

Note that the strap only centers the CPU cooler front-to-back, leaving around ¼” of side-to-side adjustability.

The fan’s lead is then plugged into the motherboard, and the fan itself clipped to the heatsink. Note that the fan cannot be rotated 90° because its hole pattern is rectangular rather than square. No matter how far we slide the base, the Archon SB-E always hangs past our top video card slot. Thus, we were forced to test the cooler with our graphics card in slot position three, which means that it wasn’t tested in a standard configuration. We’ll make sure to mention this as we discuss our thermal findings.

Installing Xigmatek's Venus XP-SD1266

Xigmatek uses the same bracket set as Enermax, though these are packed a little differently. Bushings for the aluminum pressure plate, for example, were found beside the plate rather than inside of it, and there’s no included wrench for the tension nuts.

Xigmatek labels its Intel and AMD brackets, though the AMD brackets are also drilled to fit Intel socket hole spacing.

This is how Enermax's installation would have appeared at the half-way point, had we used the other bracket set (minus the Xigmatek and Intel labels, of course). Cross brackets are mounted to LGA 2011-specific standoffs using thumb nuts.

With no wrench to play with, we tightened Xigmatek’s tension nuts using an electric screwdriver. The results are the same, with a slight space found between the cross brackets and the pressure plate when both nuts are fully tightened.

Like SilenX, Xigmatek uses rubber tacks to hold its Venus XP-SD1266 fan and heat sink together. Xigmatek’s design is better in a couple ways, including the fact that the sink is actually tall enough to hold the fan. The tacks are also slotted and hooked on from the sides, rather than forced in from above and below.

Installing Zalman's CNPS12X

Zalman’s CNPS12X installation kit supports AMD’s Sockets AM2 through AM3+, in addition to Intel’s desktop LGA 775 through LGA 2011. LGA 2011-specific standoffs let you get rid of the irksome support plate in favor of the interface's integrated mounts.

Standoffs are threaded in first (foreground), followed by cross brackets and thumb screws (background).

At the edge of a factory-installed pressure bracket, factory-installed spring screws engage holes on the cross brackets to provide even pressure against the CPU.

Ah, but wait…isn’t that backwards? Zalman designed the CNPS12X with ¼” offset to clear the top of your case, your power supply, or whatever else is above your motherboard. Unfortunately, that causes the cooler to overlap our motherboard’s main graphics card slot.

We were left to either put our graphics card in the wrong slot and partially discredit the results (as we will with one other cooler) or mount it in such a way that some of the air pushed through it would already be warmed by our graphics card and power supply. Choosing the latter means that the test results represent a performance floor, by which we know it performs "at least this well."

A final installation issue that affected our build was that the CNPS12X overlapped our second DIMM slot and was just low enough to the motherboard that the fan tips barely touched our 1.55” DIMMs. Though we were able to make things work with a little adjustment, the solution wasn't long-term enough that we'd recommend this cooler to anyone with modules even a hair taller than 1.50”.

Test Settings And Benchmarks

Zalman’s ZM-STG2 thermal paste is used in this test not to favor its cooler, but because Zalman has long been our thermal paste provider. It works equally well with other cooler brands, and settling on a single substance reduces variability in testing.

Our CPU and voltage regulator pull around 300 W at full load at this O/C, using an old C0 stepping Core i7-3960X at 4.60 GHz and 1.40 V. We used this specific processor because it’s the one we can most easily afford to lose (due to heat damage) after long bouts of overclocking.

Twelve threads of Prime95 provide 100% load. We were forced to test noise at extremely close distances to stay within our meter’s calibration range.

Benchmark Results: Cooling And Fan Speed

Noctua and Zalman are in a dead heat at the top of our CPU temperature chart, and its here where many readers will remind us that Zalman’s cooler was mounted backwards (where its intake air might have been slightly warmer).

We’d give Zalman the benefit of the doubt if the fitment issue wasn't such a concern. Besides, some builders (and some cooler manufacturers) prefer to see chassis exhaust fans mounted as an extra intake, though we can only suggest doing that with cases that have extremely good top-panel exhaust.

