Question Raising attention to the Ocypus Iota A62 "digital" air-cooler

[BonzaiDuck]

I suppose that's what I've always argued. Nobody tried to pressure me into switching to AiO. I've flirted with the idea for a good part of two decades! Then I'd research some comparison reviews, send my processors off to Silicon Lottery for re-lidding with the Grizzly, and never had the hassles people reported over the years -- malfunctioning pumps, leaks, the maintenance hassles.

My PCs are well-filtered. So I really don't have as much kruft building up between the cooler fins.

Ha! there was a time when we had five PCs running in this house, all with air filtration. We had a guy either from the gas company or the HVAC business come into the house and test our air. "Cleanest air I've seen in weeks!" he proclaimed.

 

[Pohemi]

Performance for the money, that Phantom Spirit Evo is hard to beat.

 

[Rigg]

I think I've pretty much tried all of the different Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin variants at this point. I currently use PS EVO heatsinks with Be Quiet! fans on both of my machines. I went with the Evo primarily because I think they look the best of all of the PS variants. I don't use the stock fans with either of my machines but I have used them on lots of builds for other people. The stock fans on the Evo are better build quality and look nicer than the fans from the lower tier variants. The standard fans are better than the Evo fans in terms of noise normalized performance while the Evo fans are more capable in overall performance. Neither one can hold a candle to premium fans, although you kind of destroy a lot of the value proposition of the Thermalright stuff once you put premium fans on them.

I think the variants of the PS around $35 are honestly a better choice for price/performance than the Evo for most people given the better low noise performance of the fans. That being said, the Evo is the best looking cooler they make IMO, and is still really nice for $45. I see no practical reason to even consider 240 and smaller AIO coolers. The Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin coolers work great up 225 watts or so.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Here's another product I discovered from comparison reviews. The trick to using multiple comparison reviews is in identifying a comparison cooler they have in common. The you can get a better idea of the relative performance of two other models -- the one of interest, and another in the comparisons.

ID-COOLING FROZN A720 Black - 6.4" Height Black Dual-Tower Air CPU Cooler, 7×Ф6mm Heatpipes, Dual 140x140x25mm FDB Fans, TDP 300W, Intel LGA1700/1851/1200/115X/20XX; AMD AM4/AM5 (163mm in Height)​

This leaves me a remaining uncertainty which I resolved with the NH-D15 and the Le Grand Macho coolers -- the clear plastic door for fan mounts on the driver-side side-panel. It's really nothing to dremel modifications in this type of plastic, or even with Lexan if you can manage it. I had to make some "cut-outs" in these doors so they would remain functional and still allow the heatpipe pipe-tips to fit with the plastic door.

OH! Maybe I forgot! Where did these "plastic doors" come from? I'm using CoolerMaster Stacker 832 cases from 2007. Other simple mods, perhaps with lexan plate, would allow me to remove the door permanently, but it has advantages worth keeping it in the case. You can scroll through a few pages of this TechPowerUp review from June of that year and find the photo with the ventilated metal side-panel removed to reveal the plastic door on easy-extraction hinges at the back of the case. As long as the structural integrity of the plastic door is preserved, it accommodates coolers that sit 160mm above CPU.

The ID Cooling A720 spec sheet shows 163mm from processor cap to the tips of the heat pipes.

I know you folks want me to buy a new case, but these CM 830's came with double-wheeled casters, and there are many ways to mount radiators, disk drives, drive hot-swap assemblies, and anything else. Prior projects had me seeing the usefulness of providing SATA III ports neatly installed in a "hand-hold" at top of the case with a foam-board construction, with the wiring exiting the back of the plastic recess for connection to motherboard ports. I don't think I need external SATA in front now, so my requirement for motherboard ports decreases by 2.

 

[VirtualLarry]

BD, don't focus on overclocking on these newer Intel chips, there really isn't much customer-accessable headroom. Best thing you can do is go overkill on the cooling, such that tje chip stays under throttle temp, and can turbo itzelf.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Performance for the money, that Phantom Spirit Evo is hard to beat.

QFT!

I'm amazed at how amazingly efficient and quiet this cheap cooler can be! I can only surmise I would have to spend in excess of $100 to get a comparable cooler from a more established brand.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Just as an aside, I created a new thread in the Windows sub-forum, to let more people know about IoT.
I've added a link to this thread as well, but I don't want to hijack it altogether.

