We just got done with our first factory tour shoot for our current trip in Taiwan! Videos soon on the factories. Watch our cooler testing methodology video: ruclips.net/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/видео.html Read our recent testing methodology piece: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
Nice review, shove a fan in the middle gap and take the top plate off. Air is an insulator and it would be interesting to see how it performs with that large air gap in the middle gone.
@@MrLostGravity In mechanical engineering, we might be interested in the roughness of a surface. But we don't describe characteristics like porosity or the finish of a material in terms of how "level" it is. A machinist might be interested in finding the flatness or squareness of an object for machining, but again the word "levelness" for the experiment in this video is obscure. A technician or technologist might want to know the finish of something when they produce drawings, but again they wont describe a machined surface in terms of it being level. We will call out roughness in terms of its amplitude (Ra, Rz, etc.) and flatness with our corresponding GD&T. Because we don't see the instruments used to measure in the video or the process of measurement there isn't much more to say. The graph doesn't really make sense because in manufacturing of heat sinks they're not interested in the "levelness" of copper to 10 microns across a 40 mm contact surface (although they are in the porosity in pipes but that's a different story) and a potentially smoother finish you could have by buying a part made on Monday at the plant. I should point out I don't actually want to see the measuring because that would endorse the idea in this video that any of this has any bearing on the performance of your heat sink in the first place.
@@jannu422 But if that was what they were targeting they could've added RGB fands and some RGB accents on the top plate. It doesn't look any better than the NH-D15 Chromax or Assassin III so there is nothing besides the Corsair logo to differentiate the product.
@@julianangell342 The problem is, there will be people with Corsair case, corsair PSU, corsair RAM etc. and are keen to build a sort-of uniform PC (for whatever reason, I think it's a nonsensical think to do) - and they don't want Corsair AIO.
I saw Derbaurer's review of this cooler, which was quite negative. Then, over the next few days I saw several videos by other RUclipsrs saying how great it was (for the record, I believed Derbaurer). I was really hoping you would do a review to get your results to compare against all the others. This is why your new testing system will be so invaluable in the future!!!
He said it worked...which it does. He praised the way the fan mount is designed. He makes it known he doesnt like the little metal clips. He didnt otherwise say it was super great. Just that it works as intended. Yes he ran ads for it. Hes been sponsored by corsair for some time. Not really a suprise. Theres nothing "wrong" with the cooler.
Richard B Jay tries hard to build the perception that he only shills when the product isn’t defective or fits a use-case/he uses it. He drops products like a rock when they fail or are found unethical. Just didn’t want to leave your comment unanswered because perceptions matter and I enjoy his approach to content. His whole channel is build on the perception of genuine approach.
@@bookworm8415 Ive said the same in other places. All he said is that it works and he liked the fan mount design. People are talking like he is promoting a cooler that doesnt work. It works fine. Just loud.
Hijacking this comment to say after 4 months of owning the A500, I have absolutely no complaints. I’m running a 3600X on a Prime x570-Pro with 32gb ram and a 1650 Super Windforce to cap it off. The PC is always on throughout the day thanks to work. With all that being said, you guys have to keep in mind what Steve says at the end of the video. The cooler *isn’t* “bad”, it’s just bad in a relative sense to the other coolers he compared. What this means is simple: The A500 isn’t the best cooler on the market, however it certainly isn’t the worst. It performs on par with other top end air coolers and does the job you paid for. It’s entirely capable and certainly one of the premier choices if you’re in the market for an air cooler. The numbers in these tests paint it in a negative light next to the other options, however, *the A500 numbers are still good for what you’re paying for*. I don’t see myself purchasing a different cooler anytime soon.
@@spearstrike211 "however, the A500 numbers are still good for what you're paying for" No, they certainly are not good. You can get better performing cooler for 10 bucks less.. how can anyone consider that good. Not even mentioning that the A500 needs to run at jet engine RPMs and noise levels to compete with for example NH-D15
The surface levelness test is great, but it can be shown in a more easy to see/understand way than a linear chart, a 2d/3d heat-map comparison would be far better,
More untouched data is better. We don't need it readable, we just need everything there so we can make a decision. If a person can't understand it that's on them, that's what other parts channels are for
@@literallyanythingelseother The data is untouched in a well made map image too, it is just in a readable form. You dont want the raw data, as a binary out of the measurelent device, you want the raw data in a useful form
@@literallyanythingelseother if that's the case then have fun interpreting the voltage output of the measurement sensor with some cryptic positioning data. You don't want to apply the wrong processing to the data, but looking at data multiple ways is the right way to go, and as others already said a heat map, if you clarify the "scale" of colors would not have any loss of data compared to the graphs we saw while being far more approachable. And I don't really get why it's important how close the points really are or where they're placed, with that density of measurements I would say that a Histogramm, while it would loose data compared to the graphs we saw, would actually just get rid of the data we don't care about, as the paste will fill out the rest, and we just care about how much thermal paste the heat has to get through in average multiplied by the total contact area. And I've studied physics, interpreting measurement data is a pretty important part of that.
@@literallyanythingelseother The data would still be un-touched in a heat-map, You would be able to see a trend in the un-evenness across the surface of the heatsink on a 2d-heat map, e.g. if one heat pipe is more proud than another, or if the surface is warped. A graph shows "yes its uneven", whereas a heat-map shows "yes its uneven, in these specific areas of the surface".
It is because most other companies are greedy and cut corners but I like the ARCTIC FREEZER 34 duo for a mid range cooler and the NH-D series is still the best for high end
You could've bought a D14 a decade ago and would still have a high end cooler + free mounting hardware for new sockets. The initial purchasing cost in the 80$ price range might seem high, but considering you won't need to buy anything for the next decade or more makes it a great value.
@@marceldiezasch6192 Had my D15 for several years now, and yes its awesome. BTW you wont need anything else ever, unless chip size suddenly changes drastically or some other standard change(socket/technology). For as long as chip designs are relevan that cooler would last. The fans can die sure. But the cooler wont. You could literally have this cooler for generations :D Until quantum/biological/??? takes over atleast.
*jayztwocents* dunno about performance, but seems fine, for me it's a nice idea and I would buy it *Linus* our sponsor, our sponsor, Corsair, cool that you can move fans, it's ok *Steve* it's shit and that's why. I love you gamer nexus.
@AmpEdition I personally like jay, but he doesn't care about most of these things! He is super into water-cooling, case modding (painting etc...), For performance and technical stuff only buildzoid and Steve for me c: He even admit it. "For me it's fine (a case) maybe if you want to see performance and ventilation look into Steve's reviews." I mean for the stuff he doesn't care he is just superficial and that's ok. Gamer nexus is perfectionism in technical data and testing!
@@MrBearyMcBearface Steve even says at the end of the video it's only slightly worse, but that because it's more expensive and louder than the better coolers it's a bad purchase.
Hope GN will do a review on the Scythe Fuma 2, if they haven't already. I just watched the Hardware Canucks review on it and they really liked it for the price. Would love to see it match up with the new testing setup GN has. Great video, appreciate the in depth reviews on these products, really helps to dig through a very saturated market.
