Nice to see more basic tower designs. I don't like the coolers that require 2 fans, and are absurdly large, so impractical =P. However these fall flat. If you consider cost, the Hyper212+ Is still the one to beat it seems.

Actually, aren't there others that perform similar? I'm thinking of Corsair ones I believe. We need more reviews on SPCR! =P

I'm still rocking a Gelid Silent Spirit:


I forcibly unbent it into a tower style after reading SPCR's Single Moving Part PC in Silverstone TJ08. It's been decent, if unspectacular. And was low cost. But it seems to have been discontinued quickly

It seems like Gelid have lost their way.

When I saw the review I was really hoping for an alternative to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO. Though the EVO does perform pretty well for its price, I don't feel there are any alternative in this price range. The Gelid Tranquillo has failed to deliver. So has the Enermax ETS-T40. And the Scythe Katana 3 only has a 92 mm fan so it's not really in the same league. Also, Cooler Master doesn't seem to make good fans. They usually tick a lot. Perhaps this has been improved in the EVO.

The Arctic Cooling i30/a30 might be able to compete. It's reasonably priced, direct touch between heatpipe and CPU and I tend to fancy fans from AC. Plus, the PWM fan in the i30/a30 has a mininum fan speed at 400 rpm vs. 600 rpm in the EVO. Great for the über silencer.

I tend to use the CM heatsinks TX3 and 212 are both good and well priced, recent updates minor variations but pretty much the same thing.
The CM fans are not particularly good, I've seen worse but I don't care much for them. My solution is to swap out the fans with cost effective decent alternatives of your own choice and you still end up with decent cooling performance and a good bang per buck.

These big high end coolers are really for heavy overclockers thus a niche regarding normal pc users. I've found the TX-3 to be the ideal decent HS solution easy to fit (does not require a board removal or adding plates), good performance (for moderate overclockers), and fitted with a decent 92mm fan it's also damn quiet.

I still have a lot of time for Gelid they do some good fans (can't say I share the review comments even on the PWM fans found them pretty good myself), at a good price and they've lasted well so far.

As to a challenger for the EVO (clone?)

http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?pro ... pe=feature Gaia SD1283

I've build a system with this one and the user (with average ears) calls it "quiet". The fan isn't better than the EVO's, but it can be bought 5€ cheaper in germany

So... pro tip for cpu cooler makers: make the base convex

I'll second that maker selection. The Xigmatek HDT-S1283 reviewed very favourably (scored 9) with SPCR, and having used it I'd say it's been the best budget cooler I have personally used. Its downfall was the push-pin retention, which failed after some months in use (one pin stripped after a light knock on the case), but I see the Gaia has done away with that system.

These Gelid coolers in this review were nothing special indeed, and I just can't understand why anyone would make the base concave. I mean I'd imagine it's easiest and cheapest to just make it flat if convex is not an option. Good thing Gelid still has the Icy Vision to fall back on.

It's not available in Denmark, sadly. But then again, we have no available Thermalright CPU coolers.