Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging & Bundle3. The Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler4. Installation5. Testing Methodology6. Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance 8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Renowned for enthusiast-grade graphics cards that push the boundaries of performance, Sapphire is on the hunt for success with the company's first ever CPU cooler – the Vapor-X. Utilising vapour chamber technology, can Sapphire replicate the success of the critically-acclaimed Vapor-X coolers used on their graphics cards?

A direct-contact vapour chamber base should allow for a rapid rate of efficient heat transferal when coupled with the quartet of 7mm heatpipes. Dissipating the transferred heat energy is a task for the Vapor-X's densely-packed aluminium fin array and pair of 2200 RPM blue LED fans.

Sapphire claims up to 200W of heat dissipation with the Vapor-X CPU cooler. Can the vapour chamber technology boost Sapphire's Vapor-X CPU cooler into a class-leading performance category?

Specifications:

• CPU Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA 775, 1155/1156, 1366, 2011 and AMD FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2, AM2+
• Dimensions: 135 x 110.4 x 163.5mm (5.3 x 4.3 x 6.4 in)
• Heat Sink Material: Vapor Chamber / 4x 7mm Heatpipes / Aluminium Fins
• Heat Pipes Dimensions: ø7mm, 362mmx4
• Fan Speed: 495 – 2200 RPM (PWM)
• Fan Air Flow: 77 CFM (each)
• Fan Connector: 4-pin PWM

Sapphire ships the Vapor-X CPU cooler in a large box that features the company's traditional blue and black colour scheme. A plastic window allows consumers to view the cooler before a purchase is made.

Detailed specifications such as dimensions, heatsink material, compatibility and fan speeds are listed on the box's rear side.

The supplied bundle comprises mounting hardware, a black & white installation manual, a 1g tube of thermal paste and a Sapphire product guide.

Standing at 163.5mm tall, Sapphire's Vapor-X CPU cooler is certainly an imposing unit. A pair of plastic shrouds attaches each 120mm, blue LED fan to the heatsink by means of side-mounted clip mechanisms.

Sapphire's company name resides between a pair of blue LED strips on the cooler's summit-mounted plastic shroud. A blue-glowing Vapor-X name tag joins the light show to create an impressive gamer-orientated aesthetic appeal.

This shroud also acts as a barrier to prevent the escape of misdirected air from the heatsink system, henceforth maintaining maximum cooling efficiency, in theory. A hexagonal wrench (hex key) tool is required to remove the shroud for cleaning or other purposes.

Both fans must be removed to provide access to the cooler's mounting positions. Thankfully, Sapphire makes removing the fan casing an easy task, provided you have sharp fingernails or a small screwdriver at hand to assist with prying the plastic clip out of the heatsink's channel.

Each translucently-bladed, blue LED fan operates at a PWM-controlled speed of 495 – 2200 RPM via the convenient 4-pin header, with a stated maximum noise output of 40 dbA. With each fan rated for air pressure and flow values of 2.6 mm H20 and 77 CFM, respectively, the aluminium fin array should receive a sufficient supply of air to allow for efficient heat dissipation.

Notice the ugly yellow stickers on each fan cable? Sapphire: please get rid of these eye-sores as soon as possible – they aren't entirely necessary.

A quartet of 7mm-diameter heatpipes feeds directly into a dense aluminium fin array via the tried-and-tested parallel U-shaped alignment. While it may not be the most efficient design, the parallel alignment does its best to avoid transferring heat directly into the fans' glaring dead-airflow spots.

Sapphire relies on the pair of 2200 RPM fans' high pressure rating to provide a vacuum-effect of acceptable quality, as opposed to pressure-enhancing grooves and saw-toothed fins. Closed sides help to maintain an inner region of higher pressure by minimising the loss of air out of the fin stack, to the surroundings.