SilenX’s temperature here has to be recorded as an estimate as a result of processor throttling. You see, the displayed temperature is an average for all cores, and this processor begins throttling at 90° C. Without the ability to achieve lower (and less realistic) ambient temperatures, we simply couldn’t keep the warmest core below its throttle point.

After gauging the amount of time it took to reach throttle temperature at various ambient temperatures, we looked at our rough time to ambient temperature curve and estimated that this cooler could only keep our system at full speed with a room temperature below -4° C.

Enermax's ETS-T40 similarly required an unrealistically-low ambient temperature of 20° C at these overclocked settings. We say unrealistic because we never cool our offices below 22° C in the summer, and even our coolest cases are slightly warmer inside. Yet, we can say with certainty that the ETS-T40 is at least good enough to use with this processor at a lower frequency, since it barely crossed the borderline while using a fairly high 1.40 V core voltage and a full CPU load.

Thermalright offers the lowest fan speed, so we expect it to give off the least amount of noise. Yet, the same product manages to achieve respectable cooling performance in the middle of the pack thanks to its fan’s enormous size. Unfortunately, those same larger dimensions forced us to move our graphics card to a different slot. Proper fitment is an important variable, so this small configuration change negates any possibility for a cooling-to-noise award. As with SilenX, Thermalright’s cooling performance is simply an estimation.

Benchmark Results: Noise And Acoustic Efficiency

Single-fan coolers have the lowest noise at any given speed, since each doubling of identical sound sources adds an extra 3 db to the reading (in audio theory). That same theory explains why Arctic Cooling and SilenX’s mid-speed individual fans take second and third place in silence, ahead of Zalman’s three low-speed fans.

We’d consider anything below 30 db in open air to be quiet, mostly because we use quiet cases to cut back on ambient noise even more. True seekers of silence might settle for nothing less than Thermalright’s Archon, however, even though it doesn’t fit our motherboard properly.

The Archon SB-E is so quiet, in fact, that it tops our Acoustic Efficiency charts, in spite of its mid-pack thermal performance. At the other end of the chart, the SilenX EFZ-120HA5’s cooling performance can't compensate for its second-place noise level.

Which LGA 2011 Cooler Would We Buy?

The top three cooling performers, in order, are Noctua and Zalman, followed by Phanteks. The three coolers with the highest cooling-to-noise ratio are from Thermalright, Zalman, and Noctua. Wouldn’t it be nice if one of these companies could also top our cooling-to-price chart?

Alas, the least-expensive models take that prize. All three of the best cooling-per-dollar contenders use mid-speed fans, and only Corsair needs a pair of fans to achieve this value rating.

If we exclude Enermax from this overclocking-oriented cooler comparison due to its relatively low thermal performance, we’re left with the 31 db Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo battling Corsair’s A70. A temperature difference of only 1° C certainly makes it hard to argue against Cooler Master’s lower noise level, yet price parity will probably push many enthusiasts to take that 1° to the bank.

It’s at this point where we must wonder what would happen if we compare acoustic efficiency to price.

Cooler Master wins this time, and by a wider margin. If we were basing this review on Intel’s upcoming Core i7-3820, we might even hand out a value award and be done with the story.

But we’re not using a low-cost processor, and prices on Intel’s six-core models justify higher standards of cooling and noise. Putting cost aside, we like the low temperature and noise of Zalman’s CNPS12X. But it also doesn’t fit our motherboard in the desired orientation, or even provide proper memory clearance for our 1.55” tall DIMMs. Instead of using the CNPS12X backwards or trying to remove its fans and face them the other way, and then installing shorter memory that we didn’t even want, we’re forced to consider Noctua’s second-place performer as a perennial champion ever since its took the performance lead two years ago.

The problem with “Best of” awards is that the best often changes before we can even get a review published. Determining that something's the best also means we have to test all of its competition. If we trust that Noctua’s competitors put forth their best efforts for this comparison, two years of performance leadership make the NH-D14 deserving of our highest honor.

