Asymetrical cooling
The movie Die Hard was so awesome it
spawned a wave of imitators that alt had just one distinguishing difference -
Die Hard on a plane, Die Hard on a boat, Die Hard in a nursing home, etc. And
so it is in the world of air coolers: We have dozens of skyscraper aluminum
coolers with just one standout feature, and on the Silverstone Heligon HE01 the
standout feature is its super-thick 14cm fan. It’s so big that Silverstone had
to shave off a sliver of the cooler s right appendage to make room for it,
giving the cooler an asymmetrical look that resembles a tennis player’s arms.
Silverstone
Heligon HE01
The XXL fan sports a 4-pin plug for PWM
functionality, as well as an easily accessible switch labeled "Q-P"
for Quiet and Performance modes, but it should be Q-L for Quiet and Loud. The
fan blows air through aluminum fins attached to six copper heat pipes that
snake into a copper base, with the whole shebang plated in snazzy-looking
nickel. The heat pipes are not the direct-contact variety like the ones in our
favorite cooler, the Cooler Master Hyper 212. It’s a massive cooler at almost 6
inches to a side, and though it does require RAM without tall heat- spreaders,
it’s not any larger than the best coolers in its class, including the Phanteks
PH-TC14PE (reviewed June 2012) and the Noctua NH-D14 (reviewed April 2012),
both of which will also interfere with tall RAM.
Silverstone
Heligon HE01
Installation was easy on our LGA2011 test
bed and required tightening just two screws with a Phillips-head screwdriver
after we hand-tightened the mounting brackets. Installing the Heligon’s giant
fan was hella hard, though, since the retention clips don’t permanently
attach to the fan and kept falling out of their holes.
In testing, the Heligon in quiet mode was
just 2 C warmer than its natural competitor, the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, and
neck-and-neck with the Cooler Master, and in performance mode its benchmark
results are top-of-the-charts if you can handle the noise (we couldn’t). For
fun we added a second fan to the mix, although we found it to have a negligible
benefit.
We also ran it in PWM mode but considered
the fan to be too loud under stress.
All in all, the Heligon is a solid package
but nothing too groundbreaking, especially for its semi-high price. If the
performance mode was quieter, it’d be a must-buy.
Benchmarks
|
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Silverstone HEO1 (Perf)
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Silverstone HEO1 (Quiet)
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Phanteks PH-F140TS
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CM Hyper 212 Evo
|
|
Ambient Air
|
22
|
22
|
19.9
|
21
|
|
Idle Temperature
|
30.3
|
27
|
30.1
|
31.5
|
|
Burn Temperature
|
62.8
|
68.1
|
63.8
|
66.6
|
|
Burn (ambient)
|
40.8
|
46.1
|
43.9
|
45.6
|
All temperatures m degrees Celsius. Best
scores bolded. All tests performed using an Intel Core i7-3960X at 4.2GHz, on
an Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard
with 16GB DDR3/1600, in a Thermaltake Level 10 GT with stock fans set to
Low.
Pros
and cons
Purring: Excellent performance; quiet (in quiet mode); semi-easy
install.
Hissing: Finicky retention arms; loud in performance mode;
requires low-profile RAM .
Specifications
Dimensions H x D x W (inches, with fan): 6.2 x 4.6 x 5.5
Weight: 2lbs, 8.5oz
Heat Pipes: 6
Stock Fans: 1x 14cm PWM
Add’l Fan Support: 2 (clip included)
Verdict
Ratings: 8
Price: $79
Website: www.silverstone.com
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