| Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cooling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by David Ramsey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 24 February 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler
Manufacturer: Thermalright Inc. Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Thermalright Inc. CPU cooler design (for air coolers, anyway) boils down to a few simple truths: while things like heat pipe technology and base finish are important, the determining factors in a heat sink's performance are its size and its airflow. Size is critical because the more metal a CPU cooler contains, the more mass there is to absorb heat. Airflow is important because the heat must be transferred from the heat sink to the surrounding air. With its Silver Arrow design, Thermalright seeks to maximize both of these parameters within the limitations imposed by a standard computer case, and the result is a giant cooler with twin 140mm fans. In this review, Benchmark Reviews puts the Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU cooler to the test against a selection of high-end air and water coolers. As CPU design migrates to a 32nm process (such as Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors and AMD's forthcoming Bulldozer CPUs), power consumption and heat production go down, and the need for monster cooling systems decreases. But there are still a lot of very hot CPUs out there, such as the overclocked and overvolted Core i7-950 I use in my heat sink test machine.
Any CPU cooler's primary task is to cool the CPU. Since retail CPUs come with perfectly adequate coolers, the main reason to buy an aftermarket cooler is for conditions that the stock cooler can't handle...namely, overclocking. From its size alone, one would expect the Silver Arrow to be aimed at the extreme overclocking crowd. Thermalright Silver Arrow Specifications
Closer Look: Silver Arrow CoolerThermalright doesn't believe in putting specifications and advertising copy on their boxes. You'll get a plain brown box with the cooler's model name and the CPU sockets it fits, and that's it. This probably explains why I've never seen a Thermalright cooler box sitting on a shelf in a retail store (they may well be there, but they'd be easy to overlook!) 
Inside the box, nestled in foam, are the heat sink, two 140mm PWM fans, a Thermalright sticker for your case, installation instructions and a packing list, and a large plastic bag containing the mounting hardware, fan clips, a small wrench, and a tube of thermal compound. Although there are two PWM fans, Thermalright does not supply a "Y"-cable.
The Thermalright Silver Arrow is one of the better-looking CPU coolers you'll see. The four large (8mm diameter) heat pipes have neatly capped ends (unlike most coolers which leave the crimped ends exposed), and the 55 fins on each "tower" of the cooler are perfectly aligned. There are four possible fan mounting positions, although only three fans could be mounted at any one time. Thermalright supplies clips for the two 140mm fans that come with the cooler, and these clips will also secure 120mm fans. The heat sink is completely symmetrical: there is no "front" or "back".
The base of the cooler is polished, although it does not have the perfect mirror finish we've seen lately on other coolers. As expected of a high-end cooler, the base is solid copper with nickel plating as a corrosion protectant.
This side view shows both fans installed. You begin to get a feeling for just how large this cooler is. Although the fans can be set up for a dual-push arrangement, the size of the cooler means that you probably can't do this without blocking several RAM slots in your case. Most users will set the cooler up as I did, with a dual-pull configuration.
Looking at it on the test bench, I'm wondering if it will actually fit in my test system. Let's see in the next section.
Thermalright Silver Arrow Detailed FeaturesThe Silver Arrow comes with an adjustable base plate for Intel Socket 775, 1155/1156, and 1366, and a separate base plate/bracket set for AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3 sockets. While many modern coolers use brackets made of plastic or thin sheet metal, the Silver Arrow uses the same thick stamped steel brackets we've seen on their other coolers, such as the Venomous X series. While not quite as visually impressive as the massive aluminum castings Prolimatech uses to secure its Megahalems and other coolers, it feels just as robust.
The black metal base plate has captive screws that protrude through the motherboard and are secured by knurled screw posts. The interior mounting bracket slides over the screw posts and is held in place with four thumbscrews. The retaining bar (and thus the heat sink) can be mounted in any orientation and secures to two of the four screw threads on the interior bracket. Thermalright uses the same adjustable clamping mechanism here that they've used in their other high-end coolers: the knob in the center of the retaining bar adjusts the clamping pressure of the heat sink to the processor, from a minimum of 40 pounds to a maximum of 70 pounds. While this is intended to be adjusted with the included wrench with the cooler installed, the size of the cooler makes this very difficult to accomplish; I found it much easier to set the knob and then install the retaining bar. 
Installing the bracket is easy, assuming your case has a cutout behind the motherboard. The base plate's captive screws mean that you don't have to try to hold it in position while threading a screw through a mounting hole and securing it on the other side. Installing the brackets took only a couple of minutes.