But how valuable is this award, really? The NH-D14 just earned this editor’s very first “Best of Tom's Hardware” in the award's four-year history!

Manufacturers, Designers, And Labels

Between gobs of reader feedback and our own data compiled over many years, we've managed to put together a fairly comprehensive list of power supply brands and manufacturers. Despite the fact that it consists of more than 150 manufacturers, though, this list still doesn't reflect the entire market, which always seems to be in a state of flux. It can, however, be used as a guide to finding the difference between a bad deal and a bargain.

Who is Who?

Let’s start by dividing the manufacturers into three large groups so we can better understand the database and how these companies are connected:

1. The OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)

OEMs manage all of their production internally. They either exclusively design and manufacture their own PSUs (like Enermax) or design and manufacture their own brands, as well as manufacture PSUs designed by other companies (such as FSP, HEC, and SeaSonic). Some of them focus heavily on worldwide exports and provide a range of models, which are later sold under different labels. It's common to find otherwise-identical models marketed under many different names and labels. The industrial areas around Shenzhen, China, are the cradle of the lowest-priced PSUs sold all over the globe.

2. Designers: Without Their Own Production

The second group of companies also develops and designs their own products. However, they have to outsource either some or all of the manufacturing to other companies. One example of this is Be Quiet. Those familiar with the brand noted how Be Quiet P7 models were suddenly much better than the disappointing P6. The answer was simply a manufacturer change, from Topower to FSP. Other examples of designers include SilverStone, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Tagan.

3. The Labels: With or Without Any Technical Involvement

Arguably, this group could be subdivided. Some importers of foreign PSUs that resell models under their own labels have a certain influence over the quality and choice of components, while others simply bring in some very cheap products, relabel, and resell them.

This third group is the most interesting one for price-oriented customers, though also the most uncertain for quality. You're as likely to score a bargain by getting a relabeled high-quality product at a lower price as you are to be disappointed by being too tight-fisted. Some good examples of products to watch are new models from Aerocool, which are essentially the Cougar units from Compucase/HEC with a discounted price and completely restyled exterior.

After many tests and inspections of budget models (by us, our readers, and friendly computer stores), we would advise you to steer your piggy banks clear of the labels Rasurbo, Inter-Tech (Sinan Power, Coba), Tech Solo, LC Power, RaptoxX, Tronje, Xilence, Ultron, World Link, Q-Tec, etc. We were able to identify some of these models without looking at the UL number simply by having a look at the installed components. These were almost exclusively the simplest work of such manufacturers as Enhance, World Link, Andyson, Topower, Casing Macron, and Channel Well.

Lack of protection circuits, low efficiency, and bad build quality were major points of criticism. The lowest of the low was a European label called Hardwaremania24, targeted at OEM PCs. While still in standby mode, the PSU heated to about 176 degrees Fahrenheit, spent the next six hours billowing smoke, and finally made what might be described as a trumpeting sound before dying. The host computer was never even turned on. After analyzing the PSU, we found no protection at all save for a single slow fuse.

Firecracker Or Power Plant?

How do you identify a bad power supply before buying it?