Article - Worried about the forced move to Windows 11? Worry no more: there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be updated until 2032!

With the announced end of support for Windows 10 coming up this October, many people are reluctant - for many good reasons! - to commit to a forced update to Windows 11. But what if I told you there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be supported for seven more years, until 2032...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just as an aside, I created a new thread in the Windows sub-forum, to let more people know about IoT.
I've added a link to this thread as well, but I don't want to hijack it altogether.

Article - Worried about the forced move to Windows 11? Worry no more: there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be updated until 2032!

With the announced end of support for Windows 10 coming up this October, many people are reluctant - for many good reasons! - to commit to a forced update to Windows 11. But what if I told you there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be supported for seven more years, until 2032...

forums.anandtech.com

That's just fine! You're a stand-up lady. Very helpful.

I had momentary misgivings about posting the IoT Enterprise information, wondering about thel "P" word. Then I became curious about this online industry who (supposedly) provide legitimate keys. Some assert their standing as "Microsoft Partners", and they have all the "Trusted" housekeeping seals of approval. They sell you a license to a 4-year-old version of Office and good for installation on 5 PCs. Then you get the key in an e-mail, which explains what to do when you get a "too many activations" message suggesting to activate by phone, so you send a screen-shot to them to get the confirmation code.

This wasn't my problem purchasing a cheap license key for IoT. Just not sure what M$ would do finding all these IoT licenses to home consumers. I suppose they wouldn't care that much. A lot of people like me are paying nothing for the ESU subscription of a first year, but I was initially willing to shell out the $60 or whatever it was.

I am more curious as to how the shrink-wrapped Retail-box Windows 11 Pro Installation kits are so cheap over at EBay. You can get them for less than $60 each -- maybe as little as $35 or $40. Retail boxes for Win 10 and earlier sold for about $200+ as I recall, so we always bought the OEM and gave up the ability to install the OS on another system if the original PC was going to the recycler.

Maybe those shrink-wrapped versions of lost some market value because anybody who was running Windows 10 is eligible (apparently) for a free Win 11 in-place-repair-upgrade.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just as an aside, I created a new thread in the Windows sub-forum, to let more people know about IoT.
I've added a link to this thread as well, but I don't want to hijack it altogether.

Article - Worried about the forced move to Windows 11? Worry no more: there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be updated until 2032!

With the announced end of support for Windows 10 coming up this October, many people are reluctant - for many good reasons! - to commit to a forced update to Windows 11. But what if I told you there's a Windows 10 version that will continue to be supported for seven more years, until 2032...

forums.anandtech.com

You are very sociable today!

I had several "hobbies" before my Bro and Moms died after 2021. I had a rental property, so I filed taxes as "Active participant" in the business, made decisions -- and -- most wonderful of all -- filed my taxes alone with confidence, honesty and punctuality. The other hobby was building computers for myself and my fam-damn-ily.

I developed this "strategy" for building computers for myself, and often the family got my experiments as hand-me-downs. No complaints!

After I caught the over-clocking bug, I was looking for better-quality parts -- it wasn't just about the money. Air cooler primarily fit the price range under $100. As much as I've got a Hyper 212 Evo deployed on an i7-6700K system of surplus parts for Media Center usage, the "new" system designs or plans always favor performance over price.

So I'll look at the Phantom Spirit Evo -- it already rises in the list because I've had MANY TnermalRight coolers and done many things with them. But it will boil down to a comparison of lab-test reviews under the known expectations of CPU test-beds. "Load" temperatures are a proxy or inverse proxy for thermal conductance and thermal resistance. I aim to do the best I can, even if it costs me $100.

And if I have to dremel and mod a Stacker 830 plastic "fan door" to make a tall cooler fit, I'm gonna do that, too. These cases were released by Cooler Master in 2007!!

Maybe this is part of the same fetish as driving a 31-year-old orphaned SUV. I can't say. Probably.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thank you kindly!
I figured out it doesn't hurt to try and help others. That's why I came to these forums, on and off, for the past quarter of a century.

I LOATHE and despise Windows 11. Dumb context menus, dumb home/taskbar, horrible UI choices and many other little miseries that add up (including, but not limited to, the mandatory M$ account).