Of course, you'll need to make sure this monster cooler actually fits in your system. As you can see from the image above, it's almost 6 inches long with fans installed.
How large is large? If you thought the Prolimatech Super Mega was a large cooler, check this out. Although the coolers are pretty much the same height, the Silver Arrow is substantially longer and wider than the Super Mega.
Here's the cooler installed on the ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard I use for heat sink testing. The fans are configured in a "dual pull" arrangement, blowing air out the back of the case. Normally, for testing, Benchmark Reviews orients heat sinks blowing up so that the heat pipes are parallel to the ground, but the Thermalright's design means that the standard mounting accomplishes this. Note that the heat sink fins slightly overhang the first RAM socket. Memory would only fit in the first socket if it didn't have the tall fins of the Corsair Dominator RAM I'm using. A fan mounted on that side would occlude the first two RAM slots, which would prevent most X58 motherboard from booting (since RAM must generally be installed in at least one of the first two slots).
The bottom of the rear fan is just touching the metal cases of the I/O panel connectors. With the fans like this, there is 1/4" of clearance between the top of the fan and the side panel of the Antec DF-35 case the test system is mounted in. Now that everything's installed, let's proceed to the test.
Heat Sink Test MethodologyBenchmark Reviews is obsessed with testing CPU coolers, as our Cooling Section has demonstrated over the past few years. We've solicited suggestions from the enthusiast community, and received guidance from some of the most technical overclockers on the planet. As a result, our testing methodology has changed with every new edition of our Best CPU Cooler Performance series. Because of this, each article is really its own stand-alone product, and cannot be fairly compared to the others. Benchmark Reviews continues to test CPU coolers using the stock included fan (whenever applicable), and then replace it with a high-output fan for re-testing. Manufacturers are not expected to enjoy this sort of comparison, since we level the playing field for all heat sinks by replacing their included fan with a common unit which is then used for every CPU cooler tested. Many manufacturers include fans with their heat sink products, but many 'stock' fans are high-RPM units that offer great airflow at the expense of obnoxiously loud noise levels, or, conversely, quiet fans that sacrifice performance for low noise. By using the same model of cooling fan throughout our heat sink tests, we can assure our results are comparable across the board. This is one of the more significant changes we have made to our test methodology, since many of the benchmark tests we have conducted in the past have compared the total package. Ultimately we're more interested in the discovering the best possible heat sink, and we believe that you'll feel the same way. For each test, ambient room temperature levels were maintained within one degree of fluctuation, and measured at static points beside the test equipment with a digital thermometer. The Corsair H70 and the comparison coolers used a common Thermal Interface Material of our choosing (listed in the support equipment section below) for consistency. The processor received the same amount of thermal paste in every test, which covered the heat spreader with a thin nearly-transparent layer. The heat sink being tested was then laid down flat onto the CPU, and compressed to the motherboard using the supplied retaining mechanism. If the mounting mechanism used only two points of force, they were tightened in alternation; standard clip-style mounting with four securing points were compressed using the cross-over method. Once installed, the system was tested for a baseline reading prior to testing. At the start of each test, the ambient room temperature was measured to track any fluctuation throughout the testing period. AIDA64 Extreme Edition is utilized to create 100% CPU-core loads and measure each individual processor core temperature. It's important to note that software-based temperature reading reflects the thermal output as reported from the CPU to the BIOS. For this reason, it is critically important (for us) to use the exact same software and BIOS versions throughout the entire test cycle, or the results will be incomparable. All of the units compared in our results were tested on the same motherboard using the same BIOS and software, with only the CPU-cooler product changing in each test. These readings are neither absolute nor calibrated, since every BIOS is programmed differently. Nevertheless, all results are still comparable and relative to each products in our test bed (see The Accuracy Myth section below). Since our test processor reports core temperatures as a whole number and not in fractions, all test results utilize ADIA64 to report averages (within the statistics panel), which gives us more precise readings. The ambient room temperature levels were all recorded and accurate to one-tenth of a degree Celsius at the time of data collection. When each cooler is tested, Benchmark Reviews makes certain to keep the hardware settings identical across the test platform. This enables us to clearly compare the performance of each product under identical conditions. Benchmark Reviews reports the thermal difference; for the purposes of this article, thermal difference (not the same as thermal delta) is calculated by subtracting the ambient room temperature from the recorded CPU temperature. Please keep in mind that that these test results are only valid within the context of this particular test: as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Intel Test System
Support Equipment
