SilentiumPC Air Cooler Challenge – 6 Way Round-up

This review today pitted 6 different coolers from SilentiumPC against each other. However, I am not going to simply look at the data and say which cooler I think is the best. This is because each cooler is aimed at a different audience. It would be unfair to directly compare the Spartan 3 LT with the Grandis, for example, as they do different jobs and are priced accordingly.

The Spartan 3 LT and Spartan 3 Pro are aimed at those wanting a small yet effective stock cooler replacement. While they both did poorly in the overclocked CPU test, at stock speeds they performed much better. As such, I would recommend these two coolers to someone with a lower-end, locked CPU such as a Core i3-6100 or Core i5-6400, for example.

The Fera 3 is my personal favourite of the coolers, simply because of its versatility. At stock speeds, load temperature is just 3 degrees warmer than the Grandis, while the margin is just 6 degrees when tested with an overclocked CPU. Given its relatively small size, I would say this very good performance – and it costs just £19.90. As such, I think it strikes a good balance between performance, size and price.

Turning our attention to the Fortis 3 and Fortis 3 Malik Customs Edition, we have bigger and beefier coolers aimed at those with unlocked CPUs. The principle difference between the two is aesthetics – although the Malik Customs edition cooler does just pull ahead in terms of performance. It is £10 more though, so you will have decide if the extra eye candy is worth it. Personally, I think it is a gorgeous cooler and would gladly have it on-show inside my NZXT S340.

Finally, the big boy – the Grandis. The Grandis is aimed at those wanting to overclock their CPUs as far as they will go – and for whatever reason, do not want to consider watercooling. It delivered the best temperatures across all our tests – which is not surprising considering its 6 heatpipes and dual-120mm fans. Being very attractively priced at £38.90, too, makes it a real bargain for enthusiasts.

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KitGuru says: Rather than recommending one cooler of the 6 on test today, I would advise you to consider your needs before getting the biggest and baddest air cooler on the market. If you are running a locked, low-power CPU, chances are you don't need much in the way of cooling. However, if you want to squeeze every last megahertz from your processor, you will likely benefit from a larger heatsink.

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