Thermalright’s latest SSD cooler (HR-10 2280) builds on the HR-09 2280. The task for its design seems to have been as follows – to increase cooling efficiency while reducing height. The result is a heatsink with significantly more fins than the older model, and instead of one heatpipe, it is now two, so that the available surface area (fins) is used more evenly. Read more “Thermalright’s new two-heatpipe SSD cooler, the HR-10 2280”
Many people look down on SSD coolers with fans, saying that “a proper heatsink must be enough in this power class”. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Direct fan cooling of the fins makes sense for SSD coolers as well. However, this is only sometimes the case, it depends on the environment in which the SSD is operating. And when it fits yours, you can’t overlook Axagon’s cooler (CLR-M2FAN) when deciding. Read more “Axagon CLR-M2FAN: Active SSD cooler for closed off spaces”
You may remember our old tests of SSD coolers, which were topped by the EKWB EK-M.2. The latter was something of a minor miracle five years ago, beside the various unfinished solutions. Given that its production is still ongoing, it’s interesting to see how the once cutting-edge SSD cooler stands up against the current competition. That’s why we dusted it off (a new piece with fresh pads, of course) and sent it into battle. Read more “EKWB EK-M.2 re-test: Pioneer among SSD coolers after years”
The number of tested SSD coolers is piling up, and the inter-comparison of different models is already quite voluminous. It includes inefficient structures, simpler (but efficient) and more complex designs. The IceCap cooler, which is the subject of this analysis, is among the more reasonable solutions for a few euros. In short, an inexpensive option to consider when thinking about how to reduce SSD temperature. Read more “Gelid IceCap vs. more than 40 other M.2 SSD coolers”
The designers have really gone all out with the CLR-M2XL cooler. Some of the details are really surprising for an SSD cooler, but you can see a clear intention – to squeeze the most out of the available material. Finding a more powerful model than the CLR-M2XL in the current offer among passive SSD coolers will be very difficult, with a better price/performance ratio probably impossible. Despite the superior cooling performance, Axagon held back on pricing. Read more “Axagon CLR-M2XL: Only one SSD cooler can be the best”
The “pro” variant of the BeQuiet! MC1 cooler for M.2 SSDs uses a heatpipe to dissipate heat faster and distribute it more evenly into the heatsink body, unlike the non-pro model. However, greater thermal peformance is achieved also because of the larger radiating area of its heatsink. The latter is still relatively low-profile, does not interfere with anything, and most importantly, so far outperforms all SSD coolers of similar size tested so far. Read more “BeQuiet! MC1 Pro: Direction top, higher profile and heatpipe”
The prices of dedicated SSD coolers we’ve tested recently are climbing towards the prices of the cheapest CPU coolers. Considering the smaller amount of material and the simpler design, this is perhaps a bit disproportionate. That’s why Axagon came up with the CLR-M2Lx coolers at half the price of the renowned CLR-M2 model. Meanwhile, the cooling performance of the top-of-the-line CLR-M2L10 is comparable, and lower-profile variants are also available. Read more “Axagon CLR-M2L3/6/10 triple test: Pressure for minimal prices”
The successor to the SSD cooler, which didn’t have much competition in its price range. That’s one way to introduce the Gecko Pro, which is a bit more expensive, but also more refined (in terms of mounting as well). And it also has a distinctive feature that clearly distinguishes it from other coolers – the fins are not longitudinal (as is common), but in width. The price to cooling performance ratio is again excellent. Read more “Akasa Gecko Pro: An SSD cooler with a “different” orientation”
The Czech company Axagon has a lot of SSD coolers with attractive designs. You can see this at a glance – a monolithic, well-articulated heatsink always works. You can’t “go wrong” there. We’ll go through all available variants of Axagon coolers in our tests, but we’ll start with the one this company started with. The CLR-M2 has been enjoying user favor for a long time and in the tests we will find out if rightfully so. Read more “Axagon CLR-M2: Large surface area (fins) with low height”
Over time, we have tested ten motherboards with Intel B660 and Z690 chipsets in great detail. From more than 5000 different measurements, we can thus confidently deny some speculations that are usually spread on the Internet from the ignorance of the authors of articles or comments (in discussions). But this is natural. The less substantial the reviews are, the more fertile ground they create for various confusions. Read more “Analysis: What have we learned from motherboard tests”
The coexistence of third-party SSD coolers that are sold separately with the ones you get in the price of the motherboard invites closer examination. Which of these solutions makes more sense and when? We’ll start answering that question starting now, beginning with an analysis of the BeQuiet MC1 cooler, which will be the first to be confronted with a whole host of motherboard SSD coolers. Read more “Test: BeQuiet! MC1 compared to SSD coolers on motherboards”
Do you know what first carried the BeQuiet! logo? It wasn’t a cooler, it wasn’t a fan, it wasn’t a PSU, and it wasn’t a case. These components were added to the portfolio only later. BeQuiet! started on something completely different, relatively simpler. Over time, however, the range of components has grown considerably. Let’s take a look at what the company has been gradually getting up to. Read more “It’s been two decades since the creation of BeQuiet!”
Are the SSD heatsinks that come with motherboards not enough? For such situations, Thermalight now has alternative solutions that don’t seem to lack cooling performance even for SSDs supporting PCI Express 5.0. The HR-09 2280 and HR-09 2280 Pro coolers are characterized by a more segmented design even compared to designs used for cooling CPUs in laptops or minicomputers. Read more “PCIe 5.0 SSDs are coming and Thermalright has big coolers for them”
Many different SSD coolers with atypical designs have been released over the years. But not a single one resembles the Ineo M12. Not only is it copper (but that doesn’t make it unique), but most importantly, it doesn’t use the traditional heatsink profile. In fact, this is most likely the only cooler with a wire heatsink. It also returns to the cooling philosophy of the bankrupt Nofan. The Ineo M12 uses an “icepipe”. Read more “Copper wire fins, the basis of the Ineo M12 SSD cooler”
More complex, tall coolers for SSD always attract attention. However, their fin area tends to be significantly oversized, at least for current semiconductor storage models. No extremes are needed for cooling ten watts at most. However, higher cooling performance might be warranted later, for PCI Express 5.0 SSDs. From this perspective, the ElecGear active cooler is a rather timeless novelty. Read more “Two heatsinks, a heatpipe and a fan; the new ElecGear SSD cooler”
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