All of the tests in this article have been conducted using vertical motherboard orientation, positioned upright in a traditional tower computer case. Air-cooled heat sinks are positioned so that heat pipe rods span horizontally, with the fan blowing air out the top of the chassis. The radiators of water coolers are mounted as per manufacturer instructions. In both cases, fans are connected directly to the power supply (rather than motherboard headers) and run at full speed during the test. At the start of our test period, the test system is powered on and AIDA64 system stability tests are started with Stress CPU and Stress FPU options selected. AIDA64 loads each CPU core to 100% usage, which drives the temperature to its highest point. Finally, once temperatures have sustained a plateau (no observed change in average temperatures for 5 minutes), the ending ambient room temperature and individual CPU core levels are recorded thus completing the first benchmark segment. The time to reach stable temperatures varied between 10 and 20 minutes for the heat sinks in this test; larger heat sinks typically take longer to stabilize. The second test segment involves removing the stock cooling fan and replacing it with a high-output 120 mm Delta AFC1212D cooling fan, then running the same tests again. Note: Both the Antec Kühler H2O 620 and the Coolit Vantage A.L.C. are designed to drive their own RPM-controlled fans directly; in the case of the Vantage, an alarm will sound continuously if there is no fan connected. For these coolers, the fans were left connected as designed during stock fan testing. For high-speed fan testing, the Delta fan was connected directly to the power supply (and the alarm on the Vantage ignored). The Accuracy MythAll modern processors incorporate an internal thermal diode that can be read by the motherboards' BIOS. While this diode and the motherboard are not calibrated and therefore may not display the actual true temperature, the degree of accuracy is constant. This means that if the diode reports 40°C when it's actually 43°C, then it will also report 60°C when it's truly 63°C. Since the design goal of any thermal solution is to keep the CPU core within allowable temperatures, a processor's internal diode is the most valid means of comparison between different heat sinks, or thermal compounds. The diode and motherboard may be incorrect by a small margin in relation to an actual calibrated temperature sensor, but they will be consistent in their margin of error every time.
Testing and ResultsFor this test, I used the following heat sinks in addition to the Thermalright Silver Arrow:
For heat sinks without a stock fan, I used a Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 fan, which puts out 63.7CFM at 28dBa according to Thermalright. This mid-range fan provides good air flow and reasonable noise levels. For "apples to apples" testing, where each heat sink is tested with the same fan, I used a Delta AFC1212D. This high-performance PWM fan is rated at 113CFM at a claimed 46.5dBa at full speed...which means that while it moves quite a bit of air, it's very loud. As I mentioned before, the Silver Arrow has an adjustable clamping system, which I set to the maximum 70 pounds for this test. The Intel Core i7-950 I used in this test runs much hotter than the Core i7-920 I've used previously. At 1.35 volts, with a BCLK of 175Mhz, the 4,025Mhz CPU pumps out enough heat to stress the very best heat sinks. AIDA64 would report throttling once any single core reached 100 degrees Celsius; any throttling resulted in canceling the test and recording a "FAIL". Although this overclocked and overvolted Core i7-950 represents an extreme, these are expensive, high-end heat sinks. The chart below summarizes the results with the stock fans (hotter temperatures towards the top of the chart, and cooler temperatures towards the bottom). The twin-fan coolers have a real advantage here, since their dual fans generally move more air than the stock single fan of any of the other units. Stock Fan Tests
With both of its 140mm fans connected directly to the computer's power supply and running at full speed, the Silver Arrow turns in amazing performance, edged out by less than 1 degree by the Cooler Master V6 GT. The minimal performance difference here is probably due to the V6 GT's high-speed fans, each of which is rated at 90CFM, as compared to the Silver Arrow's 69CFM fans. It's worth noting here that the V6 GT's fans are quite loud at full speed, whereas the Silver Arrow's fans are very quiet. Note the 5.8-degree "break" between the Prolimatech Super Mega and the Coolit Vantage A.L.C., neatly dividing the results into "high performance coolers" and "other coolers". Delta High Speed Fan Tests
Given that the Silver Arrow has four fan mounting positions, the question when using a single fan is where to mount it. I chose the middle position, with the fan mounting to and pulling air through the front set of fins and blowing towards the back of the case. In some cases, replacing a dual-fan cooler's twin fans with a single fan, even a very fast one, doesn't yield the performance improvement you might suspect— note that the Corsair H70 temperatures improve by less than a degree. But the Delta high-speed fan, blowing 113CFM (rated) of air through the fins of the Silver Arrow, drops the temperature by another 6 degrees Celsius over its stock fans. Other coolers improve as well, some (such as the Coolit ECO A.L.C.) substantially. If nothing else this test shows how important fan selection is to any cooler's performance. While this fan enables the Silver Arrow to turn in the best performance I've ever seen from an air cooler, it does so at a significant sonic cost, with a loud whirring whine that most would consider unsuitable for their desktop. So while the Silver Arrow does have its drawbacks (size and price), the payoff is world-beating performance. I'll go into some detail on these tradeoffs in the next section.