Almost every Fuma 2 review I've watched has been positive or outstanding. I bought one a couple of months ago even though I didn't need a new cooler. I'm running an 8700k overclocked to 5Ghz and the Fuma 2 keeps it in the high 70s when I'm running AIDA CPU and FPU stressing. It's incredible for the price!
Jayz2cents was plugging this cooler for a sponsor spot and I was just like "that thing looks like hot garbage wonder when GN is gonna test it" and here we are
@@MevRB19 How were the others remotely better reviews than this? GN actually went into significant detail about very specific thermals, surface levelness, and detailed noise to performance levels. All other reviews literally *only* went into very basic thermal testing and about how it's got a "cool fan adjustment" feature.
I really appreciate this in depth CPU cooler testing. With high end coolers the margin of error in testing is so high when people don't have a very well controlled test environment that most comparisons here on youtube are pointless for any statements more precise than NHD-15 > Hyper 212 Evo. One detail I'd change in the presentation slides for the surface levelness is using a bell curve instead of a scatter plot for easier readability (depth [Δµm] on X-axis, relative abundance [%] on y-axis)
Probably one of the most important computer hardware review videos for 2020, personally I love the fact that you guys put money down for a testing methodology that was missing on the internet. Good job to GamersNexus
Thank you for this review! It’s been so hard watching the praise for this cooler in other ‘reviews’ when the performance never matched the accolades it was getting. Apart from the novelty of a locking mechanism that seems to be obstructing airflow as well, there isn’t any real reason to get this over something like a u14s.
I was literally telling my friend, I watched a GN Video about the A500, and it had some really glaring issues, not realizing it was actually the HardwareCanucks. Come back to youtube not even 10 minutes later, GN A500 Review posted 13 minutes ago... crazy.
5:15 You could make a surface map with that data which would give a nice visual representation of the data. I use the same idea for potentiometric surface maps all the time.
Please test some scythe coolers in the future! Stuff like the Ninja, Mugen 5 PCGH, are incredible coolers for their cost, if other review sites are to be belived. (the site I used uses a static thermal load much to your new testbench).
Haven't seen a good (or even half decent) review of this product yet, this was just the most technical and through take down - thanks for all your hard work to give a complete picture!
Would love to see the ryzen stock coolers on the charts to understand exactly what level you need to pay to get something noticeable better and provide a baseline where you just shouldn’t bother “Upgrading”
Would really like the bequiet Dark Rock and Dark Rock Pro added to the chart This new testing methodology makes really great and interesting content, so it'd be cool to have more units tested
This is a truly amazing review. I love how much effort and thought has gone into every single part of testing. Even if content like this doesn't get the same amount of views as "easier content", this video really pushes the limits of reviews and has created a new standard, at least for me. Supporting this channel through Patreon and by now $100+ in store purchases really feels like supporting something great.
It's really cool you rejected their add proposal. I hope they take your feedback and the feedback from other RUclipsrs who have also reviewed it with equal criticism. They have a product which is close to being competitive and it wouldn't take much to improve it. Cheers Steve for another top notch analysis. :)
Corsair, Razer, and NZXT are the unholy trifecta of #PcPoseurRace. They all have made good products, some were even great; but their customers who swear by them are morons. None of those companies do anything anymore that is worthy of brand loyalty. Keyboards and mice? plenty of chinese companies, do those better cheaper and without trash software. PSU's, Cases? Many other well known brands do those better. AIO's? there are plenty of Chinese companies who contract asetek and sell the same thing cheaper.
@Ana E thank you for reminding me of how bad the corsair software was for the keyboard... Half the time it didn't even recognize the proper model of keyboard and sometimes the lighting effects even stopped working altogether. Yup, I'd totally buy another one of those. Funnily enough I actually did get my brother a cheaper chinese company mechanical keyboard which actually was solid and even had water resistance. Kinda wished I actually picked that up for myself at the time. I gave it a brief test to make sure everything was working as intended.
The quality increase of product reviews has gotten insane over the last few years. If I had the funds to spend on a patreon sub, I would. Well worth the content.
@@psychozulu When I'm unemployed (disabled) living with my family and we're struggling to pay the mortgage month to month; no. Any non-critical expenditure is unaffordable regardless of the amount (especially reoccurring). Can't sub to online streaming services, don't have cable TV, don't have a mobile phone, etc. I've wanted to donate to charity and events (like GDQ) and patreons and streamers and stuff like this all my life, but just can't. Ad revenue is the only thing i can generate, which means very little sadly.
Finally a scientific approach to air cooler testing, well done. I've got some tips. To further improve your cooler reviews, take a look at ponchato's channel and Hardware Scientist's channel. Entirely data-centric reviews such as yours ignore some vital practical information about the products that the channels mentioned cover, and would improve your reviews by a mile. - Case compatibility. - Motherboard & RAM height compatibility. - Installation procedure (how-to) and ease of installation comparisons. - Aesthetics & detailed showcase. - Acoustic quality (e.g. the NF-A12 has a more bearable pitch than others that decibels alone don't account for) - Temps vs dBa curve (this is slightly more valuable than just fixed dBa and max rpm) - Up-to-date price comparisons & price-to-performance of all coolers tested. Good luck! :D
Any chances of a Scythe Fuma 2 review? It seems like a solid cooler from other reviews I've seen, but I'm not sure how good their testing is so I'm still unsure.
FANTASTIC cooler comparison and round up. No comparison to other RUclipsrs and you bested even the best websites. I wish you guys were around 6 years ago when I bought my NH D15. Love every part of this review 🤤
I am always impressed with Gamer Nexus videos. Top of the class testing methodology. Unbiased review. No BS. Without this channel, I will never get to know even a humble heat sink can be tested so thoroughly.
Thanks for giving your honest opinion and showing the true results rather than marketing every product as “this is the one you should buy”. Many other reviewers need to learn that from you and have the integrity to say no to sponsored shitty products.
I don't think I can agree to that: a histogram would show something close to a bell curve, it loses all information about how chaotic the values are. Imagine the cooler instead of being "bumpy", was actually in the shape of a bell curve. higher in the middle than on the sides. You would have no way to differentiate the two, with just an histogram. What I'd like to see, is a surface graph.
@@gigaherz_ I just looked at the data again and I think I missunderstood what the data actually shows. I thought it shows measurements equidistant from a point in the middle in a circle around that point. But after reading it again it seems is shows measurements spiraling out from the middle. So I actually agree with you: (Just) a histogram of that data would be bad. Maybe a histogram with the relative difference to the nearest point? I guess that also has downsides in your bell curve example. But at least it would be better than "just" a histogram. A surface graph would be able to show the surface quite good. And I really would like to see that. But I don't think it is good to show differences between cold plates?
