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Thermalright Archon SB-E Cooler Review (Part 1)

5/20/2013 6:20:57 PM

In an effort to innovate the legendary Archon cooler even more, Thermalright has launched a number of small modifications to their cooler, provided a new fan and slightly changed the retention mechanism. Let's check out how good that innovation is.

In recent years, Thermalright had released Archon cooler, which surprised us by its extremely high performance and low noise level. At the end of 2010, CPU LGA2011 did not appear, so Archon did not officially support Intel's Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and similar CPUs, even though you can buy an additional set of fasteners and mount the cooling device into LGA2011 motherboards.

Building on the success of the initial Archon sample, the company had released their first Archon SB-E model, so we had a chance to test it in early spring.  And, Thermalright released the final version of Archon SB-E with improved heatsink and new fans. Furthermore, SB-E has different types of fastener compared to the original version of Archon. And recently, Archon SB-E X2 was introduced, featuring a second fan which was very useful. We hope to get this model in hand soon, but today we will focus on the Archon SB-E and compare it with the legendary Archon as well as with the most available efficient air cooler.

Packaging and accessories

The traditional Thermalright's product packaging is a cardboard box filled with smooth rubber foam frame.

Product box

Product box

The cooler and fans are fixed in box compartments. The accessories are packed in a smaller box. Similar to many other Thermalright products, Archon SB-E comes with a universal back-plate, a key, nuts and spacers, documentation, fan fasteners, Thermalright ChillFactor III thermal grease, and a sticker with company logo.

Accessories and associated equipment

Accessories and associated equipment

The cooler is manufactured in China. It suggested a price of $79.25, which was the same as the price of the original Archon. The warranty period is 2 years.

Design and functionality

Design description

Design description

The weight is lower compared to the original Archon: 760 instead of 806 grams. It is lighter because its heatsink is less dense, only 44 instead of 50 aluminum heatsink fins.

Heatsink

Heatsink

And because each heatsink fin thickness was 0.5 mm, which mean 2.3 mm gap is wider compared to the Archon's, 2.0 mm. And since the number of heatsink fins is reduced, the overall surface area of the heatsink is about 8000 instead of 9000 cm2. In our opinion this is not an innovation.

As the layout of the pipes on the heatsink body, they do not go in two straight rows as in the Archon but form two rectangles out of unevenly spaced dots.

Position the heatsink pipes

Position the heatsink pipes

Thermalright engineers seem not to pursue any goal with that arrangement, so there must be due to the number and shape of the tube as they go out of the base and get into the heatsink Take a look at the rectangle texture below:

The design of heatpipes

The design of heatpipes

No doubt, the bottom heatsink fins have no contact with five out of the eight heat pipes and hold on to three pipes only, This does not cause a negative impact to the overall performance of the Archon SB-E.

The details of the heat sink are soldered together. The heatsink base is polished like a mirror:

The heatsink base

The heatsink base

However, our sample of Archon SB-E product looks like to have a curved base:

Heatsink size

Heatsink size

The left part of the base is lower along the longitudinal axis and there’s a bulge along the entire transverse axis. It is no wonder that the thermal grease imprints are not uniform irrespective of the orientation of the cooler on the CPU:

Thermal paste

Thermal paste

It is easy to recognize where the pressure is high and low, although the CPU heatsink contact with the entire surface of the cooler base, without any gaps at all.

We tested the Thermalright TY-150 fan that Archon SB-E is equipped with in a recent review and very satisfied with its performance.

Fan of the device

Fan of the device

According to its specs, TY-150 is controlled by PWM with a speed range from 500 to 1,100 RPM and a noise level of 19 to 23 dBA, creating an air flow of 38 CFM to 84. The fan consumes about 2.4 watts of power.

The lifecycle of Enhanced Hyper-Flow bearing is not expressed in its technical standards. The fan was fastened to the heatsink with two wire brackets using the inner openings in the fan’s frame.

Fan's frame

Fan's frame

The associated silicon pads are attached to the fan to absorb vibrations. Below is a picture of the Thermalright Archon SB-E and its fans when complete installation:

Pictures of the complete installation

Pictures of the complete installation

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