CPU Cooler Final ThoughtsI've noticed high-end air coolers trending towards one of two basic designs: a rather thick fin array that supports one or two fans, as typified by the Thermalright Venomous X and the Prolimatech Super Mega, and a thinner fin array with dual higher-speed fans included, as with the Cooler Master V6 GT. The Thermalright Silver Arrow is a third design: two relatively thin arrays separated by enough space to fit a fan between them. This is also the design used by Noctua's NH-D14 cooler. Unlike most other companies that manufacture heat sinks, such products are all Thermalright offers. There are no cases, power supplies, or other computer-related things, just heat sinks, mounting kits, fans, and related items. And all the CPU coolers they do offer are aimed at the desktop computer market; there are no low-profile server coolers on their web site. Whether or not this laser-like product focus is good or bad I can't say, but judging from the performance of their heat sinks, Thermalright's obviously doing something right. I think the Silver Arrow represents the ultimate air cooler than can be built and still fit within the constraints of an ATX motherboard and a standard computer case. I suppose one might argue that a solid copper version could have slightly better performance, but I don't think it would be worth the weight and price penalty. At 825 grams, the Silver Arrow, although heavy, is lighter than many of its competitors, some of which break the kilogram barrier. With Intel's official maximum heat sink weight at a mere 450 grams, moving your system with 1,000 grams or more of metal hanging sideways off the motherboard can be a dangerous proposition. It's almost ironic that coolers like this are becoming available just as processors transition to designs that may ultimately render them unnecessary; even overclocked to 5GHz, an Intel Sandy Bridge 2600K doesn't need anywhere near this level of cooling. Still, it wouldn't hurt, and as I noted earlier, there are still CPUs out there that can benefit from it.
While the cooler's design approaches perfection and its performance is beyond reproach, I only wish for a few little details to be addressed. The accessories come in multiple, cut-to-open plastic bags, which makes keeping track of bits you're not using (or when you swap the cooler between an AMD and Intel system) a pain. If the cooler's in a case, it can be clumsy to insert the retaining bar, since you have to fit it between the tall fin stacks and your access to the sides of the cooler will be limited by your case and internal components. Last, there's no standard way to connect two PWM fans on a CPU cooler. Cooler Master provides a 4-pin Y-cable for the PWM fans on the V6 GT cooler, and it seems odd that Thermalright didn't, especially give the price of the cooler. Fortunately, such cables are readily available from Newegg if you need one. Thermalright Silver Arrow ConclusionPlease remember that these test results reflect our experience with each cooler on a specific motherboard, with a specific processor, BIOS revision, BCLK and voltage settings, and test programs. The results of this test cannot be directly compared to other tests since many factors will have changed. The construction quality of the Silver Arrow is among the best I've seen: the fins are polished and perfectly aligned, the base is flat and well-finished, and even the ends of the heat pipes are capped. The only concern is that the cooler's size may preclude its use with some motherboards and cases. Thermalright eschews LEDs and other bling and lets the cooler's massive presence speak for itself. The blue-and-taupe color scheme of the fans is a little odd, but works with the cooler. Performance-wise, there's little to say other than that this is the best air cooler I've ever tested. The fact that the included fans are very quiet is just a bonus. There's just basic functionality here, with nothing like the color-changing LED accent lights on the Cooler Master V6 GT. The value proposition is a little harder to asses. This is a very expensive cooler, at $82.99 at FrozenCPU.com. Thermalright's own Venomous X cooler performs almost as well, is $15 cheaper, and won't present any of the potential fit problems the Silver Arrow will. But I suppose the Best of the Best can command a price premium, and if your system's cranking out enough heat to make use of this cooler, it's worth your money. Pros:
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Comments
Not trying to be too nitty here, but the copper alloy referenced for the base material must be C11000, or alloy 110, which is 99.9% pure copper. Probably a typo? But to the nickel plating, I'm wondering, what corrosion? Cathodic? I thought the CPU surface was a non-conductive surface. Other than that, the thermal paste should insulate against what little moisture may be lurking around.