I'm glad that at least someone had the guts to spill out this cooler is garbage some other RUclipsrs I won't name were praising it even when it was objectively worse than competition in quality of used materials, pricing and overall performance for some it's hard to be objective when it comes to Corsair stuff but hey, it has sliding fan mounts - that was never done before, right? /s
@@GrandSil90 because HW canucks isnt sponsored by corsair, rather by most of their competition. if anything they have reason to be bias against it. their content is pretty trash imo. they're obvious shills; especially for cases. all hail the perfectly objective steve.
These are the extent of test I've always wanted to see on coolers. I never could understand why they would want to make a cooler that has bad surface levelness. It always bugged me how makers could make claims it was better to have heat pipes have direct contact when it created more possibility for bad surface contact and transfer. While it is a huge headache to get the amount of data you have, I'm glad you have done it and look forward to more cooler reviews in the future.
@E.L. Crisler I get what youre saying mate , but at that price its really DOA. The price should be max 70 Dollars period. Or get some better fans , more quiet or even RGB for the RGB boys and then maybe the price could be 80 Dollars. It was really meant for the price , at 99 dollars its DOA. Even the new Noctua NH-U12A has similar perfomance as the Nh-D15 with a smaller footprint and newer , better fans for 99 is a much better buy
Love that you didn't run the advertisement! Everyone else on the tech side just running A500 ads without seeing if the product was any good. Looking at you HardwareCanucks.
Hardware Canucks review of this cooler showed that it was bad for their application. Both Der8auer and Tech YES City, showed that it does the job and but it is loud. This cooler isn't impressively bad, it's just impressively loud. You did note that it achieved the same cooling as the noctua at full load with 2 120mm vs 2x 140mm. It was able to do this by running the fans faster ie louder.
@@jamesthomson8659 Exactly, seems rushed. Like they want to push out a 120 then a 140 and watch people buy again. And the heatpipe variation in "flatness" that's awful from what we expect to be a large company of refined products.
@@jamesthomson8659 So they lap their IHS's for nothing then huh? You need a flat surface even with thermal interface material. And the A500 does not perform as well as the other coolers, look at the data.
@@WhyDidRUclipsDoThis I am looking at the data. The A500 performs better than the Noctua when fans are run at full speed. The Noctua which has the better flatness. A500 is 0.8C better at 198W and 0.4C better at 123W. I'm not saying it wouldn't be better if it was flatter, just that it beats the Noctua even without being as flat.
I've been watching computer part reviews for years and this is the promised land of accurate reviewing. Albeit less flashy than an LTT video, if you want solid information you can trust it's this channel right here.
@@goku445 sorry for the confusion. The NH-U14S the NH-U15 are completely different coolers. The NH-U15 is bigger and has 2 fans by default. The NH-U14S is smaller and comes with only one fan. A popular format for the NH-U14S is to use it with 2 fans, and the idea is that it behaves almost identically to the more expensive and bulkier NH-U15. For this reason I'd love to see the NH-U14S tested with 2 fans.
so for someone who has been using the stock "stealth" cooler for the 3600 (and occasionally is frustrated by the whine it occasionally makes... a NH-U14S is a) probably more than sufficient b) probably quieter c) better than the corsair thing by a fair chunk... and 2 thirds the price?
@@ivanbrasla thanks for the suggestion, went with the Duo (2 fan) variant and it seems to be working much nicer at keeping it cool and the fan noise is blending into my noctua case fans better... probably need to spend time readjusting the fan "curves" next :P
I would love to see cooler testing using the same fans, so you can see how efficient the fin stacks and tower designs are, if the mounting system allows it.
@@TooBokoo pretty sure Jay even said only get it if you really want a corsair air cooler, and steve didn't say it was garabe, just that it was objectively worse than cheaper coolers, but whatever
Such an excellent review. I would love to see the following coolers tested if possible: NH-D15 (which was already tested, thanks, NH-U12A, Scythe Fuma 2, Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 280. Keep up the awesome work.
This cooler sucks. Yet somebody gave it basically favorable review and then had a intro ad fur it in their next upload or two. But that's just my 2 cents!
To be fair, it is not a bad cooler, it does exactly what it is supposed to do and does it reasonably well. Where it falls short is where it sits in the market. There are better options out there for the money that cool better and are also quieter. If Corsair sold this cooler for $70 then it would actually make a lot more sense, but at $100 it simply isn't good enough.
@@subsgob00m Yes this is true but that is not in question here what is in question is the fact Jay decided to help promote an inferior product and uploaded a drawn out 17min review where he virtually tested nothing but praised Corsair for a stupid fan feature that adds cost to an already overpriced cooler. The OP was trying to be tactful, its a wonderful thing we have channels like Gamers Nexus keeping it real. I knew that cooler was trash as soon as I saw the base plate. Direct heatpipes on a $100USD cooler? That's worse than them overpriced AF RGB fans they sell. Same as $460AUD for that NZXT Z73 are they insane?
GN: Please keep listing the Wraith Prism in your charts. In todays market, it is an excellent baseline to understand buying choices. Since we get that cooler for "free", this testing can really help the decision whether a particular cooler is $30,$50,$100+ better than "free". The knowledge that an aftermarket cooler is (hopefully) better than stock is not as useful as knowing how much. This is top tier work guys, you should be proud
yeah looks like it. But the new Zalman dual tower is also soo ugly. Like overdesigned transformer-ish look. I'd rather go with the Deepcool Assassin III or the Black Noctua D15
@@pequalsnp The blacked Noctua is really nice. I really like the Zalman as well, but the fans annoy me with that X-frame across them. I don't care what they say, it can not be helping their airflow. I'd love to see what its performance would look like with a couple of regular Noctua fans mounted on it instead.
the CNPS 20x supposedly beats the NH-D15 but I'll believe that when GN proves it. I hate the RGB trend, I don't want it and I don't want to deal with all the extra wires with it. I do however like that fan design, and wouldn't look bad if I can do a single solid color But other than that It looks good and I am happy to see Zalman again
Great Testing methodology! Might it be possible to see a Test whare the PC is 100% controlled and instead of trying to hit a certain noise level you try to hit a certain temperature Target. As Ryzen scales with temperature nowadays this might be a valuable addition to your set of tests.
I keep seeing the u14s always damn near nearly as good as these massive double tower coolers. It really seems kind of crazy to buy anything else if you want top end performance unless your running some mega heat chip where those two towers are actually going to make a difference.
devilmikey00 Yeah, I run the u14s with a 3900x and it is honestly all I could possibly want in a cooler: (1) it runs cool, almost as cool as the d15 (29 C idle, 67 cb20), (2) it is small and doesnt block ram slots, (3) it is QUIET and always has the second 140 mm fan option
Other youtubers: spend company funds on fancy cameras, lights and other toys. Steve: spend money on great testing equipment and developing testing methodology. GN is light years ahead.
I think it would be really cool to do this kind of testing with fans normalised as well - that is, every cooler equipped with the same fan model. This would effectively provide extremely accurate testing of the heatsink itself, which would be super useful to people who intend to swap out the fans to achieve the absolute best performance possible.
