Xigmatek HDT-S1284F Review

Introduction

Today we have onboard the Xigmatek HDT-S1284F CPU cooler. This cooler belongs to the “Heatpipe Direct-Touch” lineup by Xigmatek and boasts direct heatpipe contact with the CPU, virtually guaranteeing better performance than that of its competitors. Let’s see how well it lives up to this claim. Frankly speaking, I actually do have my hopes up high with this one in terms of performance, because Xigmatek’s HDT coolers are not ones to disappoint considering their history of excellence.

This Particular cooler is a sort of follow-up to their own hugely successful cooler the S1283 Rifle CPU cooler. Why the need for a follow up? Well simply to keep up with the competition. The new S1284F cooler has Four 8mm heatpipes in direct contact with the base as compared to the previous S1283 which had Three 8mm ones

Not that they actually needed to, as their 1283 offering with only three heatpipes was easily keeping up with the competition. But I guess Xigmatek are not ones to keep up and want to simply beat the competition, so let’s have a closer look with what they have come up with, Shall we.

The Package

The box has an elegant green theme to it. Major features are listed on the front as well as a window is present, giving a sneak peak at the goods inside. Detailed specifications such as weight, Compatibility etc are listed nicely in a table form at the back. Basically they kept the box simple and efficient and I for one like that.

Once inside, a zipper bag containing all the accessories meets the eye first; more on that later. The cooler itself is nicely packed in a Styrofoam kind of packaging material, so is the included 120mm fan. It’s some pretty robust packaging material, which is good so as to avoid any damage mishaps while shipping, such as bent fins which are common in the cooler segment. So 5/5 for xigmatek on
packaging.

Now, emptying the accessories bag, the following stuff was included:

• Intel Socket 775 Push-pin style mounting arms (two screws for these)
• AMD Socket AM2 and K8 tool-less mounting mechanism
• Silicon Fan Holders (4pcs)
• Thermal Compound

The Xigmatek S1284F is fully as is compatible with all Socket 775 Intel processors, as well as AMD AM2 and K8 processors. The newer revision of the cooler is Intel Socket 1156 (core i5) ready. This means full out of the box compatibility with the socket as well.

Retention kits for the Intel Socket 1366 as well as the Intel Socket 775 and can be purchased separately if needed, making the cooler compatible with the stated sockets. The Socket 775 retention kit helps avoid the push-pin style, stock mounting mechanism which many users are not comfortable with.

A Black 120mm fan is included with the S1284F cooler. The fan has a four-pin PWM connector which means the speed is auto-controlled considering the load on the CPU. It is fairly quite with a max noise rating of 24db which is not much at all. A max R.P.M of 1500 enables the fan to push 57 CFM of air which is just “decent”.

Features and Specifications

Design and Build

The Xigmatek S1284F cooler weighs 660g (with fan) and Measures 120 x 60 x 159mm. A moderate weight in my opinion but let’s see how the mounting mechanism fares. The cooler sports four 8mm copper heatpipes running through the fins which are also a part of the base.

Aluminum and Copper are the main highlights of the cooler, a norm nowadays, but norm for a reason. The combination has time and again proven itself to be worthy considering the performance to cost ratio.

The cooler is nicely designed keeping ergonomics in view. Overall the fins are arranged in sort of a tribal design, which I’m sure is there to aid in cooling, by creating the necessary amount of air turbulence and maximizing the surface area, which is needed for peak performance. The Four Heatpipes which are neatly soldered to the fins, protrude all the way from the base through the array of fins and end at the top of the cooler. Gotta love Xigmatek for simplicity and elegance.

As mentioned previously the S1248F is of the HDT family, hence heatpipes come in direct contact with CPU IHS(integrated heat spreader). This is great since, the least the amount of hurdles are present in between the IHS and the actual cooling mechanism the more efficient the cooling. Heatpipes being a part of the base, rather than being soldered to it offer just that feature. And since the company used 4 heatpipes in this Heatsink, its base is bigger than its predecessor the S1283 which had 3 heatpipes. The bigger base assures greater and a more complete contact with the HIS of the newer bigger (in area) processors such as the Intel LGA 1156 core i5 and the LGA 1366 Core i7.

Upon checking with a Razor blade, The base of the cooler was remarkably flat and there were no groves between the heatpipes which are common with many direct heatpipe coolers on the market. A good feature to be noted!

Installation

The installation was a breeze for the Xigmatek 1284F cooler and doesn’t require any studying the manual for directions. The included silicon based thermal paste is more than enough but its sadly in a onetime use disposable packaging, a tube would have been much better so one can save it for later usage.

