Top Tier CPU Air Coolers Q3 2015: 9-Way Roundup Review
by E. Fylladitakis on July 6, 2015 8:00 AM ESTThe Reeven Okeanos RC-1402
Reeven is a Taiwanese newcomer in the industry. Naturally, most people reading this probably never even heard the company name before today. The company was founded just over a year ago and currently only offers CPU coolers, fans and fan controllers. Reeven sent us their most powerful CPU cooler as well, the Okeanos (RC-1402).
The box that the Reeven comes supplied in is relatively small. Nevertheless, the protection appears adequate, with polyethylene foam protecting the cooler and the bundled items packed inside a cardboard box.
The bundle is a little crudely packed and virtually kept to a minimum. Reeven supplies only the hardware necessary for the mounting of the cooler, a single dose of thermal grease, wire clips for up to three cooling fans, speed reducers for the two provided fans and a leaflet with basic installation instructions.
Reeven supplies two cooling fans alongside with the Okeanos, one 120 mm and one 140 mm fan. Both fans have black frames and genista yellow blades. These are relatively simple models, with sleeve bearings, lacking fancy blades or vibration absorbers. There is one thing of note about these two fans though: they are ridiculously powerful, with the 140 mm and the 120 mm fan rated for a maximum speed of 1700 RPM and 1800 RPM respectively.
The Okeanos is a symmetric dual tower CPU cooler, with strangely narrow towers for its class. Although the difference is very small, the fins of each tower are not precisely geometrically symmetric, with the front side having three small and the rear side one long indentations. The top fin is a 1 mm thick aluminum cover with the company logo punched on it.
The wire fan installation clips do allow moving the front fan upwards in order to gain some RAM clearance - as long as the case is wide enough, of course. Installation-wise, they are a bit of a pain, as Reeven's approach is far too crude, with the wire clips just going straight into the fan holes and clipping onto the side of the fan.
Furthermore, the frame of the 120 mm fan just barely touches the extruded sides of the fins. It is very easy for the 120 mm fan to be installed with only one side on the extruded fins, increasing noise and reducing performance.
Even though the Okeanos initially looks very simple, the bottom of the cooler makes it very interesting. The base is split between a nickel-plated copper lower part and a steel top part, providing mechanical cohesion and retention. In between these two parts, there are six heatpipes, secured with a very generous amount of solder. The two central heatpipes are 8 mm thick, while the other four heatpipes are 6 mm thick, making this the only cooler with an asymmetric heatpipe configuration in our review. The contact surface is well polished and free of imperfections, yet not machined down to a perfect mirror finish.
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AssBall - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
No it isn't. The mounting mechanisms on these higher priced sinks are, as, had you read the article, solid. If you are missing an arm and wanted to mount a 100$ heat sink in your 25$ case, you might care about the weight, in which case, the manufacturer's website is a one armed lazy click away.Schickenipple - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
Cheaper still, at under $50, is the ZALMAN CNPS9500A. I use it on almost every build due to it's all-copper design and razor thin fins. I can keep the fan on the lowest speed without my Core i7 going over 40 Deg. C under load. It's silent no matter what I'm doing.My only complaint is that the fan is not PWM. Quibbles.
meacupla - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
The only thing I haven't liked about Zalman, is that the fans they use in their heatsinks aren't exactly the quietest and are usually not easily swappable. At least, not when compared against manufacturers like Scythe and Noctua.Nfarce - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
I have the 9700LED variant of that design for my old Core 2 Duo E8400 build. It does okay for medium overclocks (running my 3.0GHz E8400 at 3.4GHz), but that was about it. And considering I paid $55 for it back in 2009 when I built that rig (about $60 in today's money), it wasn't exactly a cheap option. I would have spent a little more for a better cooler so I could get a higher overclock, but the new Sandy Bridge chipset was coming out soon and I decided to just keep it as a backup rig.Eidigean - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
The conversion from Euro to Dollar for the Reeven Okeanos is incorrect. 60€ != $54. 60€ == $66. I think you divided instead of multiplied.GeekTech - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
I just want to mention that the Cryorig R1 Ultimate CPU Cooler that you listed and said was currently available only through a foreign store registered in Amazon.com that ships from Korea is currently being sold at PC Case Gear here in Australia for AU$89 (US$66.82).Link: https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=pro...
letmepicyou - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
I would have liked to see the Noctua's real arch nemesis included in this shootout, the Thermalright Silver Arrow. Crushes the Macho Zero. I have a Silver Arrow on my i7 4790k running seti@home, and it owns.Innokentij - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
The Phanteks PH-TC14PЕ is a better cooler using noctunas own fans on it and even better if u add AF140 fans to it . Is why i took it over the Noctua for myself.http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/n...
UltraWide - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
There is an updated version of the noctua: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&...Eidigean - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
It's not so much as updated, as it is an off-center version of the same NH-D15. I would need the NH-D15S that you linked to on my MB as the former would hit my GPU in the first slot. I was considering modifying the D15 to move it up and away until I saw the D15S. A good link none the less.