The title of the video sounds like a school principal who is trying to deal with a elaborate highschool prank. "What you did was.....impressive....impressively bad...but impressive"
Fantastic video! This is a VERY important video. Thank you for getting better exposure to good science testing of air coolers. Scythe Fuma 2 soon please! Classics like Hyper 212 could great point of reference if possible so people can compare your numbers to coolers they have. Thanks!
I'm glad you're also doing benchmarks normalized to 35db in a controlled environment. It really puts things in perspective. I have Corsair ML120 and ML140 fans and I think they're terrible for noise. I also didn't know about the huge gap in the middle for the fins. Finally I used to think that direct contact heat pipes were good but after seeing your surface flatness test and anecdotally confirming for myself on others that I own and also seeing how they'd have to squish the heat pipes (which I assume disrupts the thermodynamics) I now think having them soldered onto a plate is better
why a scatter plot? there's better graphs to represent surface defects, like a 3-dimensional graph. that way you can also immediately what kind of shape the cold plate has. this just looks like incoherent data
We just added this data. We haven't ever landed perfection on the first try of representing a new data set. It takes trial and error, and typically people can communicate their desire for alternatives without being insulting.
@@GamersNexus i didn't mean to come across as if i'm insulting your work; i'm saying it as i perceive it, and i gave a suggestion on how to improve it. i didn't say it was shite, but i suppose i could have worded it without coming across as a snob lol. my apologies
It's not that "bad" but it's "bad" considering the rest big air cooler was $10 cheaper and much better product No wonder when i watch Linus review this cooler i kinda skeptical since most of review not including acoustic scaling to temperature GJ as always *edit to reword*
This is great, Steve. FINALLY, some cooling solution testing and comparison that matters. I hope to see some apples to oranges comparisons done with air versus AIO coolers in the future. This may be a stretch, but even throwing in a couple of open loop set ups eventually. I do realize the vast number of variables the open loop presents, but it would be awesome to just have the numbers for a reference.
We just got done with our first factory tour shoot for our current trip in Taiwan! Videos soon on the factories.
Watch our cooler testing methodology video: ruclips.net/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/видео.html
Read our recent testing methodology piece: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
You're the Best Steve. Please stay safe. Prayers are with you!!!
Please do the review on Zalman Noctua killer
Nice review, shove a fan in the middle gap and take the top plate off. Air is an insulator and it would be interesting to see how it performs with that large air gap in the middle gone.
Great review as always peoples. I cant wait till we get some way down the line and see how all these pan out in the stack of good to awful.
Steve when are the Aussie support t-shirts shipping out? I have not received any shipping notification yet and now we are past March 6'th?
.
Love the surface levelness test. Awesome work
Sad Roman, didn't get Steve's heart
@@mrle0719 yeah steve must hate der bauer
It's the wrong test and the data is then interpreted improperly. It's likely an unnecessary test as well.
@@scotts3409 why do you think so?
@@MrLostGravity In mechanical engineering, we might be interested in the roughness of a surface. But we don't describe characteristics like porosity or the finish of a material in terms of how "level" it is. A machinist might be interested in finding the flatness or squareness of an object for machining, but again the word "levelness" for the experiment in this video is obscure. A technician or technologist might want to know the finish of something when they produce drawings, but again they wont describe a machined surface in terms of it being level. We will call out roughness in terms of its amplitude (Ra, Rz, etc.) and flatness with our corresponding GD&T.
Because we don't see the instruments used to measure in the video or the process of measurement there isn't much more to say. The graph doesn't really make sense because in manufacturing of heat sinks they're not interested in the "levelness" of copper to 10 microns across a 40 mm contact surface (although they are in the porosity in pipes but that's a different story) and a potentially smoother finish you could have by buying a part made on Monday at the plant.
I should point out I don't actually want to see the measuring because that would endorse the idea in this video that any of this has any bearing on the performance of your heat sink in the first place.
seems like you guys got your money's worth out of that cute kitty graphics card by now
I'm gonna need to see more of it
The final step for that card would be a custom rig built for Snowflake’s workstation
@@holmd90 Didn't they do that in the case review?
Id buy a tshirt with it on it
@@DurzoBlunts might have to be a different "cute anime" GPU to avoid having to licence that art
"Don't buy something worse on purpose."
-Steve Burke, 2020
Yeah.. buying worse things ..is reserved for accidental purchases while drunk..
Not defending Corsair here but some people prefer the aesthetics of a product rather than its straight up performance
but its Corsair,
I'm sure many people just need that
🤣
@@jannu422 But if that was what they were targeting they could've added RGB fands and some RGB accents on the top plate. It doesn't look any better than the NH-D15 Chromax or Assassin III so there is nothing besides the Corsair logo to differentiate the product.
@@julianangell342 The problem is, there will be people with Corsair case, corsair PSU, corsair RAM etc. and are keen to build a sort-of uniform PC (for whatever reason, I think it's a nonsensical think to do) - and they don't want Corsair AIO.
Turns out making a good air cooler is harder than putting RGB LEDs on an Asetek AIO.
oof
Touché :)
💀💀💀💀
@@OlettaLiano my coolermaster nepton 240 has been going for 5-6 years.
*aSetek
Everyone else: *Does CPU reviews wrong*
Steve Burke: *Fine, I'll do it myself*
"And don't even trust me!"
@@CarbonPanther Time to review reviewer's reviews out-of-the-box!
His reviews remind me of FrostyTech's work - measuring surface roughness.
I mean AV Techy roasted it fairly hard
@@aethertech dd&dazzling it 41
I saw Derbaurer's review of this cooler, which was quite negative. Then, over the next few days I saw several videos by other RUclipsrs saying how great it was (for the record, I believed Derbaurer). I was really hoping you would do a review to get your results to compare against all the others.
This is why your new testing system will be so invaluable in the future!!!
I think jay said it was bad as well
@@sopcannon No he praised it and had add spots for the cooler in other videos.
He said it worked...which it does. He praised the way the fan mount is designed. He makes it known he doesnt like the little metal clips. He didnt otherwise say it was super great. Just that it works as intended. Yes he ran ads for it. Hes been sponsored by corsair for some time. Not really a suprise. Theres nothing "wrong" with the cooler.
Richard B
Jay tries hard to build the perception that he only shills when the product isn’t defective or fits a use-case/he uses it. He drops products like a rock when they fail or are found unethical. Just didn’t want to leave your comment unanswered because perceptions matter and I enjoy his approach to content. His whole channel is build on the perception of genuine approach.
@@bookworm8415 Ive said the same in other places. All he said is that it works and he liked the fan mount design. People are talking like he is promoting a cooler that doesnt work. It works fine. Just loud.
that shot with the rising cute pet in the background was pure gold
Missed that (listen to these at work with only a rare glance for charts), had to go back and watch hahaha
B-roll of Corsair air cooler: yes.
B-roll of Corsair air cooler with cute pet GPU in background: YESSSS INDEEEEEDDD!
