Thick Airship: Corsair A-Series A500 CPU Cooler in test – More performance due to sheer size?

1 - Übersicht, Lieferumfang, Features und Daten 2 - Testsystem und Methodik 3 - Intel: Temperaturen und Geräuschpegel 4 - AMD: Temperaturen und Geräuschpegel 5 - Zusammenfassung und Fazit

Let's first compare the values on the Intel CPU in the range of 65 to 245 watts of waste heat. The gray dotted line represents the values I used with the Noctua NH-U12A and the blue dotted for the values of the Alphacool polar bear Aurora 360 with the same fan curve, but three fans on the 360 radiator. The blue curve describes the A500 with the original pre-assembled fans and the green one describes the conversion to the reference fans of the NH-U12A (Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM).

We see very nicely that the A500 can always offer slightly lower CPU temperatures than the NH-U12A, even if it is only about 245 watts. 2-3 degree difference. After all, the fans of the A500 200 200 rpm turn faster and are therefore significantly louder. If you pack the Noctua reference fans on the A500, it performs one tick worse than the Noctua cooler with the same fans, whereby it is slightly clearer from 185 watts upwards. By the way, a conversion with glued sides would make the A500 perform much better with the Noctua fans, which is only a tip to the developers at Corsair.

The fan speeds of the A500 with original fans are significantly higher than the Noctua NH-U12A and the conversion of the A500 with the reference fans. These even rotate slightly lower than when measuring with the Noctua, which may also be due to the higher resistance that the much thicker A500 counteracts the air. However, 10 to 20 rpm are almost in the range of possible measurement tolerances. Well, almost.

Finally, let's look at the noise emission, that is, what is so often referred to colloquially as volume. The Corsair A500 with original assembly noises like a hurricane and is therefore much louder than what is known from the Noctua NH-U12A. If you equip the A500 with quieter fans, you lose performance, but it still cools quite neatly. The bottom line, however, is that the A500 can only really score points over the high fan insert, because the Noctua NH-U12A is slightly better with the same fan assembly and speeds, despite the lower cooling surface.