Nine Big Air Coolers For Intel's Haswell CPUs, Reviewed

Thermalright Archon SB-E X2

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We’ve seen Thermalright’s extra-wide heat sink in a previous review, but the new version includes an updated installation kit in addition to its dual-fan (X2) name change.

The Intel support plate is now separate from the AMD plate, and includes a couple of special features to eliminate any conflicts with nearby motherboard components.

The bolts slide, with only a small portion of the bolt pressing against the board. That eliminates most of the on-board component conflicts experience with many competing products.

The bolts are also topped with insulating plastic washers, which add even more space for components that could be close to the mounting holes.

We still get the quality of a smoothly-machined copper base, which transfers heat to all eight heat pipes regardless of our processor’s small contact area.

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.