Hijacking this comment to say after 4 months of owning the A500, I have absolutely no complaints. I’m running a 3600X on a Prime x570-Pro with 32gb ram and a 1650 Super Windforce to cap it off. The PC is always on throughout the day thanks to work.
With all that being said, you guys have to keep in mind what Steve says at the end of the video. The cooler *isn’t* “bad”, it’s just bad in a relative sense to the other coolers he compared. What this means is simple: The A500 isn’t the best cooler on the market, however it certainly isn’t the worst. It performs on par with other top end air coolers and does the job you paid for. It’s entirely capable and certainly one of the premier choices if you’re in the market for an air cooler. The numbers in these tests paint it in a negative light next to the other options, however, *the A500 numbers are still good for what you’re paying for*.
I don’t see myself purchasing a different cooler anytime soon.
@@spearstrike211 "however, the A500 numbers are still good for what you're paying for"
No, they certainly are not good. You can get better performing cooler for 10 bucks less.. how can anyone consider that good.
Not even mentioning that the A500 needs to run at jet engine RPMs and noise levels to compete with for example NH-D15
The surface levelness test is great, but it can be shown in a more easy to see/understand way than a linear chart, a 2d/3d heat-map comparison would be far better,
More untouched data is better. We don't need it readable, we just need everything there so we can make a decision. If a person can't understand it that's on them, that's what other parts channels are for
@@literallyanythingelseother The data is untouched in a well made map image too, it is just in a readable form. You dont want the raw data, as a binary out of the measurelent device, you want the raw data in a useful form
@@oreolamp5676 I think we know what I meant
@@literallyanythingelseother if that's the case then have fun interpreting the voltage output of the measurement sensor with some cryptic positioning data.
You don't want to apply the wrong processing to the data, but looking at data multiple ways is the right way to go, and as others already said a heat map, if you clarify the "scale" of colors would not have any loss of data compared to the graphs we saw while being far more approachable.
And I don't really get why it's important how close the points really are or where they're placed, with that density of measurements I would say that a Histogramm, while it would loose data compared to the graphs we saw, would actually just get rid of the data we don't care about, as the paste will fill out the rest, and we just care about how much thermal paste the heat has to get through in average multiplied by the total contact area.
And I've studied physics, interpreting measurement data is a pretty important part of that.
@@literallyanythingelseother The data would still be un-touched in a heat-map,
You would be able to see a trend in the un-evenness across the surface of the heatsink on a 2d-heat map, e.g. if one heat pipe is more proud than another, or if the surface is warped.
A graph shows "yes its uneven", whereas a heat-map shows "yes its uneven, in these specific areas of the surface".
"People don't have tolerance for jet engines that close to their head"
Gotta love Steve's droll humor!
I mean, this goes to show how good the design of the Noctua D15 is after all these years. It's still such a solid cooler and an easy recommendation.
I love that i can still use my u12 from my 1st Nehalem build lol
It is because most other companies are greedy and cut corners but I like the ARCTIC FREEZER 34 duo for a mid range cooler and the NH-D series is still the best for high end
You could've bought a D14 a decade ago and would still have a high end cooler + free mounting hardware for new sockets.
The initial purchasing cost in the 80$ price range might seem high, but considering you won't need to buy anything for the next decade or more makes it a great value.
@@marceldiezasch6192 Had my D15 for several years now, and yes its awesome.
BTW you wont need anything else ever, unless chip size suddenly changes drastically or some other standard change(socket/technology). For as long as chip designs are relevan that cooler would last. The fans can die sure. But the cooler wont.
You could literally have this cooler for generations :D Until quantum/biological/??? takes over atleast.
Or we can say other company aren't doing shit and NH ain't progressing either. It is still stupidly expensive compare to other part in the system.
*jayztwocents* dunno about performance, but seems fine, for me it's a nice idea and I would buy it
*Linus* our sponsor, our sponsor, Corsair, cool that you can move fans, it's ok
*Steve* it's shit and that's why.
I love you gamer nexus.
@AmpEdition I personally like jay, but he doesn't care about most of these things! He is super into water-cooling, case modding (painting etc...), For performance and technical stuff only buildzoid and Steve for me c:
He even admit it. "For me it's fine (a case) maybe if you want to see performance and ventilation look into Steve's reviews." I mean for the stuff he doesn't care he is just superficial and that's ok.
Gamer nexus is perfectionism in technical data and testing!
@AmpEdition that's sad but true :c
Um I remember Linus' review. He repeatedly said it was disappointing
Steve has a low tolerance for things. "it's utter garbage for performing slightly worse".
@@MrBearyMcBearface Steve even says at the end of the video it's only slightly worse, but that because it's more expensive and louder than the better coolers it's a bad purchase.
NH-D15 was released in 2014 and yet no competitor has been able to take its crown. That's both sad and amazing.
Deepcool Assassin III is a really good competitor.
Hope GN will do a review on the Scythe Fuma 2, if they haven't already. I just watched the Hardware Canucks review on it and they really liked it for the price. Would love to see it match up with the new testing setup GN has. Great video, appreciate the in depth reviews on these products, really helps to dig through a very saturated market.
scythe is usually so good for the price
Almost every Fuma 2 review I've watched has been positive or outstanding. I bought one a couple of months ago even though I didn't need a new cooler. I'm running an 8700k overclocked to 5Ghz and the Fuma 2 keeps it in the high 70s when I'm running AIDA CPU and FPU stressing. It's incredible for the price!
Jayz2cents was plugging this cooler for a sponsor spot and I was just like "that thing looks like hot garbage wonder when GN is gonna test it" and here we are
Some rats just can't resist the cheese.
@@1pcfred Pshh GN just getting that Noctua money
@@psychozulu maybe. They turned down that Corsair money though. Which is rare today.
I am extremely impressed to the levels you go to for proper scientific testing. Kudos!
0:27 - best B-roll of GN so far.
Amazing how GN has floored everyone else when it comes to testing.
And yet everyone else was giving it a solid recommendation. Goes to show this is the only worthy testing methodology for reviews.
@@MevRB19 How were the others remotely better reviews than this? GN actually went into significant detail about very specific thermals, surface levelness, and detailed noise to performance levels. All other reviews literally *only* went into very basic thermal testing and about how it's got a "cool fan adjustment" feature.
Gamer's Nexus controlled variables much better than any other RUclipsr
Objective conclusion:
Embarrassed, embarrassing, embarrassment
Well thats fucking embarrasing
I really appreciate this in depth CPU cooler testing. With high end coolers the margin of error in testing is so high when people don't have a very well controlled test environment that most comparisons here on youtube are pointless for any statements more precise than NHD-15 > Hyper 212 Evo.
One detail I'd change in the presentation slides for the surface levelness is using a bell curve instead of a scatter plot for easier readability (depth [Δµm] on X-axis, relative abundance [%] on y-axis)
Wow you have branched out into reviewing paperweights now?
Probably one of the most important computer hardware review videos for 2020, personally I love the fact that you guys put money down for a testing methodology that was missing on the internet. Good job to GamersNexus
Thank you for this review! It’s been so hard watching the praise for this cooler in other ‘reviews’ when the performance never matched the accolades it was getting. Apart from the novelty of a locking mechanism that seems to be obstructing airflow as well, there isn’t any real reason to get this over something like a u14s.
