Thermalright Archon CPU Cooler Review

👤by Sahil Mannick Comments 📅13-04-11
Closer Look


The Archon

The Archon has a very distinctive shape design. It becomes apparent upon removing it from the box that it is unlike any other cooler to come out of Thermalright’s labs. The most striking feature is its dimension. Its thin and narrow design is to allow memory modules of all sizes to be installed in the adjacent slots without any issues. The finish on the cooler is more matte compared to the shiny reflective surface of the Silver Arrow’s. Nonetheless, it is still aesthetically pleasing with a robust look that shouts quality and durability.


The front face

From the front face we can have a better look at the fin array. The heatsink has a total of 51 aluminium fin across its towering 170mm height. In comparison, the Silver Arrow’s array is denser with 55 fins across its 160mm height. The Archon’s fins are separated by a 2.5mm gaps, similarly to the Prolimatech Super Mega. All the fins are identical and stack up vertically parallel to each other. The shapes of the individual fins have been designed to optimise airflow. They have a ripple like structure that is symmetrical about the centre. The ridges generate more turbulence as air flows through to advect as much heat as possible. The downside of turbulence is noise but the fins have also been designed to minimise this effect. The surface area of each fin is around 7750mm squared, 250 less than the Venomous X, but with a total of 51 fins rather than 48 on the latter, the total surface area favours the Archon. According to Thermalright, the surface area of the Archon is quoted to be 1.6 times that of the Venomous X although we believe that to be less based on the dimensions. We can also see the heat pipes spread out vertically across the heatsink. The length of the Archon means that users will have to make sure it doesn’t overhang chipset heatsinks. The vast frontal area of the heatsink introduces another dilemma. Fans may not be big enough to be able to push air across all the fins meaning the extra surface area is wasted.


The side profile

From the side profile, the fins appear laterally flat and don’t boast the bent winglet design on Silver Arrow or Venomous X. At only 55mm wide, the Archon is one of the narrowest heatsinks on the market and is barely wider than the base from which the 6 heat pipes protrude from. From this view, we can see two columns of 6 heat pipes rising across both sides of the heatsink for a symmetrical design.


The 6 sintered heat pipes

The Archon takes the traditional approach and uses 6 sintered heat pipes all 6mm in diameter. They are soldered to a nickel plated copper base and use the same construction themselves for the best heat conductivity. They spread out from the base to form a linear pattern and spread the heat out more effectively across the fins.


The top of the heat pipes

At the top, the ends of the heat pipes are visible, 6 being rounded ends and the other 6 grooved. The top has a matte finish unlike the Silver Arrow and the Prolimatech Super Mega. The two holes near each corner of the heatsinks are for the fan wire clips.


The reflective base

Like all Thermalright CPU heatsinks, the base is convex for maximum contact with CPU chips, which never tend to be flat either. It also has perfectly flat and reflective mirror finish so that no air gaps are present once installed. Ensuring maximum contact with the CPU means that heat can dissipate more efficiently through the base to the 6 heat pipes.


The flatness of the base

The slight curvature in the base can be seen here. The convex shape is meant to accommodate the shape of CPUs’ integrated heatspreaders but those with lapped CPUs won’t have any problems either as the curvature is only slightly. Thanks to the pressure mounting mechanism, the bases ensure that thermal paste is spread evenly across the whole CPU even with just a blob applied.



14 pages « 3 4 5 6 > »

Comments