Also... these forums are already on life support, unfortunately. It's not as if a controversial subject is going to demonetize the main site.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thank you kindly!
I figured out it doesn't hurt to try and help others. That's why I came to these forums, on and off, for the past quarter of a century.

I LOATHE and despise Windows 11. Dumb context menus, dumb home/taskbar, horrible UI choices and many other little miseries that add up (including, but not limited to, the mandatory M$ account).

Also... these forums are already on life support, unfortunately. It's not as if a controversial subject is going to demonetize the main site.

Quoting you just to acknowledge your presence.

I think it has been almost two decades, since I began to dredge up comparison reviews to find the very best cooler on the market -- air-cooler, even so. Sometimes I needed two comparison reviews displaying three relevant coolers. So if you had one review that gave a ranking for Cooler A, and another review that gave a ranking for Cooler B -- but you couldn't find a single review with both -- then you need a reference of a third cooler C appearing in both rankings. And then you can emerge with your best understanding that would otherwise rank A against B.

So today, I went hunting for the ID Cooling FROZN A720. A slight problem of height, but I've had more than one cooler that required modding my Cooler--Master Stacker 830 plastic fan door inside the perf-metal slide-off metal side panel. But looking at some reviews, it didn't seem all that good. We're exploring a range of heatpipe coolers that fit above the Noctua NH-D15 in a ranking.

Our veteran colleagues here suggested two models of ThermalRight, but I just discovered this one:

The ThermalRight FROST Commander 140

This thing seems to perform significant notches better than the NH-D15, and so the Watts-Cooled data seems to make it a good candidate. There are various assertions of "Watts-Cooled" among these products and the Tom's review gives a conservative take on it, nevertheless impressive.

It's easy to loathe and despise Win 11. We had that feeling about Windows 10 until we relented out of sheer fatigue trying to preserve the Windows 7 universe as we watched Windows Media Center slip-slip-slip away. That's why those Enterprise IOT versions of Windows 10 are so revealing -- an all-business, serious-business OS manifestation without the bloat.

But I'm just examining the options. In addition to other motives I had and explained, I needed to find out if I REALLY HAD to build a new computer soon. I NEED a PROJECT, but I don't need to get started right away.

Meanwhile, I can't have 31 Flavors but I can have about three: Win 10 with ESU subscription, Win 10 IoT Enter . . . LTSC, and Win 11. But with Win 11 working on at least one of these systems, I don't have an urgency for any hardware project. The longer I hold off, that means more ducats in my savings to cover the IRMAA Medicare premiums in 2026 because of the income from selling a home in 2024.

And it's not just about the money. I want to spend what I want to spend to get the parts I want -- even as some may say "You don't need them parts! Parts is parts!" Not making fun of anyone, and I appreciate their worries about "bang for the buck".

Whatever I build, it's going to be as good as my Sky and Kaby Lake systems. According to my formula. A formula that still insists ODDs and hot-swap HDDs are useful. And it looks as though I'm going to "shine on" my earlier AiO cooling plans. Anything that has a six year warranty with hoses could leak in three years. The air coolers just make more sense to me at this point.

 

[bba_tcg]

QFT!

I'm amazed at how amazingly efficient and quiet this cheap cooler can be! I can only surmise I would have to spend in excess of $100 to get a comparable cooler from a more established brand.

While I agree about the Phantom Spirit, Id say that Thermalright is a pretty well established brand. My first good air cooler was the TRUE 120 and the only real reason I moved on is that they don't sell updated mounting kits. Well, that and the fact that modern processors have insane cooling requirements. But, even still, I bet if I was willing to put a high CFM fan on a TRUE 120, it would still do a decent job.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

While I agree about the Phantom Spirit, Id say that Thermalright is a pretty well established brand. My first good air cooler was the TRUE 120 and the only real reason I moved on is that they don't sell updated mounting kits. Well, that and the fact that modern processors have insane cooling requirements. But, even still, I bet if I was willing to put a high CFM fan on a TRUE 120, it would still do a decent job.

High CFM Fans! I was once a fan of a fan -- the Nidec-Servo Gentle Typhoon AP-30. This 120mm fan could spin up to 4,000 RPM. I discovered ways to attenuate the noise, but you'd never get rid of the white noise from air turbulence! There was a PWM version. You could set your ASUS motherboard BIOS to thermally control that fan, so that running an extreme stress test like Linpack or IntelBurnTest would cause the fan to spin up to the limit you set. My upper limit was about 3,200 RPM.