• Extremely high wattage claims at a comparatively very low price are suspicious. There are simply no decent 750 W power supplies for $50. For every product class based on performance and features, there must be a minimum price. When a product is significantly below that price, be cautious. You can get a "400 W PSU" for $20, and such fire hazards are installed in budget PCs every day by unscrupulous companies that know exactly the risk they're handing off to buyers.
• Check the specifications. For example, if a PSU claims high performance on the 3.3 and 5 V rails while the 12 V rail numbers are low, then you know something is wrong.
• The manufacturer does not specify any combined maximum performance, but instead only shows the maximum load for each rail separately. This is done without specifying how much real power would be available if all rails are used at the same time. Avoid PSUs without this information.
• Be careful with juicy marketing expressions and commercial lingo: Super, Extreme, Gaming, Combat, etc. Using superlatives to describe something quite normal should arouse suspicion and have you double-check specification details.
• Passive rather than active Power Factor Correction (PFC) leads to lower power efficiency.
• Very few or short power connectors and cables might be an issue. A 750 W PSU usually has four PCIe connectors for graphics cards (2 x 6-pin and 2 x 6+2-pin), so think twice if a model only offers two (or at least consider your upgrade options).
• With cheap PSUs, the quality of the cable insulation may be poor, or the cables may not be insulated at all. The power cable grommet may also be insufficiently padded.
• Be careful if there are few or no indications of protection circuitry. If the PSU specification only says OPP (overload protection) or perhaps SCP (short circuit protection), this points towards a normal fuse. If the specification also says OVP (overvoltage protection), this probably means that it is equipped with a simple metal oxide variable resistor. These security measures by themselves are absolutely insufficient and cannot replace any kind of digital safety chip.

Unfortunately, you can't always tell at first glance whether you're dealing with a high-quality PSU or whether there's nothing but disappointment waiting behind the pleasant facade. Therefore, we decided to open up two budget PSUs representative of what you can find in many of today’s OEM PCs and illustrate the points and features you should be examining.

A First Look At the Inside: Primary Capacitor and PFC

First, look at the storage capacitors in the primary circuit. These act as buffers and help protect the PSU and computer from voltage fluctuations. The electrolyte used in them is key, because it evaporates or dries out through a combination of heat and time. As a general rule, capacitor lifetime is halved for each 10 degrees Centigrade increase in temperature over the specified normal load. Using higher-quality capacitors that can handle 105 degrees instead of 85 degrees (C) should almost double their lifetime, greatly contributing to the PSU's durability.

A PSU equipped with chokes (a kind of inductor) is a clear indicator of passive Power Factor Correction (PFC). Passive PFC plays a significant role in the efficiency of the PSU. Only active circuitry allows for factors close to the optimum value of 1, while passive components can reach 0.7 to 0.8 at best, meaning they only achieve 70% to 80% efficiency. PSUs with a passive PFC may be cheaper to buy in the short run, but poor efficiency can swallow savings over time in the form of higher electricity costs.

Protection Circuits

Even without opening the PSU, a data sheet can reveal some of the safety measures taken (or not) by manufacturers. A decent PSU should contain the following safety measures:

• OCP (Over Current Protection): protection against power spikes
• OVP (Over Voltage Protection)
• OPP (Over Power Protection): overload protection, sometimes called OLP 
• OTP (Over Temperature Protection): protection from overheating 
• UVP (Under Voltage Protection) 
• SCP (Short Circuit Protection) 
• NLO (No Load Operation): this isn’t exactly protection in the same sense as the other features, but it allows the PSU to power up and function normally, even with no load.

Without this information, you have to look inside the PSU to find out what you need to know.

We found no protection at all on this unit, except for a simple fuse. Sadly, this PSU is still available on the market under a couple of different labels.

Passive components do not guarantee sufficient protection. Without a digital security chip, the computer hardware is severely exposed to risks.

The security chip PS223 from Silicon Touch is popular, and you should avoid PSUs not using it or similar products, such as the PS332S.

Cables and Short Circuits

You can tell a lot about your PSU by looking at its internal wiring. A lack of heat shrink tubing, carelessly exposed solder joints, and components fastened with a glue gun are symptomatic of cheap and hazardous manufacturing. If unprotected cables are placed next to hot components, a PSU failure is nearly assured.

Boards

A final quality indicator is the circuit board material. Impregnated laminated paper (like the yellow boards in the pictures) is a sure sign of cost cutting. Fiber materials are much more durable and, perhaps more importantly, non-flammable.

How Do You Recognize The Manufacturer?

UL Numbers From Underwriters Laboratories

"Underwriters Laboratories, an independent firm working with product safety certification, has been active in the field of product testing and preparation of safety standards for more than a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually. Every year more than 20 billion UL marks are placed on products from 66,000 different manufacturers. The UL Group and its network of service providers include 68 testing and certification labs worldwide, serving customers in 102 countries."--from the About UL page at www.ul.com

Essentially, this means that all PSUs sold on the North American market must be marked with an UL number. This number should identify the actual manufacturer of a product. However, not every PSU has such a number. UL number omission on a North American product might indicate poor quality.