I'll go ahead and guess that the clamping of 40 to 70 pounds you reference is inch-pounds not foot-pounds. This is a pretty large range, even for a high carbon alloy steel, 43%. Normally there is only about a 20% range unless you're discussing non-ferrous alloys, but then the range is even smaller. Nevertheless, in inch-pounds it would be about right for a low-carbon screw, in this case a 3-4mm or #8- #10 diameter.
Wow. That's one huge rad !
But trust me, please, as I work with metals and fasteners every day (except holidays and weekends, and dumb brain fart moments when I should be enjoying the very good work you do in reviewing computer hardware). If you ever need some relevant information on joint design, technology, metallurgy, or pre- or post tensioning advice, please contact me. If I don't have the answer off the top of my head, I have personnel with doctorates in metallurgy and mechanical engineering at my disposal. You will get the answers you may need.
Thanks again for your review.
But I was missing the NH-D14 as main competitor of the Silver Arrow as they are playing in the same league.
But anyway, great review as always
However I already read one or 2 reviews on internet where they compare them and it looks like silver arrow is on pair or beats NH-D14 with ~1-2 degrees...
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"That" is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It also bodes ill for the people making aftermarket coolers. As usual this was a good look at a nice product that I'll do without as my present Asetek and Corsair H2o coolers do a fine job on my i7's.
And if the first fan is "pull", the second must be, too, since there's not enough room to put both fans in the middle of the cooler.
Since the performance of the cooler was amazing anyway, I didn't worry too much about it.
This is looking like my best option at this point, but I don't want to buy it and then find that I can't mount a trio of corsair dominator sticks on the board.
The NH-D14 has the best mounting system in my opinion.
Regards.
1. $42 shipping was cheapest option from frozencpu.com
2. I large tower cases, installing in multi-SLI MoBos don't work. If mounted in its intended configuration .... blowing to rear, the find hit the GFX Card in PCI-E Slot No.1 .... same thing w/ the Antec Kuhler 620 btw .... that cooler cost me $18 in shipping there and back :). I was able to mount it horizontally (blowing up), while less than ideal, it works ... at $42, I wasn't gonna ship it back.
3. I installed it w/ two fans, bought a 3rd, didn't fit. The fans we got, aren't the fans shown here .... they were an ugly green w/ gray blades (since painted black)
4. Fins stay at pretty much room temperature ...
5. Bought a PYM Fan Cable Splitter (also from forzencpu.com). This one was an Akasa "Smart Cable" model. Last build I bought a different brand, both times had them sleeve it. First builds splitter shorted out my fans ... was replaced with a working one but replacement would not control fan speed. The 2nd one, the Akasa didn't work at all. machine would not boot w/ it connected.
6. As for performance, it's hard to tell as unlike BNR, I don't have lotsa things to swap it out with. Using a i7-2600 in an Asus WS Revolution w/ twin 560 GTX (900 Mhz models). Here's the results (VCore under load in ( ):
Stock 51,53, 53, 51 (1.224) LLC = Auto
4.0 Ghz 52, 54, 55, 52 (1.016-1.024) LLC = Auto
4.2 GHz 54, 56, 57, 55 (1.256 - 1.264) LLC = Auto
4.4 Ghz 56, 60, 60, 67 (1.280 - 1.288) LLC = Auto
4.6 Ghz 62, 66, 68, 65 (1.360 - 1.368) LLC = High
4.8 Ghz 71, 77, 79, 72 LLC = (1.408 - 1.416) Ultra High*
I should note that on many builds I have seen temps drop after a few bits of thermal cycling. Most noticeably, if I set upa desired OC as my target .... then purposely run it at a higher oC to get higher temps, going back to my target now has lower temps. My guess anyway is that the 1st time the TIM hits its highest temps tends to "cure it" a bit. Have seen this on just about every build I have spent a lot of time with.
I may add to this once I get another shot at this. 80C is "my self imposed limit" and unless I can figure out a way to drop voltages a bit, I won't be delving further into bigger OC's.