Analysis & Diagnosis:

The Cooler Base:

The SilenX EFZ-120HA5 features a H.D.T design. This means that the heatpipes are going across the bottom of the cooler exposed and make direct contact with the CPU’s heat spreader. This should allow for better heat transfer but it comes with the downside of not making a perfectly sealed contact and heavily relies on good thermal paste.

The heatpipes are encased in a aluminum block which fills the gaps between the heatpipes and to cover the entire CPU’s heat spreader. The cooler base is polished to further remove surface imperfections.

The cooler base has also a small heatsink attached on the of it to assist with cooling.

The Heatsink and Fins

The fins have an overlapping sinus or wave pattern cut in the front and back. This helps with airflow break up and acceleration across the fins. The fins surfaces are outfitted with the often argued dimple pattern. The dimple are there to create turbulence and increase surface area. The sides of the cooler are closed to channel air through the cooler.

The Heatpipes
There are 3 heatpipes with a diameter of 6mm. Each heatpipe is a single piece which is why we only count 3 instead of 6. The heatpipes go from the top of one side of the cooler, across the bottom back to the top of the other side of the cooler. The general shape of the heatpipes would reflect a “U”.

The Fan:
The fan used for the SilenX EFZ-120HA5 comes from the SilenX Effizio line of fans. Quiet fans is where SilenX really has it’s business and so it comes to no surprise that the fan is not the fan we observed in PCOOLER’s offering. The Effizio fan is listed on the website and is expected to readily available for re-order if need be. The fan features a standard 7-blade design. The blades themselves are curved to enable them to shuffle air more efficiently. The fan frame has open corners for the screw holes and there 3 wires coming from the center. They are nicely kept in black and are not sleeved. The wires are kept in a ribbon cable style and are complimented with a black connector.

The fan is a 120mmx120mmx25mm with 3rd generation fluid dynamic bearings. SilenX listed the fan with an impressive 86.0 CFM at a max. speed of 2600 RPM while only consuming 1.92w. The fan support variable speed and have a minimum spin up voltage of 6v. They will generate a maximum of 24 dbA across a fan speed range of 0-1600 RPM.

Dimensions and Weight:

The dimension and weight of the SilenX EFZ-120HA5 are very acceptable. The measurements make it suitable for the vast majority of todays standard sized ATX cases. Since the SilenX EFZ-120HA5 does not indulge in depth, installing exotic memory modules should not be a major issue. The weight is going along with the rather trim dimensions of the cooler which weights in at a total of 648g. This is 252g more then the 380g of Intel’s strock cooler but also a good deal lighter then many of our heavy weight shining stars of cooling.

The mounting assembly is solid and has been well thought out. It will keep the cooler in place at all times.

Next: Mounting & Installation

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