High end brand names (in terms of computer processor cooling) provide the best performance. This performance though comes at a price, which for air coolers can touch nearly 100 dollars.
But there are bargains to be had; Products that have a very high price/ performance ratio. Will Xigmatek’s Achilles heel be one such product? Or will it be billed as an also ran? Read on to find out.
ABOUT XIGMATEK
Xigmatek is Taiwan based manufacturer of computer products, with an R & D center based in Germany. Apart from air coolers the company also manufactures power supplies, computer cases and computer case fans. Xigmatek is famous for its “HDT” (Heat-pipe Direct Touch) line of coolers where the heat pipes run exposed at the base of the cooler. The theory behind this madness is that the heat transfer between processor heat spreader and the cooler is more efficient as the heat directly moves to the heat-pipes rather than the heatsink base. A welcome side effect is that it lowers manufacturing cost as well.
Xigmatek manufactures an entire line of coolers to suit all categories of consumer spending. Achilles falls somewhere between the top of the line and the more budget conscious coolers.
MANY FACES OF ACHILLES
Xigmatek assigns a name and a number code to their products. The number is followed by a letter code that reflects the revision of the cooler within the series. Achilles is S1284. The reviewed product has a letter code “W” (S1284W). The cooler has gone through at least one major and several minor revisions. The major revision replaced the copper heat pipes with Nickel plated ones. The rest of the revisions reflect the change in mounting mechanism and supported processors.
Oh, just in case you are wondering the name comes from the Greek war hero Achilles (of the Achilles heel fame).
PACKAGING
Achilles comes in a very standard all (transparent) plastic package, enshrined in a cardboard cover. The Front of the package is dominated by the LED orange fan behind which lies the heat sink.
The bottom of the package has a recess which houses the mounting accessories and the installation leaflet
At the back, the cardboard cover lists the salient feature of the cooler.
The packaging is very minimalist – just enough to ship the cooler. There isn’t any foam protection in the packaging. In fact the most fragile part of the cooler (the fan) is directly exposed to external shocks.
I can understand the midrange (price wise) placement of the cooler, but the packaging could certainly have been better. Coolers that compete for shelf space with this come in a much more secure packing (e.g. Cooler Master Hyper212 Plus).
INTRODUCING THE ACHILLES
Achilles is a standard affair single tower cooler with an asymmetrical face design (the front and the back of the cooler are shaped differently). The sides have a serrated edge design.
The base of the cooler houses the heat-pipes which are directly exposed to the processor heat-spreader. This thus forms the “base” of the heat sink.
The cooler sports four 8mm heat pipes which are Nickel plated.
The cooler is about 160mm tall and will fit most mid-tower cases. (This includes the Cooler Master Elite series). At its widest the cooler is about 60mm deep without a fan. It will probably not interfere with memory slots on most motherboard. It weighs about 660 grams with the inclusion of the bundled fan.
THE COOLING TOWER
The cooling tower comprises of 54 Aluminum plates. The front of the plate (the side facing the fan) is relatively flat with only a 5mm central depressed area that runs for about 56mm in the center of the heat sink. The total length of the front face is about a 120mm.
The rear of the heat plate is about a 100mm long, with a central depression of about 8mm. This runs for about 40mm at the center of the back of the plate.
The side of the heat sink plate is serrated and has a “wing tip” design. The front edge has a cavity that runs throughout the length of the heat sink. This is for the anti vibration pegs used to affix the fan to the heat sink.
All the plates have the same orientation i.e. all of them run perfectly horizontally. The lowest heat plates are thus not bent downwards to allow airflow over the power regulation circuitry. Though this is not the main function of the cooler, it would have been nice to see added functionality that comes at no cost to the manufacturer.
Each plate has an area of roughly 62mm2. The entire heat dissipation area is thus roughly about 6572mm2.
Each cooler has its own specific heat plate design that is used to minimize airflow resistance and offer maximal heat dissipation. Achilles tower is of a simple construction reminiscent of early days of tower cooling. This design is still followed to this day by many manufacturers especially in their mid and budget range coolers.
Xigmatek fashioned the cooling tower ala classical style. No fancy surface modification or bent heat plates. The tower offers a respectable heat dissipation area.
