INTRODUCTION

   During the past decade PC Cooling has clearly advanced but nowhere near compared to other interior hardware parts like storage media, mainboards, CPUs and graphics cards. Of course there were some bold attempts from certain manufacturers like Danamics that tried to introduce liquid metal cooling to the masses but although their last solution yielded quite impressive results its price tag made it very unattractive to consumers especially since one could get a more complete water-cooling kit/loop at around the same price tag for use with both the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately the trend didn't continue and so today we still need to pick between the regular and all time classic air-coolers (U/C designs) or the more advanced and most of the time better water-coolers (AIO/Kits) both of which are more than capable in delivering on what they promise. However there's always been clearance issues with most of the tower design air-coolers that forced people either to purchase low-profile memory kits or change the placement of the cooler resulting in reduced performance. Well Thermaltake seems to have a solution to that problem with their latest NIC (Non Interference Coolers) line of air-coolers.

   Our Mission "Delivering the perfect user experience". The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength, Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

   Thermaltake sent us the C5 model which happens to be the top-end in the entire NiC line (above the F3,F4 and C4 models) and is aimed towards enthusiasts and overclockers mainly due to its size and the two high-RPM 120mm fans in push and pull configuration. Now although at first glance the NiC C5 looks a lot like the Frio Advanced CPU Cooler (both coolers also share the same TDP of 230W) it's actually a tad taller and wider but at the same time it's also quite thinner to allow for more space around it (thus no interference). Also just like the Frio Advanced the NiC C5 comes ready with two equally fast 120mm fans (100RPM less than the ones bundled with the Frio Advanced) which automatically means that we don't expect whisper quiet results from the cooler, far from it actually, however for people who require maximum performance noise levels hardly ever make a difference. Our job today is to find out exactly what kind of cooling performance one can expect from the latest NiC C5 and in the following pages we will cover exactly that.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A large product image, the main features and the Thermaltake logo are present at the front of the box.

The full specifications list is present on the right side.

The features of the NiC C5 are listed at the left side in 11 different languages.

Moving at the rear of the box we see 8 images showcasing the main features of the C5.

The cooler is safely packed between two rather thick Styrofoam spacers while the rest of the bundle sits right above it and inside a cardboard box.

The box contains the NiC C5 CPU Cooler, 2 installation manuals, product warranty paper, tube with thermal conductive material and all the required mounting hardware for Intel LGA 775/1150/1155/1156/1366/2011 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1/FM2 CPUs.

THE NIC C5

As you can all see the NiC C5 features an external shroud which holds the two fans in place. With the shroud and the fans the NiC C5 measures 160mm in height, 147mm in width and 95mm in depth with a weight of 831g.

The NiC C5 features two high-speed 120mm fans (3pin ones) in push and pull configuration for maximum cooling efficiency.

At the top of the shroud we see both the product and company names.

Both the shroud and the curved aluminum fins help in improving airflow by not allowing air to leave from the sides.

The 120mm fans can reach speeds of up to 2000RPM and produce airflow of up to 99.1CFM with 39.9dBA of noise.

You can control the speed of both fans via this small yet convenient black knob.

Once you remove the shroud the heatsink itself measures just 160mm in height, 140mm in width and 50mm in depth.

The heatsink body is made by a total of 52 aluminum fins.

Thermaltake has placed their logo twice (facing both the front and rear) on the top fin.

Five 6mm all-copper nickel plated heatpipes leave from the base and pass through all 52 of the fins.

The base is quite even and features a mirror like finish.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     We always take things quite seriously when it comes to work so just like with the previous LGA1366 database we will not be testing each CPU Cooler on its own and with different ambient temperature levels and thus we can actually have yet another valid CPU Cooler database. Testing a CPU Cooler automatically means that you need to know where it stands against the immediate competition and to accomplish that we have spent both money and time through the years, something that we plan to continue to do so in order to get the most accurate results for the end consumers who read these lines. Every CPU cooler in this database is tested with the bundled 140mm/120mm/92mm/80mm fans while working at both idle speed and 100% of their speeds for all the temperature tests. CPU Coolers that do not come bundled with a fan/s are measured using a Noctua fan (size dependent on the model) to test for the temperature tests but due to the lack of a stock fan dBA level tests are obviously skipped. For the dBA tests every cooler in the database was measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. The Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste is used with every CPU Cooler in our latest LGA2011 database (although initially this was not the plan we had to change things to get the most accurate results). Finally it's very important to point out that just because a CPU Cooler is better than another when tested with our Intel Core i7-3930k test rig that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the CPU Cooler. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

Excellent cooling efficiency since the NiC C5 proved to be the 2nd best air-cooler in our charts but at a price (noise levels).

CONCLUSION

   With the NiC C5 CPU Cooler Thermaltake has once again followed one very basic yet quite efficient rule and that's none other than to crank up the speed of the fans in order to get the most out of your cooling solution. Now i don't need to tell you if it works or not when our charts clearly show that especially since the top two air-coolers in them both come ready with very fast fans (NiC C5/Silver Arrow Extreme) but such excellent performance almost always comes at a price and almost 64dBA of noise is not a small number. Still solutions like the NiC C5 are primarily aimed towards gamers, enthusiasts and overclockers who always place performance before everything else and with that in mind we really think that the NiC C5 can be the favorite amongst people who can't use a very large CPU Cooler like the Silver Arrow Extreme and don't want to spend much for an AIO liquid cooling solution but would like similar performance. The design of the NiC C5 CPU Cooler is also very nice and how could it not when it resembles the award winning Frio Advance with its red/black color combination?

   Unfortunately much like most brand new peripherals and hardware components the NiC C5 CPU Cooler by Thermaltake doesn't have good availability levels but the current MSRP is set at USD54.99 inside the USA while inside the EU you can find it for around 65Euros. As always once availability gets better you should be able to find it for less and so price-wise the NiC C5 CPU Cooler does great. So on one hand we have excellent cooling efficiency, size that does not affect the placement of memory modules, a very good design and a price tag which is not bad at all. On the other hand however we have very high noise levels when both fans are spinning at maximum speed so you need to carefully weigh what you prefer more. Personally when i play games i don't mind the extra noise coming from the tower and since the NiC C5 makes very good use of that without taking up too much space it easily gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Excellent Performance
- Design
- Dual Fan Solution
- Size (Depth)
- CPU Compatibility
- Price (For Some) 

CONS

- Very High Noise Levels
- Current Availability