It's $44 now, its worth it over a hyper 212 %10000000000.
looking through all this research and knowing what you have to know to do this its upsetting how underappreciated it is. keep up the great work!
I was literally telling my friend, I watched a GN Video about the A500, and it had some really glaring issues, not realizing it was actually the HardwareCanucks. Come back to youtube not even 10 minutes later, GN A500 Review posted 13 minutes ago... crazy.
5:15 You could make a surface map with that data which would give a nice visual representation of the data. I use the same idea for potentiometric surface maps all the time.
something like 3D graph would realy be nice
Yes please. I have a hard time with contrasting colors and the dots make it super difficult to see the graphs.
Please test some scythe coolers in the future! Stuff like the Ninja, Mugen 5 PCGH, are incredible coolers for their cost, if other review sites are to be belived. (the site I used uses a static thermal load much to your new testbench).
Haven't seen a good (or even half decent) review of this product yet, this was just the most technical and through take down - thanks for all your hard work to give a complete picture!
Would love to see the ryzen stock coolers on the charts to understand exactly what level you need to pay to get something noticeable better and provide a baseline where you just shouldn’t bother “Upgrading”
Would really like the bequiet Dark Rock and Dark Rock Pro added to the chart
This new testing methodology makes really great and interesting content, so it'd be cool to have more units tested
This is a truly amazing review. I love how much effort and thought has gone into every single part of testing. Even if content like this doesn't get the same amount of views as "easier content", this video really pushes the limits of reviews and has created a new standard, at least for me. Supporting this channel through Patreon and by now $100+ in store purchases really feels like supporting something great.
It's really cool you rejected their add proposal. I hope they take your feedback and the feedback from other RUclipsrs who have also reviewed it with equal criticism. They have a product which is close to being competitive and it wouldn't take much to improve it. Cheers Steve for another top notch analysis. :)
With Tech Jesus giving us a title like that, you know its gonna be a good video
Really impressed by your speaking cadence. The amount of preemptive caveats you added was great!
Why not compare the NH-U12A? It is their newest cooler with their newest fan. Also a review of the Arctic Freezer 34 would be welcome.
I agree.
Steve, the more i watch your videos the more i like your radical honesty ! ;)
AV Techy reviewed this and caught issues with certain intel mounting brackets. Apparently Corsair didn't do their research before buying up ad space.
Yup, AV made a great vid and made the Jay fans butthurt
Corsair, Razer, and NZXT are the unholy trifecta of #PcPoseurRace. They all have made good products, some were even great; but their customers who swear by them are morons. None of those companies do anything anymore that is worthy of brand loyalty. Keyboards and mice? plenty of chinese companies, do those better cheaper and without trash software. PSU's, Cases? Many other well known brands do those better. AIO's? there are plenty of Chinese companies who contract asetek and sell the same thing cheaper.
@@anasevi9456 Brand loyalty is weird.
@Ana E thank you for reminding me of how bad the corsair software was for the keyboard... Half the time it didn't even recognize the proper model of keyboard and sometimes the lighting effects even stopped working altogether. Yup, I'd totally buy another one of those.
Funnily enough I actually did get my brother a cheaper chinese company mechanical keyboard which actually was solid and even had water resistance. Kinda wished I actually picked that up for myself at the time. I gave it a brief test to make sure everything was working as intended.
We are really privileged to have you, keep up the good work!
-LTT, JAYZTWOCENTS, BITWIT: "yeah this product is awesome"
-Gamersnexus: "well..."
I don't remember any of them saying it was awesome.
Didn't Linus say it was dissapointing and still advises Noctua?
Thanks, for the review. Will wait for the Noctua NH-U12A review.
Now with this new test methodologyI, I would love to see how scythe fuma 2 will do, or any scythe cooler.
Damn the distance you guys are going to measure this stuff is nuts. This channel has come a loooong way
GN: "Everyone else's CPU thermal testing numbers are wrong!"
Hardware Unboxed ten minutes later: *Uploads CPU cooler testing video*
They love playing with fire down in Aus
Sorry maybe too soon..
@@Ozaron 😂 Woooow, you really went there.
What you have against hardware unboxed?Did you hear youtubers like spy hood,and so on who steal benchmarkts from them
@@intech7863 see GN video on the problems of testing coolers.
There's a ridiculous number of variables to control
@@intech7863 no one has a problem with HWUB, the problem is cooler testing in general.
Thanks for reviews like this one year later this is half the price nowadays and it then becomes somewhat a good deal.
The quality increase of product reviews has gotten insane over the last few years.
If I had the funds to spend on a patreon sub, I would. Well worth the content.
you can't afford 2 dollars a month?
@@psychozulu When I'm unemployed (disabled) living with my family and we're struggling to pay the mortgage month to month; no. Any non-critical expenditure is unaffordable regardless of the amount (especially reoccurring). Can't sub to online streaming services, don't have cable TV, don't have a mobile phone, etc.
I've wanted to donate to charity and events (like GDQ) and patreons and streamers and stuff like this all my life, but just can't. Ad revenue is the only thing i can generate, which means very little sadly.
Finally a scientific approach to air cooler testing, well done. I've got some tips. To further improve your cooler reviews, take a look at ponchato's channel and Hardware Scientist's channel. Entirely data-centric reviews such as yours ignore some vital practical information about the products that the channels mentioned cover, and would improve your reviews by a mile.
- Case compatibility.
- Motherboard & RAM height compatibility.
- Installation procedure (how-to) and ease of installation comparisons.
- Aesthetics & detailed showcase.
- Acoustic quality (e.g. the NF-A12 has a more bearable pitch than others that decibels alone don't account for)
- Temps vs dBa curve (this is slightly more valuable than just fixed dBa and max rpm)
- Up-to-date price comparisons & price-to-performance of all coolers tested.
Good luck! :D
Any chances of a Scythe Fuma 2 review? It seems like a solid cooler from other reviews I've seen, but I'm not sure how good their testing is so I'm still unsure.
FANTASTIC cooler comparison and round up. No comparison to other RUclipsrs and you bested even the best websites. I wish you guys were around 6 years ago when I bought my NH D15. Love every part of this review 🤤
I just picked one of these up for $45 was gonna get something similar but at this price, it'll do!
Is it really as loud as reviewers say, I'm considering it for my 3900 oem
@@Time4House It’s loud.
I bought one today with a tech deals code for $28 just for a spare because of the price. Thanks for the review.
I am always impressed with Gamer Nexus videos. Top of the class testing methodology. Unbiased review. No BS. Without this channel, I will never get to know even a humble heat sink can be tested so thoroughly.
Many cooler review is going out of business if GN continue its quality, which I do not doubt that would be the case.
Thanks for giving your honest opinion and showing the true results rather than marketing every product as “this is the one you should buy”. Many other reviewers need to learn that from you and have the integrity to say no to sponsored shitty products.