Step 1: Reading the UL Number

To find the UL number, there's no need to open your PSU or desolder anything. Simply open your PC and look at the power supply's label. The UL number usually begins with an "E" followed by a string of numbers. See the three examples below.

Online UL Number Query:

Now let's find out more about your PSU. Go to the UL Online Certifications Directory and enter the UL number in the UL File Number field. If the number exists in the database, you should immediately see the result. If not, the number is invalid, fake, or the manufacturer no longer exists.

Link: Online Certifications Directory

PSU Makers: 0-9 And A-B

Companies: 2the Max Asia Pacific, 3Y Power Technology, Ablecom, AcBel, Achme, AeroCool, Akasa, Amacrox, AMS, AOpen, Antec, Apex, Arctic Cooling, Aspire, Astec Int. Ltd., Asus, Athenatech, ATNG, Atrix, AXP, Be Quiet!, Bestec, BFG, Boser Technology Inc., Broadway

PSU Makers: C-D

Companies: Casing Macron, Channel Well, Chenbro, Chieftec, CompUSA, Coba, Codegen, Cooler Master, Coolmax, Cooltek, Corsair, Deer, Dell, Delta, Dongguan Zhangmotou, Dynapower

PSU Makers: E-H

Companies: Eagle Tech, Elwin Technology Ltd., Enermax, Enhance, Enlight, Etasis, Forepoint, Fortron, Foxconn, Foxlink, Fujitsu Siemens, Gigabyte, GPS, GTR, Hama, HEC, Hiper, Highscreen, High Performance Group, High Performance PC, High Power, Himere, Hipro, HP, Huntkey

PSU Makers: I-M

Companies: Impervio, Inter-Tech, In Win, I-Star, ICP, Jersey, JOU JYE, JPAC, Just PC, Key Mouse, Kingwin, L & C, LC-Power, Leadman, Levicom, Li Shin, Lian-Li, Lite-On, Linkworld, Logisys, Mad Dog, Mapower, Masscool, Mean Well, MGE/XG, Mitac, MSI, Mushkin

PSU Makers: N-R

Companies: Newton, Nexus, nMediaPC, NorthQ, NZXT, OCZ, Okia, PC Power & Cooling, Point of View, Powerman, Powertek, Powmax, Raidmax, RaptoxX, Rasurbo, Revoltec/Listan, Rosewill

PSU Makers: S-T

Companies: San Hawk, Scythe, Seasonic, Seventeam, Sharkoon, Shuttle, SilenX, Silverstone, Sinan Power, Sino Tech, Sirtec, Solytech, Soyo, Sparkle, Spire, Startech, Sunbeam, Sun Pro, Sunfone, Super Flower /SFC, Tagan, Taiwan Youngyear, Thermaltake, Topower, TTGI, Tyan

PSU Makers: U-Z

Companies: Ultra, Unitek, Vantec, Win-Tact, Wintech, Wiseframe, XClio, Xigmatek, Xilence, Xion, X-Spice, Yesico, Zalman, Zippy

Conclusion

We want to stress two things in particular:

A PSU is not necessarily bad because it is cheap. But the lower the price, the more you'll likely have to skimp on safety and performance features. A high-quality PSU contains more expensive components. If you buy cheap, you might have to buy twice--or more.

A PSU is not automatically inferior because it was made by a contractor with which you aren't familiar. These companies make all kinds of products, from luxury brands to pure garbage. Again, it's a question of hitting different production targets. Is the product built for quality or aggressive cost reduction? The responsibility always lies with the buyer to recognize and reject products that are obviously unsuitable.

We will keep collecting data and update this list every once in a while, and we’d love to include your findings. Please use our feedback form to forward information that isn’t available in our listing!