HEAT PIPES & THE BASE
The cooler features four 8mm Nickel plated heat pipes. As this is a heat-pipe direct touch cooler (HDT), the heat-pipes form the base of the cooler as well.
The portion of the heat pipes that serve as the “base” have a mirror shine and are not Nickel plated. The heat pipes do not run contiguously, but are separated by Aluminum partitions. These partitions run down from a block of Aluminum that forms a support for the base.
Each individual heat-pipe that forms the base is flat as is the base as a whole. There are however minute grooves between the heat-pipes and the partitions.
Once the heat-pipes leave the base they are Nickel plated all the way to the top of the heat sink tower. Unlike most heat sinks, these pipes have a diameter of 8mm (as opposed to 6mm on most coolers that fall in this category and even in the high end of the spectrum).
The pipes run in a staggered fashion (rather than running in a line) through the cooling tower. This is done to maximize heat dissipation to air.
The heat pipe design is one of the strongest points of the cooler. They are Nickel plated and are of 8mm diameter. The base portion has a mirror shine and is flat.
Though the cooler has a simple design, it is very well constructed. There are no sharp edges on the cooling. All the solder points are well ground off. The base is of top notch finish (as much as can be for a HDT cooler). Xigmatek has put in a lot of effort to offer a well finished product.
FAN
A 120mm fan with an orange propeller and white LEDs is also bundled with the cooler. The fan has PWM control. It can throw a maximum of about 62 cfm of air at 1500 rpm.
ACCESSORIES
The cooler comes with mounting kits for all contemporary Intel and AMD processors. For Intel processor a universal back-plate and mounting system is included. The back plate has an adhesive surface and needs to be stuck to the motherboard for optimum placement. The cooler is mounted on the back plate by fixing two “clips” on to the cooler. Spring loaded screws are used to fix the cooler to the back plate.
The cooler comes with small tube of thermal grease as well. There is enough material in the tube for about 5 pea sized applications.
DOCUMENTATION AND ONLINE RESOURCES
If the heat sink construction was the high point of the package, the provided instruction is definitely its Achilles’ heel (pun intended).
The instruction comes in the form of a folded leaflet. Xigmatek has attempted to offer installation instruction for both Intel and AMD processors in 8 languages on a two page leaflet.
The instructions were probably not written for each specific revision of the cooler. (I’ll get back to this point a little later). Remember that the cooler has gone through major and minor revisions.
The first problem is that the diagrams that accompany the instruction are confusing at times. They are too small and not very clear.
The other problem, and a major one, is that the instructions jump from one method of installation to another. This is in part due to the way the instructions have been updated to reflect the newer revisions of the cooler.
I’ll take the example of installation in a LGA 775 system. The instructions are divided into panels which are numbered from one onwards. The first two panels are generic and tell you to remove the protective sticker from the base and apply the provided thermal grease to the processor heat sink spreader.
The 3rd and the 4th panel are for AMD K8 platform with a clip installation system (though no such system is provided in the current packing –the instructions are probably a remnant of an older revision)
The 5th panel shows how to install the clip system for LGA 775 platform. The accompany text only says “Fasten the clip and clip screws onto the bottom side of the heat-sink”.
The next panel (6th) shows how to push the pins into the motherboard to secure the cooler. The picture in the 5th panel shows a clip without any push pins and the next panel is asking you to push the pins installed before. Any novice will probably be very confused. Again this discrepancy is because of the way the instructions were revised.
This is not the end of instruction manual “hell”. The mounting mechanism included in the package requires the installation of a universal back plate for all Intel sockets. The instructions here are clear enough to show which side is to face the motherboard when fixing the back plate.
The problem starts when you try and fix the cooler to the back plate using the clips provided. The instructions will pretty much leave you guessing as to how to thread the spring loaded screws into the clip (There is no indication which slot is for which socket type).
For some reason the instructions jump to installation of the cooler on an AMD platform using the mounting kit provided.
Xigmatek really needs to work on their manual leaflet. They need to use larger figures, fewer languages and provide clear instructions for the mounting mechanism included in the package. They should also divide the instruction for Intel and AMD on separate leaflets or at least complete installation for one platform before starting off with the installation of the other.
The online page for Achilles is well organized with tabs providing access to features, application, specifications and an online user manual. The latter is plagued with issues highlighted enough. The manual is for an older revision of the cooler which had an older mounting mechanism.