2:07 - "We'll have to see how it does .."
*Looks down at title* "Impressively Bad"
"you can't just take measurements, you need a process"
you guys put together some methodical knowledge. so thankful!
Improvement suggestion:
I think a histogram would be easier to understand (and nicer) for the contact plate depth measruement.
And in 3D, usually plates are square🤷♂️
I don't think I can agree to that: a histogram would show something close to a bell curve, it loses all information about how chaotic the values are. Imagine the cooler instead of being "bumpy", was actually in the shape of a bell curve. higher in the middle than on the sides. You would have no way to differentiate the two, with just an histogram.
What I'd like to see, is a surface graph.
Do I love you!
@@gigaherz_
I just looked at the data again and I think I missunderstood what the data actually shows.
I thought it shows measurements equidistant from a point in the middle in a circle around that point.
But after reading it again it seems is shows measurements spiraling out from the middle.
So I actually agree with you: (Just) a histogram of that data would be bad.
Maybe a histogram with the relative difference to the nearest point?
I guess that also has downsides in your bell curve example. But at least it would be better than "just" a histogram.
A surface graph would be able to show the surface quite good. And I really would like to see that. But I don't think it is good to show differences between cold plates?
Love the new testing methodology. Keep up the great work
I'm glad that at least someone had the guts to spill out this cooler is garbage
some other RUclipsrs I won't name were praising it even when it was objectively worse than competition in quality of used materials, pricing and overall performance
for some it's hard to be objective when it comes to Corsair stuff
but hey, it has sliding fan mounts - that was never done before, right? /s
LTT called it out too, Hardware Canucks did the same.
@@GrandSil90 that's why I wrote some did
@@GrandSil90 because HW canucks isnt sponsored by corsair, rather by most of their competition. if anything they have reason to be bias against it. their content is pretty trash imo.
they're obvious shills; especially for cases.
all hail the perfectly objective steve.
@@572089 their content is not trash imo
How is it garbage? It's just not worth buying. Garbage is when it's not worth buying even at discount
These are the extent of test I've always wanted to see on coolers. I never could understand why they would want to make a cooler that has bad surface levelness. It always bugged me how makers could make claims it was better to have heat pipes have direct contact when it created more possibility for bad surface contact and transfer. While it is a huge headache to get the amount of data you have, I'm glad you have done it and look forward to more cooler reviews in the future.
Nobody
Gamers Nexus : Im gonna destroy this coolers future
ME : Graps popcorn " Ah shit here we go again "
@E.L. Crisler I get what youre saying mate , but at that price its really DOA. The price should be max 70 Dollars period. Or get some better fans , more quiet or even RGB for the RGB boys and then maybe the price could be 80 Dollars. It was really meant for the price , at 99 dollars its DOA. Even the new Noctua NH-U12A has similar perfomance as the Nh-D15 with a smaller footprint and newer , better fans for 99 is a much better buy
Love that you didn't run the advertisement! Everyone else on the tech side just running A500 ads without seeing if the product was any good. Looking at you HardwareCanucks.
Hardware Canucks review of this cooler showed that it was bad for their application. Both Der8auer and Tech YES City, showed that it does the job and but it is loud. This cooler isn't impressively bad, it's just impressively loud. You did note that it achieved the same cooling as the noctua at full load with 2 120mm vs 2x 140mm. It was able to do this by running the fans faster ie louder.
@@jamesthomson8659 Exactly, seems rushed. Like they want to push out a 120 then a 140 and watch people buy again. And the heatpipe variation in "flatness" that's awful from what we expect to be a large company of refined products.
@@WhyDidRUclipsDoThis The variation in flatness doesn't appear to have much impact on the performance. So maybe its just cosmetic.
@@jamesthomson8659 So they lap their IHS's for nothing then huh? You need a flat surface even with thermal interface material. And the A500 does not perform as well as the other coolers, look at the data.
@@WhyDidRUclipsDoThis I am looking at the data. The A500 performs better than the Noctua when fans are run at full speed. The Noctua which has the better flatness. A500 is 0.8C better at 198W and 0.4C better at 123W. I'm not saying it wouldn't be better if it was flatter, just that it beats the Noctua even without being as flat.
Please take a look at Scythe coolers finally.... like the Fuma 2. :)
I've been watching computer part reviews for years and this is the promised land of accurate reviewing. Albeit less flashy than an LTT video, if you want solid information you can trust it's this channel right here.
Any chance were going to get a Scythe Fuma 2 review from GN?
really straight forward testing without as many variables, confusing at first but I think I understand. amazing work!
I would love to see the NH-U14S with two fans in a push-pull configuration.
Isn't it the default configuration?
@@goku445 on the NH-U14S the default is 1 fan. The NH-U15 is 2 fans by default.
@@BassimAhdabEng So what's the difference with their 2 fans configuration if you are buying the same fan? You can't find a review on the 2 fans model?
Bassim Ahdab I have the nh-u14s in push pull with the 3900x. it made a 3-4 degree difference at load. regardless, it is a top notch product
@@goku445 sorry for the confusion. The NH-U14S the NH-U15 are completely different coolers. The NH-U15 is bigger and has 2 fans by default. The NH-U14S is smaller and comes with only one fan. A popular format for the NH-U14S is to use it with 2 fans, and the idea is that it behaves almost identically to the more expensive and bulkier NH-U15. For this reason I'd love to see the NH-U14S tested with 2 fans.
Major props to GN for not running an ad for this until testing it unlike every other channel.
so for someone who has been using the stock "stealth" cooler for the 3600 (and occasionally is frustrated by the whine it occasionally makes... a NH-U14S is a) probably more than sufficient b) probably quieter c) better than the corsair thing by a fair chunk... and 2 thirds the price?
Yeah that's a good breakdown
Check the Arctic freezer 34 or some of the cheaper thermalright coolers
@@ivanbrasla thanks for the suggestion, went with the Duo (2 fan) variant and it seems to be working much nicer at keeping it cool and the fan noise is blending into my noctua case fans better... probably need to spend time readjusting the fan "curves" next :P
Excellent! this is exciting to see the air cooler testing going on
I would love to see cooler testing using the same fans, so you can see how efficient the fin stacks and tower designs are, if the mounting system allows it.
Im amazed by the work you had to do to get here. Keep it up!
Between Jay, Linus and Steve this cooler has run the gamut from Recommended to Okay to Garbage lmao
Yea i dont know what youtuber say in video this is better over noctua nh d15
To be fair, Jay just said the cooler did its job, which it does. He didn't proclaim it the best cooler or tell everyone to run out and buy one.
@@TooBokoo pretty sure Jay even said only get it if you really want a corsair air cooler, and steve didn't say it was garabe, just that it was objectively worse than cheaper coolers, but whatever
Such an excellent review.
I would love to see the following coolers tested if possible: NH-D15 (which was already tested, thanks, NH-U12A, Scythe Fuma 2, Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 280.
Keep up the awesome work.