The cooler uses the simple and renowned push-pin mechanism used with the stock Intel cooler, which has some lovers for its simplicity and haters for the fear of actually pushing too hard on the pins.

Whichever group people belong to, all of them will agree on the mechanism’s simplicity and the fact that it doesn’t require the end user to remove the motherboard from the chassis.

But, that said xigmatek should have taken into account the fact that this is not an Intel cooler with push-pin mechanism, but a their 660 gram heatsink. The installation was as easy as it gets. Even though the mounting was snug and tight; I was not completely satisfied with it. Particularly because of a noticeable bend in the PCB of the motherboard which I discovered when turned the motherboard over. This is natural for coolers with the push-pin mechanism and Xigmatek could have done better with other mounting styles.

But the good news is that Xigmatek sells the Bolt-Through retention kit for the cooler which just solves the problem for those who are not “comfortable” with the push-pin mounting. So kudos to the company for satisfying its customer’s needs!

Once I had applied the Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste and the cooler was mounted, I next installed the 120mm fan with the included silicon holders which held the fan quite snugly in place. Finally, the cooler was ready for a test run!

Testing and Benchmarking

Test Bed

• Processor: Intel Core2duo e8400 3.0ghz 6mb L2 cache
• Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 Chipset Crossfire Motherboardd
• Memory: OCZ Reapers HPC Edition 2 x 2GB kit (4gb) 1066mhz C5 Timing @ 2.1vv
• Graphics Card: XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition 512mb (256-bit)
• Power Supply: Hec Zephyr Series 750W
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-22
• The included stock 120mm PWM fan

Coolers Tested

• Xigmatek S1284F (S1284)
• Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer (SCCF) with Xigmatek 120mm fan
• Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 (TRUE) with Xigmatek 120mm fan
• Intel Stock Socket 775 cooler (STOCK)

Some pictures of the competitors, may the best cooler win!

Testing Method

The Sunbeam core contact freezer was chosen to be included in the testing because it is the direct competitor or should I say nemesis, of the Xigmatek S1284, offering similar features such as 4 heatpipes and Direct Touch technology. And the TRUE was included because well, it has set legendary standards for new coolers to follow and compete with.

To start off with, all four of the coolers were tested on the stock clocks of the Intel core2duo e8400 processor, 3.0ghz @ 1.20 vcore. Next the clocks were bumped up to the 4.1ghz @ 1.35 vcore. And then followed by that, to make things even more interesting the voltage was bumped up to 1.48 vcore at the same 4.1ghz to see how these coolers handle the added heat.

OCCT v3.1.0 (over clock checking tool) was used to check the over clock stability and to provide 100% load to the CPU and hence benchmark the temperature handling by each cooler. Rea temp v3.50 was used to monitor the temperatures throughout the testing. Each cooler was tested for an hour with the respective settings before the final readings were taken. The ambient room temperature remained at 20-21c throughout the testing process. All temperatures were measured in degree Celsius.

Test Results

Temps @ stock 3.0 GHz 1.20 vcore (Lower is Better)

Temps @ OC 4.1 GHz 1.35 vcore (Lower is Better)

All three of the aftermarket coolers performed admirably at 4.1ghz with 1.35 vcore. All were head to head with each other. That was to be expected since all these fall in the same league of coolers. And the S1284-F shows that it performs better than its direct competitor, the SCCF.

Temps @ OC 4.1 GHz 1.48 vcore ( Lower is Better)

At 1.48 vcore the S1284 handled the added heat well along with the other coolers. It didn’t trail much far behind the TRUE and beat by a slight lead, the SCCF. As for the stock cooler, the temps started shooting after first 10 mins and kept rising. I had to stop the test when it reached 85c to protect my hardware. Nothing surprising though, stock coolers are not meant for overclocking at all. That is indeed why we have the excellent Xigmatek S1248-F in our hands.

Conclusion

Xigmatek basically introduced the S1284-F cooler to compete with the various competitors’ offerings. In my opinion after their marvelous creation, The S1283 Rifle cooler, there was no need to improvise. That very cooler was giving the competition a run for their money.

But at the end of the day it all comes down to what the consumer wants. So the S1284-F with added heatpipes and base area had to be created. And truth be told it is the perfect cooler, I mean it performs extremely well, looks decent and is nicely priced at an MSRP of $37. Do note that a couple more Dollars have to be added to purchase the Bolt through kit separately for peace of mind. With that money spent you can rest assured to have top notch performance for quite a while, as Xigmatek keeps updating its hardware with new retention kit options for various new platforms that venture into the processor market. Also do note that the cooler will definitely become more efficient with a higher airflow aftermarket 120mm fan that is if the added noise is not a problem for you.

In Short totally recommended considering the Price/Performance ratio the product offers.

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