CPU Cooling by stefan @ 2011-03-30
The newest cooler from Prolimatech, the Genesis, comes with a shape that reminds us of the older V10 from Cooler Master and can be placed on the same level in terms of performance with the king of air cooling, the Noctua NH-D14.
At first I would like to thank CaseKing.de for offering me a sample of the Prolimatech Genesis CPU Cooler.
"Prolimatech, founded in 2008 is headquartered in Taiwan, led by a team of dedicated experts with 22 years of accumulated experience in the field of computer thermal solutions.
Prolimatech stands for Professionalism exceeding beyond all Limits. We are here to challenge any limits that stand in our way to achieve what was thought to be impossible.
Prolimatech incorporates integration of the aerospace resource-saving technology and advanced heat conduction technology to create the best heat absorption and dissipation solutions while pertaining to the science of aesthetics.
Our never-ending quest is to satisfy every computer overclocker’s and every enthusiast’s needs for high quality and performance oriented thermal solutions for their high-end computer components."
High clearance for better motherboard compatibility.
Massive cooling range; cools not only CPU but also MOSFET and RAM.
Cooler surrounding temperature allowing more stable environment for higher overclock.
Takes both 12 and 14cm fans for a maximum installation of 3 fans.
Six high quality heatpipes for effective heat transfer.
Light weight at 800 kgs (without fans) in the highend class.
Intel and AMD platform supported. All mounting hardwares are included.
The new CPU cooler from Prolimatech, Genesis, is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box, with the product logo on the front, and the mentions that it is compatible with most sockets present on the market:
On one of the sides, we can find the heatsink dimensions, along with the technical specifications listed:
Further on, we can also find some pictograms, representing some of the product highlights:
The top side of the box is provided with a plastic handle:
Right after opening the enclosure, we can see one portion of the heatsink, along with another small box with accessories:
The Genesis CPU cooler is wrapped inside a plastic protective bag, and surrounded by foam material:
Inside the accessories box, we can find the mounting system for AMD sockets, the backplate and mounting accessories for Intel sockets, along with an User Manual:
Along with the accessories, we can also find a tube with thermal compound, and a small Prolimatech sticker:
Inside the manual, we can find the installation procedures, written in multiple languages:
When looking at the heatsink more attentively, we can find that it has a similar shape to the one from the V10 CPU cooler made by Cooler Master; 6 heatpipes are traveling from the bottom plate to the radiators, each which can be cooled with 120mm or 140mm fans:
The vertical radiator has the product logo on the top and here we can also see the heatpipe terminations; the hot air that is evacuated from this radiator is pulled out of the case with the help of the fan placed in the back of our case:
The horizontal radiator will be cooled by placing the fan on its top, and will also ventilate the memory modules area:
The same product logo can be found on the second radiator:
The nickel base is covered with a transparent plastic film, to avoid scratches:
After we remove the protective material, we can discover that the plate has a nice mirror finish:
The Genesis does not come with fans, but we will test it with two 140mm, 1000RPM Blue Vortex 14 fans, also from Prolimatech:
On the back of the package, we can find the full fan specifications:
Inside the box, we can also find a MOLEX adapter, along with some screws (in case we want to install them on the case):
The fan has 9 blue-colored blades, and the company logo can be located in the center:
On the back we can also find the fan rating, 12V, 0.2A:
Since the installation will be performed on a LGA1156 socket system, we will pick up the appropriate backplate, for the Intel systems, which also has a small sticker glued to it, telling us to attach square spacer (included as an accessory) in the middle, in case we are using a LGA775 platform; the backplate has holes drilled for 3 separate sockets: LGA775, LGA1156/LGA1155, LGA1366:
With the help of the O-rings, we can keep the rivet nuts fixed on the backplate:
After the backplate has been placed on the back of the motherboard, we can check to see if the rivet nuts have passed through the mounting holes:
The next step would be to pick up the double end studs with nuts, and install them:
After installing the aluminium strip adapters, we should check to see if the holes have been aligned properly, by placing on top the aluminium mounting plate:
The strip adapters can be secured with the provided screw nuts:
On the top side of the cooler plate, we can see two holes, in which the aluminium mounting plate will get fixed:
After the thermal compound has been applied and the cooler has been placed on the CPU HSF, we can secure it with the help of the two spring-loaded screws
The RAM installed in the slots was from the G.Skill Ripjaws series; there is still a lot of space left between the memory heatsink and the horizontal radiator of the Genesis:
Here is a photo from the top, to check the clearance:
With the provided fan wire clips, we can mount any 120mm or 140mm fan on the heatsink, easy and fast:
Here is how the system does look with the fans and the cooler installed, in multiple angles:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I5 Retail @ 3.2GHz & 4.0GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-EVO Preliminary
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Video: Sparkle Calibre X460 1GB GDDR5
Power Supply: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W non-modular
HDD: Hitachi 5K250 2.5'' HDD
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
The testing procedure was the following:
- the system was left in IDLE for 30 minutes after the system booted up
- OCCT 3.1.0 was started with the following settings:
CPU:OCCT
Test Type: Custom -> 30 minutes
Test Mode: Small Data Set
Priority: Normal
after the test was complete, the system was left again alone for 30 minutes, for the temperatures to stabilize.
All the tests were performed inside a closed case, the Cooler Master ATCS 840 with all stock fans installed. Also, all the coolers were tested with their stock fans; in the case of the Genesis, it was tested with two 140 Prolimatech Vortex Fans.
As an extra, we have measured the noise produced by the fans included in this kit; one fan was attached to a controller and the speed was modified in small increments; for each step, the noise was determined with the sound meter. With the fan completely turned off, the noise in the test room was 32.9 dBA.
The newest CPU cooler from Prolimatech, the Genesis, comes with an interesting shape and does not disappoint in terms of performance, being very near to the NH-D14 air cooler from Noctua.
The cooler does not come with fans, but CaseKing.de has some bundles ready, which also come with the appropriate fans: “Dual Blackline Edition”, “Dual Blue Vortex Edition (the reviewed model)”, “Dual Emperor Edition”, and many more. Depending on the chosen version, we might get small performance differences (different fan speed, CFM).
The cooler offers enough clearance in the memory slots area, but if we own some memory modules with tall heatspreaders and it will not be possible to install/remove them, Prolimatech has made the CPU cooler removal procedure very fast and easy. One small thing I did not like: because of the cooler width, on some boards that have the first PCI-Express x16 slot very near to the CPU socket, we may find that the radiator fins almost touch the back side of the VGA card PCB.
The tested combo can be found at CaseKing.de for about 69,90 Euros, and if you do not need fans, you can orientate on buying the standalone model, for about 59,90 Euros.
I would like to thank again to CaseKing.de for offering me this sample for review!