This cooler sucks. Yet somebody gave it basically favorable review and then had a intro ad fur it in their next upload or two. But that's just my 2 cents!
I don't trust anything that guy says tbh.
Who
To be fair, it is not a bad cooler, it does exactly what it is supposed to do and does it reasonably well. Where it falls short is where it sits in the market. There are better options out there for the money that cool better and are also quieter. If Corsair sold this cooler for $70 then it would actually make a lot more sense, but at $100 it simply isn't good enough.
@@subsgob00m
Yes this is true but that is not in question here what is in question is the fact Jay decided to help promote an inferior product and uploaded a drawn out 17min review where he virtually tested nothing but praised Corsair for a stupid fan feature that adds cost to an already overpriced cooler. The OP was trying to be tactful, its a wonderful thing we have channels like Gamers Nexus keeping it real. I knew that cooler was trash as soon as I saw the base plate. Direct heatpipes on a $100USD cooler? That's worse than them overpriced AF RGB fans they sell. Same as $460AUD for that NZXT Z73 are they insane?
@@hardcorehardware361 What is there not to trust?
GN: Please keep listing the Wraith Prism in your charts. In todays market, it is an excellent baseline to understand buying choices. Since we get that cooler for "free", this testing can really help the decision whether a particular cooler is $30,$50,$100+ better than "free". The knowledge that an aftermarket cooler is (hopefully) better than stock is not as useful as knowing how much.
This is top tier work guys, you should be proud
Have you guys checked out the new Zalman? Seems like they're actually back in front of the race along with Noctua and Deepcool.
yeah looks like it. But the new Zalman dual tower is also soo ugly. Like overdesigned transformer-ish look. I'd rather go with the Deepcool Assassin III or the Black Noctua D15
@@pequalsnp The blacked Noctua is really nice. I really like the Zalman as well, but the fans annoy me with that X-frame across them. I don't care what they say, it can not be helping their airflow. I'd love to see what its performance would look like with a couple of regular Noctua fans mounted on it instead.
@@EmoEmu I think the X pattern ruined it and probably also reduced the airflow a bit too.
Zalman needs to come back to reclaim it's crown.
Was the OG cooler designer a bit more than a decade ago and lost all it's magic since then.
the CNPS 20x supposedly beats the NH-D15 but I'll believe that when GN proves it.
I hate the RGB trend, I don't want it and I don't want to deal with all the extra wires with it. I do however like that fan design, and wouldn't look bad if I can do a single solid color
But other than that It looks good and I am happy to see Zalman again
Great Testing methodology! Might it be possible to see a Test whare the PC is 100% controlled and instead of trying to hit a certain noise level you try to hit a certain temperature Target. As Ryzen scales with temperature nowadays this might be a valuable addition to your set of tests.
I keep seeing the u14s always damn near nearly as good as these massive double tower coolers. It really seems kind of crazy to buy anything else if you want top end performance unless your running some mega heat chip where those two towers are actually going to make a difference.
devilmikey00 Yeah, I run the u14s with a 3900x and it is honestly all I could possibly want in a cooler: (1) it runs cool, almost as cool as the d15 (29 C idle, 67 cb20), (2) it is small and doesnt block ram slots, (3) it is QUIET and always has the second 140 mm fan option
Ok I have to comment again! This was seriously good testing. I like it! Also you can use distribution graphs for your findings.
Other youtubers: spend company funds on fancy cameras, lights and other toys.
Steve: spend money on great testing equipment and developing testing methodology.
GN is light years ahead.
Go easy he gets enough ego stroking
And what exactly has the testing equipment been used for, other than B-roll?
@@jamesthomson8659 Shots fired! Still waiting for the PSU testing...
@@psychozulu And don't forget the fan testing.
wow I am really impressed steve with this level of in depth testing and looking at relevant factors. I can feel my brain learning thank you!
I knew this wasn't that great as everyone were saying!
Btw hope this yeston brand sponsor you guys, we need more cute anime girl builds
I think it would be really cool to do this kind of testing with fans normalised as well - that is, every cooler equipped with the same fan model. This would effectively provide extremely accurate testing of the heatsink itself, which would be super useful to people who intend to swap out the fans to achieve the absolute best performance possible.
"35dbA doesn't actually mean anything in a vacuum": If a fan spins in a vacuum - does it make a sound? :P
Nope!
Hey, I bought one for $30 - New. I believe your review is what killed their pricing. :) At $30, it is a fine cooler... Better than stock.
"Not a looker," Corsair proceeds to vomit RGB all over it, "How does it look now?"
Worse!
God this review is so much better than the others I watched of it
The title of the video sounds like a school principal who is trying to deal with a elaborate highschool prank.
"What you did was.....impressive....impressively bad...but impressive"
Fantastic video! This is a VERY important video. Thank you for getting better exposure to good science testing of air coolers. Scythe Fuma 2 soon please! Classics like Hyper 212 could great point of reference if possible so people can compare your numbers to coolers they have. Thanks!
GearSeekers is a sellout. That man was proclaiming this to be a great budget cooler... smh
I'm glad you're also doing benchmarks normalized to 35db in a controlled environment. It really puts things in perspective. I have Corsair ML120 and ML140 fans and I think they're terrible for noise. I also didn't know about the huge gap in the middle for the fins. Finally I used to think that direct contact heat pipes were good but after seeing your surface flatness test and anecdotally confirming for myself on others that I own and also seeing how they'd have to squish the heat pipes (which I assume disrupts the thermodynamics) I now think having them soldered onto a plate is better
why a scatter plot? there's better graphs to represent surface defects, like a 3-dimensional graph. that way you can also immediately what kind of shape the cold plate has. this just looks like incoherent data
We just added this data. We haven't ever landed perfection on the first try of representing a new data set. It takes trial and error, and typically people can communicate their desire for alternatives without being insulting.
@@GamersNexus i didn't mean to come across as if i'm insulting your work; i'm saying it as i perceive it, and i gave a suggestion on how to improve it. i didn't say it was shite, but i suppose i could have worded it without coming across as a snob lol. my apologies
I really enjoy these videos, love the in depth testing. I'd love to see you guys test the nh-u12a and the Scythe Fuma 2.
$45 on amazon right now. yay or ney?
Oh boi, air coolers from GN, finally! I'll have some good content to watch as I spend the quarantine at home :'D
It's not that "bad" but it's "bad" considering the rest big air cooler was $10 cheaper and much better product
No wonder when i watch Linus review this cooler i kinda skeptical since most of review not including acoustic scaling to temperature
GJ as always *edit to reword*
This is great, Steve. FINALLY, some cooling solution testing and comparison that matters. I hope to see some apples to oranges comparisons done with air versus AIO coolers in the future. This may be a stretch, but even throwing in a couple of open loop set ups eventually. I do realize the vast number of variables the open loop presents, but it would be awesome to just have the numbers for a reference.
This shows the NH-D15 is still the best. Great performance and silent. Hard to beat Noctua at this.
i love how yeston has just become part of the set now, it makes me happy