Conclusion:

We had our firsts cooler from SilenX in the lab and they have a decent product on hand. We usually do not have much interest to find out who the actual manufacturer behind a brand is but in this case it was/is quiet obvious and at least as much confusing. We are actually still not clear if this in fact is a re-brand, coop, joint venture or anything in between. There is no mention on SilenX’s website about any colaboration or joint venture or if the company operates under a different name in other countries. Either way, the double branding can be confusing.

The SilenX EFZ-120HA5 has impressed and disappointed us along our short journey. We were impressed with the good build quality which is not exactly common for affordable coolers like the SilenX EFZ-120HA5. We also found the mounting to be good but with too many parts. Socket comparability is somewhat important, especially to manufacturers as it widens your applicable user/ customer base; however, including every outdated socket adds a lot of parts to the package that will possibly never be used. Leaving those few parts out could also drive down the price even further and make this an even more attractive offer. There was a lot of good thought put into the cooler and some new technologies implemented into the design but there is also room for improvement.

Taking a closer at the SilenX EFZ-120HA5 also revealed some short comings and some flaws. We initially doubted the performance ability of the heatsink because of it’s shallow depth. This is not always an indicator of performance limitation as we have seen proven by ThermalRights Ultra and Ultra Extreme coolers as well as others and we learned that depth is not the key to all cooling solutions as we have seen with Scythe’s Ninja and Mine coolers but nevertheless it is and can be a limiting factor. This combined with a limited number of heatpipes is a good indicator that we most likely will not be breaking records today. SilenX has not set out to do so with the release of the SilenX EFZ-120HA5. The cooler is aimed at the budget user and should offer the budget minded user some performance and peace of mind.

The SilenX EFZ-120HA5 is available at retailers now and has a current MSRP of $34.95 USD. The Newegg price as of 04/17/2012 is $32.99 USD. The performance of this cooler is representative of it’s value and price.

SilenX EFZ-120HA5 receives the TechREACTION.net Bronz Silicon Award!

We would like to thank SilenX for making this review possible and our readers for your continued support.

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