OFFICIAL SPECS
INSTALLATION
The cooler was tested on a LGA 1156 based Intel platform. The installation process is very straight forward. It is only made confusing and difficult by the included instructions, which can leave a rookie bewildered at times.
The installation begins with the positioning of the back plate. The back plate needs to be oriented with the hollow side pointing towards the motherboard for LGA 1156 and LGA 1366 boards. For LGA 775 boards the back plate is mounted the other way around. Both sides of the back plate are covered with an adhesive. Ideally the back plate should be stuck on the motherboard. The downside of this is that it will be pretty difficult to reuse the cooler on another board without purchasing another mounting kit. It is possible to mount the cooler without using the adhesive
Once the back plate is in place the two retention plates (wing clips) can be screwed onto the cooler. This is a very straight forward procedure.
As this is a heat pipe direct touch (HDT) cooler it is recommended to apply thermal grease to the heat pipe rather than the processor heat spreader (read thermal grease shootout article here for why this is done).
The cooler is positioned over the processor and is screwed onto the back plate by the 4 spring loaded screws. For LGA 1156 sockets the middle-peripheral openings in the retention plates are used (This is not mentioned in the installation instructions).
The screws are tightened in a diagonal fashion.
The fan is mounted on using the anti-vibration rubber pegs. This is not a novel solution as Noctua provides these with their coolers as well. These pegs are relatively easy to install on the fan, but require a bit of an effort to mount (and un-mount) from the cooler. These sit in the specially designed recess that runs down the side of the cooler near its front end.
The final installation looks like this
The cooler leaves a decent thermal grease imprint. The secret is in the application of the thermal compound (click link above).
INSTALLATION HINTS
- 1. The instructions manual are very vague. If you have never installed a processor cooler before (after market variety) take help from a friend who has some experience with installations.
2. The back plate needs to be mounted with the hollow side facing the board for LGA 1156/1366 boards. The orientation is reversed for LGA775 socket based boards
3. The retention clips (wings) have openings that cater to all three Intel sockets. The innermost opening is for LGA 775 sockets, the one furthest is for LGA 1366 socket. The one in between is for LGA 1156 socket based boards
4. As this is a HDT cooler applying thermal grease on the heat pipe base is better than applying it on the processor heat spreader surface.
TEST SYSTEM
TEST RESULTS
The cooler performs very predictably here. Its performance matches that of another very popular HDT cooler the Cooler Master Hyper 212+.
It obviously can’t be compared to the top daddies of air cooling. That would really be unfair. What you get is what you pay for here. The cooler is not going to magically overtake the best air coolers on the market.
CONCLUSIONS
Xigmatek has a fine product on its hand. The cooler is well constructed, ships with a good fan. The instructions should be revised to reflect the latest version of the cooler. The mounting mechanism can be improved a tad as well (Sticky back plates are so 2000 and late!).
Xigmatek have some over kill features as well. The cooler could have done just as well with standard 6mm heat pipes. Nickel plating, while definitely adding to aesthetics is not doing much for cooling performance. Both of these factors do add to the cost of the cooler and unfortunately this is where the troubles for this cooler begin. The cooler’s retail price is about 4000 Rupees, while the hyper 212+ retails for at least 500 less and performs just the same.
Is the cooler worth it? If you need have a case with a side window and want to show off a very cool looking orange fan with white LEDs and don’t mind the extra 500 and are adept at cooler installation the answer is yes. Otherwise the hyper 212+ is just a better buy.
PROS
- 1. Well constructed
2. 8mm Nickel heat pipes
3. Shiny base
4. Orange Propeller fan with White LEDS
5. PWM controlled fan
6. Universal application
CONS
- 1. Vague and confusing instructions
2. Mounting system that involves sticky back plates
3. Not the best price/ performance ratio in business
WCCF would like to thank PC Xtremist for sending in the review unit. For those who are not unaware, PC Xtremist is a hardware accessories on-line store operating out of Pakistan. They are local distributors for many well known brand names including Arctic cooling, Xigmatek, Lamptron and Antec to name a few. If you are looking to jazz up your PC with CCFLs, LED lights, fan controllers, fans etc be sure to look em up pcxtremists
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