All four of the 7mm-diameter, 362mm-long heatpipes exit the base at sharp angle, reducing the distance travelled before reaching the heat-dissipating fin array. Each heatpipe's spherical-shape is flattened to a more cuboid-like structure before entering the base, allowing the pipe to present the vapour chamber section with its maximum contact area, hence increasing the rate and capacity of heat transferal.

The very large surface area of the square-shaped vapour chamber base makes compatibility with even the monstrously-sized LGA 2011 CPUs' heat spreaders a possibility.

Sapphire's Vapor-X CPU cooler uses a backplate that is all but identical to that used by Cooler Master for its Hyper product line. While the backplate offers complete Intel and AMD compatibility in a convenient from factor, simple installation isn't one of its better properties.

The method requires you to flip your motherboard while directing mounting stand-offs through the front side holes and fastening them from the rear side. Three hands would suffice for this method, so unless you have an assistant, be prepared to test your patience and increase the installation time.

A sturdy metal retention plate is screwed into the protruding stand-offs to evenly distribute the Vapor-X CPU cooler's 1 kg+ weight. Users with over-sized motherboard heatsinks should be aware that the retention plate extends past Intel's imposed ‘no-go' region.

Sapphire's easy-to-follow and, for the most part, incredibly simple installation method provides a secure, non-interfering mount.

While the Vapor-X's 163.5mm height may be pushing the boundary of what mid-tower cases can handle, the width, depth and base-to-bottom-fin measurements are surprisingly accommodating in regards to VRM heatsink, DIMM slot and PCI-E connector clearance.

Standard RAM sticks will have no problems fitting under the Vapor-X with room to spare. 40mm-tall modules are at the upper-end of what we would advise using, although it may be possible to obtain an extra few millimeters of clearance by moving the fan mount up the heatsink. Don't expect any RAM kits with over-sized heatsinks such as Corsair's Vengeance modules to fit under the cooler.

Hiding the stiff fan cables can become a challenging task, but at least their black colour scheme won't cause too many style issues. An LED connector draws power from the front fan connector to allow the blue strips and Vapor-X logo to glow.

Sapphire's gamer-orientated Vapor-X CPU cooler allows a system's aesthetic appeal to be maintained and, using its subtle blue lighting scheme, can help to create a completely new style.

Thermal Performance Test Procedures:

• Idle temperatures are obtained after sitting at the desktop for 15 minutes.
• Load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95 in the ‘Small FFTs' mode for 15 minutes.
• We repeated testing with our CPU overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x multiplier, 100MHz base clock) using a BIOS-set voltage of 1.300V.
• The cooler's fans are set to 100% to eliminate inaccuracies due to dynamic PWM fan speed adjustments.
• The supplied thermal paste is used to provide an accurate interpretation of the cooler's out-of-the-box performance.
• We use HWMonitor to measure the CPU temperature.
• CPU temperature recording is accurate to +/- 0.5°C.
• Ambient temperature recording is accurate to +/- 0.05°C.
• Ambient temperature was maintained at 21°C.

Acoustic Performance Test Procedures:

• We measure the noise output of our entire system from a distance of 1m while the CPU cooler's fans operate at 100% (indicating the maximum noise output).
• We set the case fans to minimum speed (hence noise) and avoid using a discrete GPU to isolate the CPU cooler's noise output.

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K.
• Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V.
• Memory: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz.
• Case: NZXT Phantom.
• Cooling Fans: 1x 120mm 1900 RPM Scythe Kaze Jyuni (front intake), 2x 120mm NZXT (side intake), 1x 120mm NZXT (rear exhaust), 1x 200mm NZXT (roof exhaust)
• Graphics card: On-board.
• Power supply: 1000W Seasonic Platinum-1000.
• Storage drives: 128GB Kingston V100 (OS), 1TB Samsung F3, 300GB Western Digital Caviar.
• Thermal Paste: As supplied with the cooler.