Then you couldn't find AP-30's anymore. So I discovered the Noctua iPPC 3000, coming in both 120mm and 140mm flavors. You can do the same thing. If you're throwing a real burn on your CPU, does it matter to hear the white-noise of air turbulence while the CPU is loaded near 100%? Because the rest of the time -- it can be very quiet.

Anyway. I KNOW that I'm long-winded in my TLTR thread posts. But I'm stating a position.

We speak a lot of bang-for-buck and heatpipe cooler prices. The prices on those items is set by a very competitive market, so you pretty much get what you pay for. Yet many -- some here -- have a valid observation of "bang-for-buck" in regard to certain coolers.

Once I've found my cooler that offers hope in low thermal resistance and high thermal conductance, I DON'T CARE WHAT SORT OF FANS ARE BUNDLED WITH IT. I WILL DAMN WELL REPLACE THOSE FANS WITH MY FANS. My fans -- like the two Noctua iPPC 3000 -- 120 and 140mm.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Once I've found my cooler that offers hope in low thermal resistance and high thermal conductance

Thermalright AXP120-X67 SFF Cooler Review: Small, but Capable

The AXP120-X67 is capable of handling the i9-13900K in most scenarios, but it’ll run hot in some workloads.

www.tomshardware.com

I have the IceSleet (it's huge) and I'm amazed that the AXP120-X67 is able to dissipate 200W despite its small size. Paired with the Duronaut thermal paste, I'm pretty sure that you don't need anything more chunky to keep your CPU cool and quiet, unless you are buying a 285K but that CPU is junk compared to the 265K in price-performance ratio.

 

[bba_tcg]

High CFM Fans! I was once a fan of a fan -- the Nidec-Servo Gentle Typhoon AP-30. This 120mm fan could spin up to 4,000 RPM. I discovered ways to attenuate the noise, but you'd never get rid of the white noise from air turbulence! There was a PWM version. You could set your ASUS motherboard BIOS to thermally control that fan, so that running an extreme stress test like Linpack or IntelBurnTest would cause the fan to spin up to the limit you set. My upper limit was about 3,200 RPM.

Then you couldn't find AP-30's anymore. So I discovered the Noctua iPPC 3000, coming in both 120mm and 140mm flavors. You can do the same thing. If you're throwing a real burn on your CPU, does it matter to hear the white-noise of air turbulence while the CPU is loaded near 100%? Because the rest of the time -- it can be very quiet.

Anyway. I KNOW that I'm long-winded in my TLTR thread posts. But I'm stating a position.

We speak a lot of bang-for-buck and heatpipe cooler prices. The prices on those items is set by a very competitive market, so you pretty much get what you pay for. Yet many -- some here -- have a valid observation of "bang-for-buck" in regard to certain coolers.

Once I've found my cooler that offers hope in low thermal resistance and high thermal conductance, I DON'T CARE WHAT SORT OF FANS ARE BUNDLED WITH IT. I WILL DAMN WELL REPLACE THOSE FANS WITH MY FANS. My fans -- like the two Noctua iPPC 3000 -- 120 and 140mm.

I used to use some Panasonic fans that were fairly high CFM. I'm sure I still have some around here somewhere since they were also very durable. But that was back when noise didn't bother me. I would probably have a hard time staying in the same room with them now.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I used to use some Panasonic fans that were fairly high CFM. I'm sure I still have some around here somewhere since they were also very durable. But that was back when noise didn't bother me. I would probably have a hard time staying in the same room with them now.

Who made that 92mm fan, "The Tornado"? I just remembered -- Vantec!! There was actually a time when I had a chipset cooler with a 92mm fan, but it wasn't the Vantec Tornado!

But that's my verdict. Don't short yourself on thermal performance because you want "quiet" performance. Give yourself the option to run quietly, but spin up to get maximum cooling that can be delivered by the heatpipe cooler. So my winner is still Noctua for the iPPC fans.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK, Gang! Here's something else I turned up.

Check out this Tom's Hardware Review of the ThermalRight Royal Pretor 130

This item seems to perform at a level where every superior test result that is ranked higher has a name with the number "360" in it. Judge for yourself. Look at the benchtests. What's your "take" on this?