Software:

• CPUID HWMonitor.
• Core Temp (additional certification).
• Prime95.
• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

We compared the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler to Thermaltake‘s enthusiast-loved Frio and Arctic‘s good value Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2.

Our graphs show actual temperatures of the CPU, not delta temperatures.

Ambient temperature was maintained at 21°C.

Sapphire's Vapor-X can't match the performance of Thermaltake's five 8mm heatpipe-touting Frio which also uses higher – 2500 – RPM fans. Considering its slower fans and utilisation of four smaller diameter heatpipes, the Vapor-X's ability to give the Frio some cooling competition is worthy of praise.

The Sapphire Vapor-X does manage to outperform Arctic's value-orientated Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 which can't quite keep pace with either of its physically larger, more enthusiast-intended competitors.

We measured the noise output of our entire system from a distance of 1m while the CPU cooler's fans operate at 100% (indicating the maximum noise output).

Lower noise levels can be achieved by utilising the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler's 4-pin PWM operated fans.

An exact mirror image of the thermal performance charts, noise output is an area where the Vapor-X is able to shine. While 43.2 dbA may not be the lowest value of today's competitors, the cooling performance per unit noise ratio looks to offer a well-thought balance.

Utilising the fans' PWM function will allow even lower noise levels to be achieved when the highest possible cooling performance isn't required.

Sapphire has made a daring entry into the intensely-competitive CPU cooling market with the Vapor-X. The vapour chamber technology allows a good balance between cooling performance and low noise output to be achieved by the dual-fan, tower heatsink.

While the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler isn't the best performer on the market, it does show that vapour chamber technology has the potential to grow into a formidable competitor to the standard Heatpipe Direct Touch (H.D.T.) and solid-plate base designs.

Taming a hot 4.6GHz Ivy Bridge chip with a voltage of 1.300V running through it certainly shouldn't be overlooked, though. Keeping the CPU well below 90°C shows that the Vapor-X cooler has the potential to compete with the higher thermal loads brought about by increased voltages and frequencies.

Noise output was a very pleasing result with the entire system, including the Vapor-X's pair of 2200 RPM fans operating at full speed, only outputting 43.2 dbA of disturbance. Perhaps Sapphire has taken advantage of the vapour chamber's heat transferral efficiency by putting an increased importance on low noise operation and taking the opportunity to reduce fan speeds.

A generally easy installation process, with the only slight hiccup coming from backplate installation, is another positive factor of the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler. The mount was secure and surrounding component clearance was surprisingly accommodating.

An aesthetically pleasing design and gamer-orientated style ensure that the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler won't look out of place in a ‘showroom' system. The blue LEDs located in the summit's strips, Vapor-X imprint and fans' frames help to enhance the cooler's attractive appearance. Of course, if you aren't one for a light show inside your PC, simply remove the LED power cable and enjoy the blue glow's dismissal.

With an anticipated retail price of around £50 and currently available for £53.99 from Overclockers, the Vapor-X is rapidly approaching the realms of the market that is dominated by the dual-tower and All-in-One liquid cooling kings. If the price were to drop by around £5-10 to the £45 mark, it would face less formidable competition at a price point that consists mainly of single tower competitors.

Sapphire deserves praise for taking such a leap of courage by delving into a new market. The Vapor-X CPU cooler offers a very good balance between enthusiast-grade cooling performance and low levels of noise output. If Sapphire can make the Vapor-X CPU cooler available at retail for £45, it will make a worthy competitor against some of the big players in the industry.

Pros:

• Good cooling performance.
• Low noise output.
• Attractive design and lighting.
• Generally simple installation.
• Considerate motherboard component clearance.
• Widespread compatibility.

Cons:

• Price needs to drop to the £45 mark, at least.
• Ugly warning stickers on fan cables.
• Backplate installation method is awkward.

KitGuru says: An admirable entry into the CPU cooler market. We can't wait to see what Sapphire's next CPU cooler will offer.

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