It trounces Peerless Assassin, Ocypus Iota A62, and of course -- the NH-D15, among others.

I just don't know about the fans. Can they be swapped out for others that are the same size? Likely 120mmx25mm?

Like I said -- for the CPU cooler, I'd prefer either the 120mm Noctua iPPC 3000 or the 140mm Noctua iPPC 3000.

MORE THOUGHTS . . .

Use the Noctua 120mm iPPC 3000 for the case exhaust fan ---ducted with foam-art-board constructed to fit the back exhaust side of the cooler assembly. Or, perhaps just as good, use the silicon accordion duct of a ThermalRight Grand Macho to connect the rear of the cooler with the 120mm Noctua exhaust fan.

But in the rankings, I thought the performance of this cooler was stunning. And no pump failures or leaks.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Check out this Tom's Hardware Review of the ThermalRight Royal Pretor 130

Seen that before and it is already on my list of coolers to get if I ever feel like going back to air cooling (most probably won't). I didn't mention it because you said that you aren't an overclocker. The only chip for which I would get this cooler for STOCK operation is the 14900KS. The 285K and the 9950X3D both do not really require this cooler for stock operation.

ANDDDDDD that's the sad part of the current DIY CPU landscape. Only three really top end CPUs available with my gripes about them:

9950X3D: I hate that it has dual CCDs thus the cross CCD latency issue and the V-cache isn't on both CCDs or the CCDs aren't sharing a single V-cache die. It cannot hit 6 GHz at stock (rare samples can though). IMC is weak and my attempts to run DDR5-8200 were not successful.

285K: Awful RAM latency. My 245KF did run XMP DDR5-8200 which is great but ultimately the RAM speed does not benefit this CPU much. This turd of a CPU also can't hit 6 GHz.

14900KS: This CPU is a turd for a completely different reason. It can hit north of 6 GHz single core clock BUT it may not survive long term due to the Vmin shift instability issue and may degrade, even with the latest microcode update. It has only 8 Raptor Cove cores and the remaining Gracemonts are super crappy that can't even hit 5 GHz.

You can count the 13900KS as fourth if you somehow get it really cheap otherwise I don't see why one would buy it over the 14900KS (maybe for lower all core temps possibly).

I really would love to cryosleep till December 2026 to find out what other good options become available.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thermalright AXP120-X67 SFF Cooler Review: Small, but Capable

The AXP120-X67 is capable of handling the i9-13900K in most scenarios, but it’ll run hot in some workloads.

www.tomshardware.com

I have the IceSleet (it's huge) and I'm amazed that the AXP120-X67 is able to dissipate 200W despite its small size. Paired with the Duronaut thermal paste, I'm pretty sure that you don't need anything more chunky to keep your CPU cool and quiet, unless you are buying a 285K but that CPU is junk compared to the 265K in price-performance ratio.

It's an iterative process. Something to keep me busy. I'll have a list of parts in final before year's end, perhaps sooner. I have the computer case, a Seasonic PSU, the ODD and 2x 2.5" hot-swap assembly at top of the case-front. Without the choice of a 240 or 280 AiO cooler, I can add a pair of USB 3.0 ports below the drive assembly. Two 140mm intake fans at front; all other vents sealed with Lexan plate or foam-board. In the currently operational boxes I'm running, there are also two 140mm intake fans at the bottom of the case side-panel (the plastic door). I'll probably do the same with the next project.

IF INTEL, THEN Core Ultra 7 265K. I'll pay extra for an unlocked processor. Well on the way to choosing the cooler. I know I said it before somewhere, though: I'm waiting for their release of the Arrow Lake / Core Ultra 2 Refresh, supposedly for release late this year.

And just reviewing your post again -- What's so good about thermal Grizzly Duronaut? Aluminim and Zinc Oxide?! I ordered a tube of IC Diamond paste. I keep wondering if I should dare try Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. Some customer reviews described it being hard to work with, and as unruly as a milliliter of Mercury dropped on the floor.

So with a contamination hazard causing electrical shorts, we want a strategy of containment. This is where I'm guessing as to how the IC Diamond, which is like putty, might be just the thing.

Who knows about Grizzly Conductonaut? That's what they used when Silicon Lottery replaced the paste under the IHS processor cap for me. They were selling "De-Lid" tools, that would pop the top on your processor.